How to transfer old SSD into new laptop?

Paul0o0o0 · 22 Sep 2021

Hello, my old laptop is shorting the charger and won’t turn on. I'm long overdue for an upgrade anyway, so I’m getting a new one soon. Since the old one can’t turn on, I can’t use any file transfer utilities to transfer the contents of the old one to the new one. So I was thinking I can just take the SSD from the old one and install it in the secondary slot of the new one.

My question is: can this be done as simply as that or are there other considerations at play? For example, the SSD I’ll be transferring was the primary drive of the old laptop and has the OS installed on it. Is there something I need to do so the new laptop sees the old SSD as a storage drive only, and doesn’t try to boot with the OS from the old one? Do I need to do something with the drive lettering so there’s no confusion over which one is the C drive? Will all my installations (like my internet security suite, for example) work normally automatically, or do I need to do something special?

Basically I’m asking how take the old boot drive and install it into the laptop as just a secondary drive into the new one. Also, my old laptop has an HD as a secondary drive. Can I transfer that one also without any fussing around or is there something special I need to do for that one as well?

(In case it matters, my new laptop will be the same as the old -Alienware 17 from Dell, just upgraded.- I am waiting for Windows 11 to be released before purchasing the new one so I don’t have to deal with upgrading from 10 to 11. So I’ll be installing an old SSD with Win10 as a secondary drive on a machine with Win11 running from the primary)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Ghot · 22 Sep 2021

@Paul0o0o0

Putting the old SSD in the new laptop, as storage, should be fine. It should still boot to the new laptop's SSD.
If you want to make sure, you can just hit the F12 key when you turn the new laptop on, to enter the "boot menu".
From there you can "choose" which SSD you boot from.

Once booted into the new laptop, with the old SSD installed, you could just delete C:\bootmgr from the old SSD.

Samuria · 22 Sep 2021

The main problem is you will have no rights on the old drive as it will be owned by the old user so to access anything you will have to take ownership of every folder on the drive

Paul Black · 22 Sep 2021

Hello @Paul0o0o0,

As @Samuria has pointed out, you will need to take Ownership [ Permissions ] of EVERY folder . . .

> How to Change Owner of File, Folder, Drive, or Registry Key in Windows 10

I hope this helps.

Garyw · 22 Sep 2021

Samuria said:

The main problem is you will have no rights on the old drive as it will be owned by the old user so to access anything you will have to take ownership of every folder on the drive

Question: If you use the same username as on the old system, will this still be a problem?

Paul Black · 22 Sep 2021

Hello @Garyw,

Garyw said:

Question: If you use the same username as on the old system, will this still be a problem?

Yes, you STILL need to to take Ownership [ Permissions ] of EVERY folder because of the SID Number [ Security Identifier/SID Number ] . . .

> How to Find Security Identifier (SID) of User in Windows

A SID is a string value of variable length that is used to uniquely identify users or groups, and control their access to various resources like files, registry keys, network shares etc. Each account has a unique SID that an authority, such as a Windows domain, issues. The SID is stored in the security database. When a user logs on, the system retrieves the user SID from the database, places the SID in the user access token, and then uses the SID in the user access token to identify the user in all subsequent interactions with Windows security. Each SID is a unique identifier for a user or group, and a different user or group cannot have the same SID.

I hope this helps.

steve108 · 22 Sep 2021

Hello Paul0o0o0,

Another option you have it to buy a SATA to USB cable or enclosure from Amazon and use it to copy the files you want from the SSD or HDD to the new PC if you don't want to open up the new PC. If the new PC only has one free drive slot, the cable/enclosure will be handy to get files off your old HDD even if you do install the old SSD into the PC by saving you from having to put the HDD in and take it back out of the PC. Having an enclosure will also allow you to use the old HDD for extra storage if that would be something useful for you.

Garyw · 22 Sep 2021

Samuria said:

The main problem is you will have no rights on the old drive as it will be owned by the old user so to access anything you will have to take ownership of every folder on the drive

Garyw said:

Question: If you use the same username as on the old system, will this still be a problem?

There must be exceptions to the ownership rules. As an experiment, I took a clone of the data drive from my other system and installed it in this system. When I double clicked on a folder on the clone drive, I got this message:

How to transfer old SSD into new laptop?-error-msg.jpg

When I clicked on continue, I was able to open any folder and read the contents.

How to transfer old SSD into new laptop?-post-error-msg.jpg

I use the same usernames and passwords on both systems, so maybe this is an exception?

Ghot · 22 Sep 2021

Winaero Tweaker has a one check mark tweak to add Take Ownership to right click context menus.

tonez · 22 Sep 2021

Paul0o0o0 said:

Hello, my old laptop is shorting the charger and won’t turn on. I'm long overdue for an upgrade anyway, so I’m getting a new one soon. Since the old one can’t turn on, I can’t use any file transfer utilities to transfer the contents of the old one to the new one. So I was thinking I can just take the SSD from the old one and install it in the secondary slot of the new one.
Paul just go ahead and move your ssd into your next Laptop

My question is: can this be done as simply as that or are there other considerations at play? For example, the SSD I’ll be transferring was the primary drive of the old laptop and has the OS installed on it. Is there something I need to do so the new laptop sees the old SSD as a storage drive only, and doesn’t try to boot with the OS from the old one? Do I need to do something with the drive lettering so there’s no confusion over which one is the C drive? Will all my installations (like my internet security suite, for example) work normally automatically, or do I need to do something special?
Its simple as that
Basically I’m asking how take the old boot drive and install it into the laptop as just a secondary drive into the new one. Also, my old laptop has an HD as a secondary drive. Can I transfer that one also without any fussing around or is there something special I need to do for that one as well?
It wont take over, if you like to start up the new machine first for ease of mind do it -- gone are the days of setting jumpers master and slave

(In case it matters, my new laptop will be the same as the old -Alienware 17 from Dell, just upgraded.- I am waiting for Windows 11 to be released before purchasing the new one so I don’t have to deal with upgrading from 10 to 11. So I’ll be installing an old SSD with Win10 as a secondary drive on a machine with Win11 running from the primary)

Thanks in advance for any help.

your old HDD can be installed as storage - either as extrenal of intenal