Windows 10: Migrating from HDD to SSD, many partitions, need some advice

I have an HP laptop with the following partitions:



The HDD has 750GB capacity. The first 4 partitions are for win 10. I am guessing that the first recovery partition became too small at some point of system update/upgrade and win 10 created a second one that is bigger. The 329.88GB partition and the 3.93GB partition are linux. I don't plan to move them. I'll reinstall a new linux distro. The last partition is a recovery partition from HP. It should no longer be useful. The original OS was win 8 or 8.1 so the HP partition is probably full of 8/8.1. So essentially I want to move maybe the second recovery partition, the EFI partition, and the windows partition (after shrinking) to a 250GB SSD.

My EFI partition has a grub installed so I can select who OS to boot into, linux or win 10.

My question is:
If I decide to only move three partitions: EFI, larger recovery partition, and main win 10 partition, I don't think it is going to work. I don't know how partitions are referred to in EFI bootloader. How do I do the move? Thanks.

:)

 

looking to instal a new ssd drive

I use AOEMI free version to clone/migrate from the old HDD to the new SSD.

The software sets up the correct alignment on the SSD as well.

No real need for a clean install in most cases (my Win7 > Win10 dated from 2010 ).

Free Partition Manager - AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard

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Transferring everything from an old HDD to a new HDD

If all of your files/software are on the same partition as Windows they will be transferred to the new HDD when

your clone/image/migrate Win10 to the new HDD.

If you have data or software on a separate partition or HDD to Windows you can simply copy that data

to the new HDD.

Be careful to use the same drive letter for the partition that the data is stored on now in case there

is something that requires the original file path ( software in particular, but some data may as well ).

There are a number of cloning tools. I use the free version of AOEMI Partition Manager, but HDD mfg's

also have similar software available from mfg's web site.

Free Partition Manager - AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard

- I appreciate that 3TB may be more than enough space for your needs, but you should seriously consider

getting an SSD for Windows. 120GB is adequate, but 240GB is more cost effective per GB.

Of course this is a bit of a bother if you have everything on C:\ , but Windows loads faster and runs quicker

from and SSD. Once you've used Windows on an SSD you will never want to go back to HDD...

Sooo slow... Software also benefits some, but games are fine on an HDD as they only benefit from

slightly decreased loading times on SSD, and of course, data if fine stored on an HDD.

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Hi, actually you'll find there's also a 16Mb System Reserved partition you can't see in Disk Management.
Here's how I'd do it - and it's been done by me and others.

1. Create a full disk image (e.g. Macrium Reflect (free) + its boot medium + external storage for images
(I hope you're using disk images routinely anyway- everyone should)
2. Shrink your existing Windows partition so it will fit on your 256Gb SSD. (You can move personal data off it or uninstall large progs for now....
3. Update your disk image
4. Insert your SSD and configure your BIOS to use AHCI for best performance. (I'd remove your HDD meanwhile).
5. Install Win 10 to the SSD, making sure your Windows partition is a little larger than your then existing one on the HDD.
6. Replace the Windows partition with the one from your disk image.
7. Run start-up repair.

Then you'd need to deal with dual booting Linux, and anything you removed from your Windows partition.
(I prefer to have my personal data on a separate partition).