Windows 10: Can I move my W10 install from one SSD to another and - ideally - swap the drive letters so...

I have two SSDs installed in my system, both Samsung 860QVOs, one of them, C, has my win10 install and all my programs and games, it's 1TB.

After a cleanup, the second 2TB drive, D, is just used as a record / render drive, it's currently empty because I shift everything over to a storage HDD when not in use. I'd like to swap that around - have the OS, games and programs on the 2TB drive and just use the 1TB as a record / render drive. I just don't have any idea how to go about doing that, even after some cursory googling.

I do have a microSD with win10 install media and a free 1TB external HDD that I could use to back up the C Drive / create an 'image' of the drive as it currently is, but past that I have no knowledge, don't know what program / windows feature to use to achieve this, or even if what I want is possible.

On top of all that, as you can imagine all my programs / shortcuts / etc. are set to search for things in the C: drive. Would I be able to do this in such a way that renames the 2TB drive to C so everything works just as I had it?

Just some notes, in case it helps my motherboard is an asus rog strix x570-f gaming. I have Secureboot enabled and a boot password at bios level. Will either of these cause trouble doing this, if it's even possible?

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:)

 

Cloning to SSD then swapping drive letters


@SamHobbs
What you want done is very simple and can be done in short period of time. Here's my suggestion:
There's 2 modes that Windows can be installed: UEFI and the old legacy MBR. Open Disk Management, look at the disk where your C drive is, if there's a

1. EFI System Partition, your Windows was installed using UEFI.
2. System Reserved partition, your Windows was installed using MBR

Next, Connect your SSD to an available Sata port (no need to format or do anything). Download: Macrium Reflect Free . Install and run. Follow the steps below:

1. From Macrium, click on image this disk under your C drive and save it to either an Internal or External Drive. This will create a single backup image of the whole disk containing your C drive.
2. Again, from Macrium, click on Restore tab and select the image created from step 1, Select your SSD as the destination drive, click Next->Finish
3. Exit Macrium. If your Windows was installed using MBR, Open disk management and make sure the SSD is marked "Active" else go to next step.
4. Shutdown your PC. Disconnect the HD containing Windows C drive then connect your SSD to it.
5. Reboot. Your PC should boot and the Windows should have C as the drive letter.

NOTE: The procedure above is to backup your Windows to an image file then copy it back to the SSD. This ensures proper cluster size aligment for the SSD. In addition, Macrium also perform Trimming for the SSD. This is more preferable than cloning.

 

Swapping drive letters, including boot volume

I have a new computer. I want to clone the system to a new SSD. Can I change the drive letter of the SSD to C: after cloning?

I have a new ASUS M52BC with:

• 1 TB hard drive with a Windows (C and empty data (D partition
• Windows 8.1 (I will upgrade to Windows 10 very soon) on the hard drive
• Samsung SSD 850 EVO (physically installed but nothing more done to it)

What I want to get to is:

• 1 TB hard drive with the data (D partition and (for the old Windows partition) the drive letter of the C: changed to something else
• Windows 10 on the SSD as the C:

I don't intend to boot to Windows on the hard drive after I get Windows working on the SSD unless I need to remove the SSD for return to ASUS for repair. (My new computer had a bad motherboard when I received it but I hope I do not need to return it again.)

I want to clone Windows to the SSD using the Samsung Data Migration tool. During the clone, the SSD will of course not have the drive letter "C". To boot from and use the SSD after the cloning, it must have the drive letter "C", correct? I assume the Data
Migration tool cannot change the drive letter used by the software it clones.

After the clone, how do I swap the drive letters? I assume I cannot change the drive letter of the hard drive Windows partition when it was used to boot from because it would be the boot drive, correct?

I know that some people will suggest that I do a fresh install. I want to avoid doing that if possible.

I see
Migrate system partition to a new disk. I think that describes doing what I am trying to do, but unfortunately he does not know how he did it.

 

Cloning to SSD then swapping drive letters


I have a new computer. I want to clone the system to a new SSD. Can I change the drive letter of the SSD to C: after cloning?

My new computer (an ASUS) currently has Windows 8.1. I intend to upgrade to Windows 10 before I do anything more. I will move the old Windows elsewhere before cloning if that is possible.

I have the SSD installed physically but it is not formatted or anything. I intend to use the Samsung Data Migration tool to do the clone. During the clone, the SSD will of course not have the drive letter "C". After the cloning, it must have the drive letter "C", correct? I know we can assign drive letters in Disk Management. I am familiar with partitions and I know that the boot drive/partition is marked as "Active".

Can I re-assign drive letters in Disk Management and delay the change until the next boot? This is just a guess, but it makes sense that the feature might exist. In other words, after the clone, can I change the drive letter ("C") of the current drive to something such as "T" and the SSD drive's letter to "C" and then the change will be effective upon the next boot? The hard drive has a second partition that is empty and is the "D:". It will be confusing for others to have the SSD partition as "C:" and the first partition some other letter and the second partition as "D:" but I understand and I am the only one that will use it. That is a minor detail.

I do not intend to use the old Windows after the successful clone unless I need to remove the SSD for return to ASUS. My new computer had a bad motherboard when I received it but I hope I do not need to return it again.

I know that some people will suggest that I do a fresh install. (I see: Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums.). I want to avoid doing that if possible. I am not sure that I can install everything else that ASUS installs but hopefully that is possible. If however I can simply swap drive letters after the clone then that should be the simplest solution.
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