Hi so for Christmas I had gotten a Crucial 525GB SSD drive and I'm happy about it. But I heard somewhere that its recommend to Install windows freshly on a new SSD rather than transfer your old info to it. Should I just install Windows 10 on my new SSD since I don't have too much sensitive info on my gaming PC.
I would. Follow these instructions: Windows 10 - Clean Install
You don't need to do anything special for a SSD anymore. Windows will set it up and manage it just fine.
I still have my Windows 10 is Usb that I bought a few years back. Can I use that or is it recommend to create a media usb?
It's always recommended to make a new USB, use the Media Creation Tool to do so.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/9230-download-windows-10-iso-file.html#option1
Your USB bought a few years back will be for an old version, 1511 at best, maybe even the original build 10240. Both versions are long out of support and would immediately start downloading and installing the latest version anyway. Far better (and quicker) to download it yourself and install it yourself.
What about the key will it be saved or will I have to re enter it. My gaming desktop is a custom built.
Check what it currently says in Settings for activation. If it is already activated with a digital licence then the activation servers will have stored a a hardware ID for this PC. You can do a clean install of the same edition (Home or Pro) and skip entering a key when asked. This will activate automatically as soon as it contacts the activation servers. The hard drive does not count as part of the hardware ID, so the upgrade to an SSD makes no difference.
Upgrading the motherboard or CPU will change the ID though. A major upgrade like the processor can be done, but you'll first have to link the licence to your Microsoft Account and use the Activation Troubleshooter to reactivate.
Use Activation Troubleshooter in Windows 10
Well I'm just switching to an SSD and not chanigng the Motherboard or CPU.
And it says on activation that "Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.
One more thing when I put in the New SSD I know I have to set it up as a boot drive and such. But for my old Terabyte WD Black I just wanna reformat it since it has windows on it too and use it as a extra storage for gaming applications. How do I format that? I also have a 2tb WD Black for more storage and its already configured as such. Do I have to change any of that or am I okay with the 2tb for the way it is
Unplug all/any other drives before you install windows on the ssd, just disconnect their power cables.
After you have windows on the ssd, you can simply format the 1TB with Disk Management.
The 2TB should be fine the way it is, just hook up your other drives AFTER you install windows on the ssd.
If you have a perfectly running Windows 10 now, I just don't see how a clean install is going to do you any good. I would (and have in the past) just clone the perfectly good Windows 10 you have now (assuming there are no issues with it).
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