How to move windows from HDD to SSD

Sketchy1

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to my knowledge it has to be burned.
so you shoulod be able to install it via the windows installation program. if you want EVERYTHING moved, you can also copy the contents of the hhd over to it

1)format the ssd to windows and all that extra junk
2) boot the Old os on the hdd
3)copy everything from the hdd your using to the sdd
 
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mgrev

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you should use something like acronis' true image to clone your hdd to your ssd. Is the hdd bigger than the ssd? If not, then you can use DD (command) without problems. just boot a live usb with something like ubuntu mate and do it. (like "sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb", where SDA is your hdd and SDB is your ssd
 

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ok, but if i copy all my windows folder to my ssd,
1: where do I put it? directly on the root of the SSD?
2: How do I make it launch from the SSD instead of from the HDD for the next time I boot?
3: Do I delete window folder from my hdd then?

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you should use something like acronis' true image to clone your hdd to your ssd. Is the hdd bigger than the ssd? If not, then you can use DD (command) without problems. just boot a live usb with something like ubuntu mate and do it. (like "sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb", where SDA is your hdd and SDB is your ssd
ofc the hdd is bigger than my ssd ;)
 

Sketchy1

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ok, but if i copy all my windows folder to my ssd,
1: where do I put it? directly on the root of the SSD?
2: How do I make it launch from the SSD instead of from the HDD for the next time I boot?
3: Do I delete window folder from my hdd then?
1)root
2)put ssd above hdd in the boot order
3)you can delete after you copy everything over
 

Sketchy1

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2 : how do i do that?
boot into BIOS menu and on the tab labeled "boot" youll see an option called boot priority. go into that, and move the ssd to #1

the boot priority is the order a pc will launch an os. if an os cant be launched or isnt present, it will move to the next available boot option in the list

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

also, youll have to do this to install windows in the first place, so a usb is needed
 
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boot into BIOS menu and on the tab labeled "boot" youll see an option called boot priority. go into that, and move the ssd to #1

the boot priority is the order a pc will launch an os. if an os cant be launched or isnt present, it will move to the next available boot option in the list

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

also, youll have to do this to install windows in the first place, so a usb is needed
alright, ill try that

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boot into BIOS menu and on the tab labeled "boot" youll see an option called boot priority. go into that, and move the ssd to #1

the boot priority is the order a pc will launch an os. if an os cant be launched or isnt present, it will move to the next available boot option in the list

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

also, youll have to do this to install windows in the first place, so a usb is needed
wait, just copying the window folder from hdd to ssd doesnt work? I have to reinstall it?
 

jellybeangreen2

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2 : how do i do that?

You should use Acornis as previously mentioned. Manually copying the files over won't create the exact partitions nor your boot file to point correctly to said partition. Using Acronis, it will do an exact copy of your drive to another. If your HDD is bigger than your SSD. Then you will more than likely have to reinstall windows from scratch. (Which you should anyway since you're using an SSD which use different drivers than your original HDD).
 

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alright, ill try that

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


wait, just copying the window folder from hdd to ssd doesnt work? I have to reinstall it?
yes, because the target gets formatted to NTFS, a special multi-partiton file system

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

You should use Acornis as previously mentioned. Manually copying the files over won't create the exact partitions nor your boot file to point correctly to said partition. Using Acronis, it will do an exact copy of your drive to another. If your HDD is bigger than your SSD. Then you will more than likely have to reinstall windows from scratch. (Which you should anyway since you're using an SSD which use different drivers than your original HDD).
lmao but thats what im suggesting (second option)
 

jellybeangreen2

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yes, because the target gets formatted to NTFS, a special multi-partiton file system

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


lmao but thats what im suggesting (second option)

The way you were explaining it wasn't that good. That's why the guy thought he could just copy his windows folder over to his new SSD.
 

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The way you were explaining it wasn't that good. That's why the guy thought he could just copy his windows folder over to his new SSD.
no i meant he can use the official windows installer to format his SSD to whatever windows version he has. once he has done that, he can boot the hdd and then simply copy and paste

sounded a bit confusing at first ill admit, but hows that?
 

