How do I move my operating system to a SSD.

Word Man · 09 Sep 2015

fredc said:

I don't have the EVO but anyway , i did not just use the clean command , there is quite a few others i was told to follow and "clean" is just one of them . One of the commands was to select a partition so thats probably important.

I posted the commands a while back , they should be around here somewhere, i asked around a lot and the guys at "Seven Forums" guided me step by step .

If Win 10 is different regarding adding a new SSD than i'm screwed lol.

Well, yeah you have to select the right disk and perhaps you can simply select a partition to "clean" - I just wanted all the partitions "removed" so I would only end up with the minimum partitions needed via clean install. Little did I realize you can accomplish exactly the same thing within the clean install and "clean" was not at all necessary (nor was my ensuing panic).

Sorry for the confusion. In those other threads, I saw you mention "clean", but must have you confused with someone else who menttioned they were getting the exact same SSD as I have.

fredc · 09 Sep 2015

I like minimum partitions as well , last time i let Windows do it i ended up with this :

I deleted the partitions during a clean install like i always do .

OldMike65 · 09 Sep 2015

Steve C said:

See my guide at Eight Forums http://www.eightforums.com/installat...s-hdd-ssd.html

The guide really applies to a desktop PC with 2 drives. For a laptop, you would need to image your system to an external drive, install the new SSD then boot to the Macrium Reflect Recovery disc to restore the image to your SSD.

I don't understand the mention of MiniTool Partition Wizard in Post 2 - that's for managing your disk partitions, not backup/imaging.

I would backup your current system first (using Macrium Reflect Free?), do the W10 upgrade and then do the SSD transfer. You''ll have 2 system backups so you will be covered whatever happens!

Guess you haven't looked MiniTool Partition Wizard in a while, version 9.1 includes right at the top "Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard" Works just fine and its free of course. :)

acmanten · 10 Sep 2015

acmanten said:

Mini-Tool drive copy info... save....

I do not have any experience with partitioning hard drives and have dowloaded the MiniTool Partition Wizard free edition 9.1, and will be using a separate HHD that I have just to try some test and learning some about it.

The tutorial and the minitool info (showing what all it can do) appears to be good info.

I seems that each HHD has different partitions, and some have different names.

What partitions are the STANDARD NAMES, and the ones that are needed .... it just seems they are all different.
all be safe.. cliff M.

Thanks to all.

OldMike65 · 10 Sep 2015

Ok Cliff, here is a snap shot of mine, AFTER I used partition magic. All I wanted was the required System Reserved partition and of course your Primary partition. Some folks also make a restore partition, which I deleted on mine, I make backups using a 3rd party backup program, and don't want to waste 300 or 450 gigs of wasted space on my SSD.

How do I move my operating system to a SSD.-drive.png

acmanten · 11 Sep 2015

OldMike65 said:

Ok Cliff, here is a snap shot of mine, AFTER I used partition magic. All I wanted was the required System Reserved partition and of course your Primary partition. Some folks also make a restore partition, which I deleted on mine, I make backups using a 3rd party backup program, and don't want to waste 300 or 450 gigs of wasted space on my SSD.

Mike and all : Thanks, ..

My ACER desktop 1TB Drive C in formatter as NTFS and has my Windows 10 permanently activated OS on it.

I have had a Toshiba 1TB Drive (Drive H: below) for many years and it has always been formatted as GPT but last week I used MACRIUM software to clone my Drive C: (NTFS) desktop upgraded win10 over to it. The graphic below shows what my Windows 10 disk management software says about it now..

Attachment 36885

This weekend - I plan to reformat my Toshiba 1TB drive as NTFS (using either partition magic or Minitool 9.1) and hopefully do that .... I will be able to make it have less partitions. If I can get that done then I will use the Macrium Trial cloning software again to clone my Windows 10 desktop drive over to it.

Maybe if I do it that way -- I will not end-up with a few less partitions. ...but...

Remember I started out by saying the I know very little about hard drive partitions.......
so comments are welcomed. Thanks.. Cliff M acmanten

OldMike65 · 11 Sep 2015

The free version of Minitool will not do anything with a GPT partition if I remember correctly. I've never made one, or had a GPT partition on any of my hard drives. They have always been NTFS. So I never had a problem using MiniTool. But I think your going about it the right way now, if your going to reformat your 1TB drive as NTFS, that should help you a lot!!! Good luck Cliff.

acmanten · 11 Sep 2015

OldMike65 said:

The free version of Minitool will not do anything with a GPT partition if I remember correctly. I've never made one, or had a GPT partition on any of my hard drives. They have always been NTFS. So I never had a problem using MiniTool. But I think your going about it the right way now, if your going to reformat your 1TB drive as NTFS, that should help you a lot!!! Good luck Cliff.

Thanks, and the Toshiba dirve is shown my Graphic as Drive H: (disk 2) below... I will try to do that when I arrive home today... and so I will use the MiniTool 9.1 to do it. Thanks acmanten...

acmanten · 11 Sep 2015

WightWalker said:

Thanks for pointing that out - I should have mentioned that I used it with Windows 7.

You can get the Macrium Trial or the Free version, and the software will clone to SSD.

linw · 11 Sep 2015

Macrium free V6 is my choice for imaging/cloning and it can't be beaten for price! It now has disk management and differentials as well.

Mention was made earlier in this thread about finding out a cloned disk wouldn't boot. Macrium is great at fixing boot problems as well. I had a cloned SSD that wouldn't boot so I booted from the Macrium boot CD and let it at it and the SSD booted fine after the fix.

A lot of angst flows through this thread but cloning is as safe as houses. It doesn't change the source disk so what harm can it do? The worst that can happen is you have to start again.

I will also make a plug for the Mini Partition Tool. It works great.

We are very well served by this excellent software and the fact that it is free is amazing.

Well done OP - all done!!