Windows 10: How can I move C: or other drives to a new SSD or HDD in Windows 10?

Hi,


I've a Windows 10 setup with the OS installed on C: ssd and program files are seperated among D: SSD and E: HDD. My idea is that, Windows 10 runs on C, which is a good brand SSD; demanding games and programs run on D, and the rest are on E.


Photos, documents etc are on F with Dropbox; I also run OneDrive for C, and G is for system backup.


So here is the summary:


C SSD - OS

D SSD - Games and programs

E HDD - Rest of the programs

F HDD - Dropbox photos, documents etc

G HDD - Windows backups, recovery etc.


So, here is my question:


If in the future, I renew one of these drives, what should I do to avoid a fresh install?


I searched the web but I could not get a clear picture:


- Can I renew my drive C: without using a 3rd party and without having a fresh install? I mean, kind of cloning?


- Can I renew or clone other drives? Will Windows be able to recognize them? I mean, let's say, if and how I clone drive F:, will I have to download everything from Dropbox? If I renew D:, will I need to install all those games again?


Thanks you^^

:)

 

Windows 10 on HDD to a new SSD

I have recently replaced the 500 GB HDD in my laptop running Windows 10 with a 480 GB SSD. The laptop was fully configured with my applications and other settings. The steps I took were as follows:

1) Shrink the C: drive so it was significantly smaller than the SSD (by at least 100 GB) using the Disk Management tools in W10.

2) Copy all the files from D: onto an external HDD.

3) Download Ubuntu Linux and burn on to a DVD.

4) Download Windows 10 from Download Windows 10 and burn this on to a DVD.

5) Close down and boot the laptop from the Ubuntu DVD from step 3 (I used a USB DVD rewriter).

6) Plug in the external HDD.

7) Open a Linux terminal and cd to the external HDD.

8) Copy the C: partition to the external HDD using a command such as:

dd bs=1024k if=/dev/sda1 of=C-drive

where sda1 is adjusted to point to the correct partition.

9) Close down and remove the external HDD.

10) Remove the HDD and replace with the SSD.

11) Perform a clean install Windows 10 from the DVD from step 4. Deleting all partitions from the SSD if it has had any created on it. When it asked for the product key, there was an option to enter it later. Make sure that the C: drive that is created is
the same size or bigger than the C: drive was on the HDD.

12) Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 then run the command

dd bs=1024k if=C-drive of=/dev/sda4

With the clean install of W10 64bit, sda4 was the C: drive on the SSD after the installation.

13) Reboot from the SSD. The first couple of times my laptop reported errors and went into repair and diagnostic cycles. The last one said something like Reboot or Go to further tools. I cannot remember the exact messages but the meaning was as I have described.
I rebooted and Windows 10 came up and ran perfectly.

14) With the SSD working I shrank the C: drive a few GB to make sure the physical space was the same size as the actual filesystem.

15) Create a D: format it and copy all the saved files on to the new D: from the external HDD.

Job done. All my applications worked perfectly and the laptop connected to my wireless network without needing the pass phrase re-entering. I had tried several other ways of cloning the HDD to the SSD, but as the SSD was 20 GB smaller this was the only way
I managed to get it to work.

I hope this helps others to make the HDD to SSD transition.

 

Installing Windows on my new C drive

Current Situation: My C Disk is cramming up and I decided to change a new C disk.

Currently my computer storage is composed of an SSD (being my C disk) and an HDD. I bought a new SSD and desire to somehow transfer my current system into the new SSD along with the current environmental variables, user data, both program files folder, and
various other folders instead of installing a brand new system on my new C drive.

Questions I am currently wondering:

1. I noticed the function provided by windows called "Create a system image". Currently my softwares are distributed evenly in my C drive (SSD) and D drive (HDD). I am not changing my HDD, so softwares installed there will not be removed. If I only choose
   to backup my system in my C drive, can I still run my softwares on my HDD after changing a C drive and reinstalling Windows using the generated ISO file?
2. Does this function "create a system image" pack up the environmental variables, registry, along with all other folders in my C drive, or only the minimal system?
3. If I extract the system image ISO into my new C drive, can I somehow "extract" from the ISO file to create a new system in my new drive? If not, is it possible to make my new C drive a windows Boot USB, and directly installing the windows system onto itself?
4. What is your suggested method of making this move?

Thank you for your help!!

 

SSD failure and Windows 10 reinstall. How to restore apps from HDD.

My Acer desktop computer originally had a 16 GB SSD that held the Windows 10 installation (upgraded from Windows 8). It also has a 2 TB HDD that contains all other applications and files. The original SSD recently failed, preventing me from booting, so I
replaced the SSD with a SanDisk 128 GB model. I then reinstalled Windows 10 on the new SSD using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool. While I was performing the installation, I disconnected the HDD to ensure I didn't accidentally overwrite anything there.

My question now is, how do I get the new installation of Windows (on the new SSD) to recognize the applications I had installed on the HDD? I can use File Explorer to browse the files and applications stored there, but Windows obviously no longer has any
of the apps registered as being installed. The SSD is now listed as the (C drive and the HDD is listed as the (D drive. Before, the HDD was (C and the SSD was the (X drive.

Thanks,

Tim