[SOLVED] Using Old HDD from an Old System in a brand new Build

[PlasmaGiant]

Hi, so I am current using a Old AMD build with an HDD running Windows 8.1. I am current building a new Intel build and would like to use Windows 10. I bought a 2.5 inch Sata SSD for Booting, but would like my old hard drive and its data to migrate to the new system.

I know drivers and OS is an issue and a concern, so I want to know the best way to handle changing over. Thanks!

 

[DSzymborski]

Don't cut corners. Best practice for a new build, especially very different ones, is a full reinstall. The data on your old hard drive will be fine (and should be backed up regularly anyway if it's the least bit important). Windows is not designed to be modular in this manner unless you have a very specific Windows-to-Go version from an Enterprise/Education edition.

Windows 10 tries to work when people take the easy route, but very often it's far more work than it saves and the problems can range from not working at all, to having subtle performance problems, to having to deal with various incompatibilities for months.

I'm a believer in doing it right the first time.

 

[Lutfij]

Are you looking to move data off the old drive and onto the SSD? If so, I'd like to inform you that you should create multiple partitions on an SSD in hopes of giving it a longer life span and to run optimally. You can use a dock or a USB to SATA adapter to connect the drive to the newly built system in order to migrate the data onto the new drive, mind you if you're looking to migrate data off the installation drive.

 

[PlasmaGiant]

The SSD is 240 GB I believe while my HDD is 1T, I plan on a clean install of the new HHD, because i do want to use it for the main HD, however, i just dont want all the old AMD drivers and OS installed to be a problem.

If I do a full backup onto a external HD I have, wipe the HDD, build the pc with the Sata SSD installed for the OS, install the clean HDD, then mount the External to dump all back up back onto the HDD, will there be any issues with the old systems files? Would there be a way to clean out the system files but keep the personal files so it doesn't affect the brand new system? Thanks for the replies, it really helps.