Windows 10: How to move Windows to new SSD and programs to new HDD without making a mess?

I have 2 drives in my PC that I need to replace. The first is my C: drive (a 148GB SSD), on which Windows 10 is installed. I need to move the OS to a larger SSD (a new 500GB SSD).

The second drive is a standard 3TB HDD. I have a lot of programs installed on this drive. It's dying so I need to move these installations to a new HDD.

I really don't want to have to reinstall all these programs, so I was planning on using Aomei Backupper to do a system clone of the OS to the new SSD, and either SteamMover or ApplicationMover to move the programs to the new HDD. The latter apps, in theory, should move the installations correctly whilst maintaining their relationship to the OS.

My question is, how do I do this without making a mess? It feels like whichever one I do first (transfer the OS or move the HDD installed programs) I'm risking the possibility that the programs won't know where Windows is and break them. Any thoughts on this?

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:)

 

SSD for new Windows, keeping files and programs on HDD

Alright, I know this was asked a few times before, but each scenario I found was a bit different so I wanted to be safe and present my situation for review.

I currently have a 1TB HDD with Windows 10 and just obtained a 240GB SSD. I want to install Windows 10 (which I've already obtained an ISO from Microsoft to work with) onto the SSD along with some major games so improve performance. However, I want to keep
the majority of the files and programs on my HDD. I was given two options to take, both of which I have questions about before I proceed.

Option 1) Create a backup of my HDD onto an external hard drive, format the HDD, boot from my flash drive containing Windows and install it onto the SSD. Retrieve the files from the backup and move them back onto the HDD.

In this scenario I'd need to reinstall all the programs I have, because I assume they wouldn't work properly with a new OS installed. If this is correct, should I uninstall the programs before the backup to make things cleaner? During the re-installation,
I'd be choosing the HDD as the location, but would it be able to launch the program located on another drive easily? This is my first time attempting to use multiple drives.

Option 2) Leave my HDD as it is, install Windows onto the SSD and ensure my computer boots to the SSD from the BIOS.

This bypasses the problem of needing to back up and retrieve files. However, would the programs continue to work? This goes back to my previous concern of launching programs located on another drive.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I haven't messed with this in like eight years so I'm a bit nervous, especially considering how much this gaming rig has cost me so far. Would kill me inside to lose anything or be out of commission fixing it for a week.

 

SSD for new Windows, keeping files and programs on HDD

Both options you gave concern re-installing applications.



Option I suggest: if the space taken up (used) on your current hard disk drive is LESS than the the space you will have available on your new SSD (formatted size), utilize some third party partitioning tool to shrink the partition to minimal size (under
the size of the SSD) and then use another tool to make an image of that partition or clone that partition onto the SSD and then take out the HDD and see if everything is working properly on your SSD. Once you have determined that, if you want the extra space
the HDD will grant you, put it back in and format it /use it.

 

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.