Upgrading from HDD to SSD on windows 10


  1. dustycloud
    Posts : 2
    Windows 10
       New #1

    Upgrading from HDD to SSD on windows 10


    I will be upgrading my hard drive to an ssd and due to the smaller size i can't just copy the entire disc so i figured i should do a clean install as i have a bunch of junk on my current install and had some questions.

    1.First is how will i activate the new version of windows. Currently i have downloaded and setup a USB to install windows from but don't know how to activate it during setup.
    2.I plan on keeping my current HHD as a secondary drive, if i wanted to will I still beable to bootup using the version(for the purposes of different settings and stuff) of windows on this drive in the future after the one on my SSD has been activated or will i have to just get rid of this version.
    3. I have a bunch of programs that i rarely use installed on my HDD will i be able to use these like normal after the upgrade or will i have to reinstall them onto my SSD
    4. I also have some paid programs with limited number of installations, how should i go about moving them to the SSD without it being counted as installing on a second computer?
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  3. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,467
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #2

    dustycloud said:
    1.First is how will i activate the new version of windows. Currently i have downloaded and setup a USB to install windows from but don't know how to activate it during setup.
    If Windows 10 setup asks you to enter a product key - click on the option to skip it. As long as you install the same version of Windows 10 that was on the computer before, it will activate automatically when you connect to the internet. If you had plain, regular Windows 10 Home on it, the install plain, regular Windows 10 Home on it. Do not install Single Language edition. Do not install "N" edition. That is where most people screw up.

    dustycloud said:
    2.I plan on keeping my current HHD as a secondary drive, if i wanted to will I still beable to bootup using the version(for the purposes of different settings and stuff) of windows on this drive in the future after the one on my SSD has been activated or will i have to just get rid of this version.
    In order to comply with the EULA you will have to get rid of the version of Windows installed on the old hard drive.

    dustycloud said:
    3. I have a bunch of programs that i rarely use installed on my HDD will i be able to use these like normal after the upgrade or will i have to reinstall them onto my SSD
    If you clean install Windows 10 to the SSD, then you will have to reinstall them. If you transfer the existing Windows 10 installation to the SSD by shrinking the partition to fit, then the programs will transfer over too.

    dustycloud said:
    4. I also have some paid programs with limited number of installations, how should i go about moving them to the SSD without it being counted as installing on a second computer?
    Same answer as question #3 above.

    If you choose to do a clean install to the SSD, do not have the old hard drive connected until after Windows 10 is installed and running on the SSD. You are likely to mix up the location of the boot files if you install Windows 10 to the SSD with the old hard drive connected.
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  4. Steve C
    Posts : 8,000
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       New #3

    dustycloud said:
    I will be upgrading my hard drive to an ssd and due to the smaller size i can't just copy the entire disc so i figured i should do a clean install as i have a bunch of junk on my current install and had some questions.

    1.First is how will i activate the new version of windows. Currently i have downloaded and setup a USB to install windows from but don't know how to activate it during setup.
    2.I plan on keeping my current HHD as a secondary drive, if i wanted to will I still beable to bootup using the version(for the purposes of different settings and stuff) of windows on this drive in the future after the one on my SSD has been activated or will i have to just get rid of this version.
    3. I have a bunch of programs that i rarely use installed on my HDD will i be able to use these like normal after the upgrade or will i have to reinstall them onto my SSD
    4. I also have some paid programs with limited number of installations, how should i go about moving them to the SSD without it being counted as installing on a second computer?
    It's very easy to move from a HDD to SSD without needing a clean install. See my guide here for how to do this using Macrium Reflect http://www.eightforums.com/installat...s-hdd-ssd.html

    You can certainly keep your old HDD attached as an internal or external drive and copy any files needed. Note its's recommended to have only the new SSD attached when you first boot to ensure the correct boot configuration is set up. I also recommend you use MiniTool Partition Wizard to change any active partitions on your HDD to inactive after changing to the new SSD. This will prevent any boot issues due to having 2 active versions of Windows on your PC. You will need to make your HDD system partition active again to boot from the HDD.
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  6. orlbuckeye
    Posts : 343
    Windows 10
       New #4

    First of all make sure that you've done the Anniversary Update. Added to the AU is something that links your Windows 10 Digital Entitlement ID to your MS account ( that is if your using a MS account to login). They do this to make activation easier when you change hardware. Also download the new ISO that was added to the MS site after August 2.

    Then do a clean install on the SSD which usually works easier if you do it with the SSD alone then after the install add the HD to the second drive slot. Depending how clean you want the HD you could back up the data and format it and restore your data Because your old Windows 10 will be using space and you won't be using that Windows 10 anymore.
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  7. manish9009
    Posts : 134
    windows 10
       New #5

    Just simply use the tools provided by your SSD manufacturer ..
    They can transfer entire OS and files without need of reinstalling OS.
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  8. dustycloud
    Posts : 2
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #6

    thanks for the information, I was able to do a clean install of windows and get it activated but when I plugged my old HDD back into the system it never showed up in the new OS. to make sure my hardware wasn't faulty I checked in BIOS and tried to boot from my HDD and in both places both drives were present.

    I checked in the Computer Management->Disk Management and that also only showed one drive

    Edit: after checking for windows updates and restarting the HDD just started showing
    Last edited by dustycloud; 12 Aug 2016 at 14:53.
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