[SOLVED] Used SSD as a boot drive.

[Josef_14]

Hi, I'm in the process of building my first gaming PC (Just waiting on my GPU to arrive), unfortunately while waiting my laptop has decided to pack in. Inside which there is a Samsung EVO850 250GB SSD. With my laptop now being useless could I use this ssd as a boot drive, or is it a bad idea?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi, I'm in the process of building my first gaming PC (Just waiting on my GPU to arrive), unfortunately while waiting my laptop has decided to pack in. Inside which there is a Samsung EVO850 250GB SSD. With my laptop now being useless could I use this ssd as a boot drive, or is it a bad idea?

Not necessarily a bad idea.

Just don't expect that you'll be able to use the actual OS that is on that drive. Your new system needs a full clean OS install (and Windows license).

 

[Josef_14]

Not necessarily a bad idea.

Just don't expect that you'll be able to use the actual OS that is on that drive. Your new syst

My plan was to set up as I had planned already with my new pc (new os etc) and then format this one and clone it over.

 

[USAFRet]

My plan was to set up as I had planned already with my new pc (new os etc) and then format this one and clone it over.

?

Install on a drive in the new PC
Then clone from that drive to this SSD?

Why not skip the clone thing, and just do the initial OS install on this SSD?

 

[Josef_14]

Would i not need to format it first?

 

[USAFRet]

Would i not need to format it first?

No.
You can do that during the actual install.
Boot from your Win 10 USB, and during the install, you delete ALL existing partitions.

Section II, Step 6 & 7 in this outlines how to do that:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[mdd1963]

Installing from USB Windows installer (created from functioning computer with Microsoft Media Creation Tool) to an SSD (delete existing partitions early in the install menu to begin in a pristine state) takes 4-6 minutes these days....
(if you pre-gather your assorted chipset and GPU driver packages onto a another drive or USB flash drive you can then be up and running within 5-10 more minutes, but, expect some sluggish behavior as Windows always pulls in updates for several minutes after a new build)
As another poster already mentioned, you can't just 'move WIndows on the existing laptop SSD with all the programs' over to a new rig (new CPU, chipset, GPU, etc) and power up and be on your way... (If Win10 came with the laptop, or was upgraded to Win10 from an earlier OEM install of Win7 or 8, the Windows license dies /died with the laptop in question....; if you purchased and installed from a retail Win10 pack, you can reinstall to a new computer as you wish, as long as you do not intend to operate both....

 

[Josef_14]

No.
You can do that during the actual install.
Boot from your Win 10 USB, and during the install, you delete ALL existing partitions.

Section II, Step 6 & 7 in this outlines how to do that:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Thanks a lot, that's great. I'll do that.