Can you copy files between two drives that have windows installed?

theridon · 1 Week Ago

I have a crucial ssd that I'm quite frankly sick of diagnosis slow startup problems, it has windows 10 on it. I also need an ssd with more storage. Would it be possible to install windows 10 fresh on the new SSD, and then after plug in the old crucial ssd and simply transfer old files onto the new one? That way I don't have to wipe all my data and risk forgetting to back up something.

Hearsepilot · 1 Week Ago

'Files' yes,
'Installed applications' NO

zbook · 1 Week Ago

The old drive can be in a HD enclosure or a second bay and function as an external or second drive.
Then copy and paste.
If Windows were functioning optimally then another option is to make a backup image and restore the image onto the new drive.

Berton · 1 Week Ago

Also, if the old drive had a working OS be sure to unplug it before rebooting or shut down then unplug it to avoid the possibility of booting to the wrong drive when restarting.

Megahertz · 1 Week Ago

The data files on the old SSD will be on the X:\Users"Name" (Replace X with the drive letter assigned to the old SSD)
If the user you create on the new drive (C:\Users"Name") has a different name of the old drive you may have to take ownership to copy the files

johnukguy · 1 Week Ago

theridon said:

Would it be possible to install windows 10 fresh on the new SSD, and then after plug in the old crucial ssd and simply transfer old files onto the new one? That way I don't have to wipe all my data and risk forgetting to back up something.

Data, as in documents, images, game saves, video and audio files, Adobe/Davinci project files and such you can certainly copy over. If however you mean actual system files, or programs that you have installed on the present SSD, then it's not necessarily a good idea, even if things do appear to work at first afterwards.

There are programs such as PCTrans, Transwiz and similar, which make the process of migration to a new drive/SSD much easier than used to be the case, if you want to go that particular route. I say if because there are no guarantees with any such program. For example, I've used Transwiz in the past and generally it's been good, but sometimes there are programs that just do not transfer well in this way and I would recommend just installing as new if possible, in preference to migrating programs/apps.

As to the issues you're having with your present SSD, have you checked the amount of free space that's available? For SSDs it's recommended to have at least 20% of the available drive space free at all times, for best performance and that the drive is optimized regularly. That process should be taken care of automatically by Windows, but you can also do it yourself manually. Also, checking the drive with Windows built in tools and programs such as CrystalDiskInfo and DiskMark can help narrow down if there is an actual hardware issue.

On that note, have you ruled out that it could be a software, as in a corrupted OS problem? Have you run sfc /scannow and any Dism commands to see if they help? An in place reinstall of Windows, which (usually) saves your data and programs, can also reinvigorate a sluggish OS sometimes.

theridon · 5 Days Ago

johnukguy said:

Data, as in documents, images, game saves, video and audio files, Adobe/Davinci project files and such you can certainly copy over. If however you mean actual system files, or programs that you have installed on the present SSD, then it's not necessarily a good idea, even if things do appear to work at first afterwards.

There are programs such as PCTrans, Transwiz and similar, which make the process of migration to a new drive/SSD much easier than used to be the case, if you want to go that particular route. I say if because there are no guarantees with any such program. For example, I've used Transwiz in the past and generally it's been good, but sometimes there are programs that just do not transfer well in this way and I would recommend just installing as new if possible, in preference to migrating programs/apps.

As to the issues you're having with your present SSD, have you checked the amount of free space that's available? For SSDs it's recommended to have at least 20% of the available drive space free at all times, for best performance and that the drive is optimized regularly. That process should be taken care of automatically by Windows, but you can also do it yourself manually. Also, checking the drive with Windows built in tools and programs such as CrystalDiskInfo and DiskMark can help narrow down if there is an actual hardware issue.

On that note, have you ruled out that it could be a software, as in a corrupted OS problem? Have you run sfc /scannow and any Dism commands to see if they help? An in place reinstall of Windows, which (usually) saves your data and programs, can also reinvigorate a sluggish OS sometimes.

I troubleshooted in this thread: Slow startup times with SSD

I think I tried everything, short of reinstalling windows. Which considering I need more disk space and the trouble of backing up everything I think I'm just gonna go ahead and buy a new ssda at this point. Definitely not from crucial. I'm ok without programs, I can install those manually, just the documents are the most important thing.

Megahertz said:

The data files on the old SSD will be on the X:\Users"Name" (Replace X with the drive letter assigned to the old SSD)
If the user you create on the new drive (C:\Users"Name") has a different name of the old drive you may have to take ownership to copy the files

How can I make it so the new drives is C and my old one (which is currently named C) is not C?

Also, so if I install w10 on my new SSD, finish installation, then later on put in the old SSD and boot from the new one, it will be okay right?

Megahertz · 5 Days Ago

Drive letters are assigned by the OS you boot from.
If you boot from the current SSD, Windows partition will be C: and on the cloned drive will be something else.
If you boot from the new SSD, Windows partition will be C: and on the current drive it will be something else.

When installing Win 10 on the new SSD, make sure you give the user name the same name on the current drive so you won't have problems on copying files and folders from the old drive to the new.

It isn't the Crucial drive that has slow startup problems. It is windows that has some issues.