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To answer the question of the OP.
If you want to have your current install on your new SSD then it is doable. There are many programs to aid in this, however many were made in an era that would see people invariably increase hard drive size or other remain the same. The smaller storage of SSD was a bit of an unexpected twist for some of those so while it is still perfectly possible to get it done it can throw a spanner in the works, though one that is very possible to overcome ( http://www.backup-utility.com/articles/clonezilla-clone-larger-disk-to-smaller-disk-4348.html , as you will also have to defrag as part of this it might take quite a while).

My preferred disc cloning and expansion tool is clonezilla.
http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php
It is free, it works on just about everything. It might look a bit scary but read what is on the screen and think about you are doing and it should be fine.
I have not used new versions in a while (most of what I do is restoring workshop laptops as their drives die or someone hoses up the software) but it did struggle with smaller size destinations, to the point where I would separately boot up another Linux liveCD with gparted on it and shrink my partitions if they were too large for the drive.

A potential problem might be newer versions of windows use something called uefi to boot with which differs to the older style methods and some tools can not handle it. Clonezilla should be able to, though do read the downloads page as it will tell you what to get (get the AMD64 version).

----

" Do I just move the windows folder to the SSD or there is more to do? "
Definitely not.
For one there is program files (which has the things you installed), the user directory (which will have settings for all your well made programs) and possibly some others that will want moving. Beyond that there can be some fun and games with drive signatures in some cases but that is probably not going to be too much of a concern for ye bog standard windows install, what is more likely to happen though is some files might be protected or hidden and if one gets skipped or missed then all sorts of fun can ensue. I would not be surprised to see someone able to copy things directly across and have a working install happen but if someone came to me with a broken install and I found out that is what they did then I would tell them to do it properly, or just do it properly.

If you only want your files then that is more doable, however while a new ssd can make for a nice point to do a fresh install there is no great need like you would want to for a new motherboard or something. Depending upon what you have done for your user setup then you may want to learn about takeown and icacls http://www.faqforge.com/windows/take-ownership-of-a-file-or-folder-by-command-in-windows/

"2: How do I make it launch from the SSD instead of from the HDD for the next time I boot?"
Depending upon what you are doing with UEFI then you may need to set boot flags in the tool used to format the drive, though clonezilla or something hopefully sorted that.

Anyway get the hard drive installed and make sure the BIOS sees it. From there there should be something called boot order or boot priority and as long as the SSD is ahead of the hard drive you should be good.
You may also be able to use a one time boot thing (it might say press f12 to select boot device or something, this is that).
 
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Cloning is the best method because it will copy all files, folders and hidden partitions in the right order without screwing anything up (so long as your SSD is big enough to contain all the files). It's important to get the hidden partitions too because that's what contains the boot information that makes the OS bootable (plus recovery tools for when things go wrong). If I remember, legacy/BIOS installs have one hidden partition, whilst UEFI installs have two.

However I recommend a clean install as the method that causes the least problems and generally will give you the best experience. Windows will now actually detect that it's being installed to a SSD and optimise some settings to run better from the SSD. Also, people tend to accumulate a lot of junk in their Windows installs over time that bogs down the system (similar to dust accumulating on fans, making them have to work harder and become louder over time) so it's good to wipe it all and start fresh every now and again (I usually saw on a yearly cycle).
 

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No, you cannot just simply move Windows folder from HDD to SSD. Windows folder contains programs which will not be used after drag & drop. If you're running Windows on laptop, it is suggested to do backup first, replace HDD with SSD and then restore the backup image. Or just do clean install. If running on desktop, try cloning HDD to SSD. Windows programs as well as installed applications and software will be cloned to new disk. And you can access to them right after cloning. Cloning OS only to smaller SSD is also workable.
Regards.
 

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MiniTool Partition Wizard is free and has a migrate feature. I recently used it to copy my OS from a 64Gb SSD to a 128GB SSD and it worked a treat
 

Futurdreamz

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Image copying software like Acronis is more than capable of cloning an image from a lager drive to a smaller drive. Windows' Disk management utility can shrink your installation partition without breaking anything, so why are you guys thinking a simple cloning program can't?

The only thing you would even have to worry about is UEFI, but the latest versions of most programs have already added support.
 

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