Windows 10: Move Windows 10 installation to a new drive on a 10 year-old computer

I've read the instructions for creating media installation. I've also read a few of the posts about people going from HDD to SSD. Still, I don't feel confident and don't want to mess things up. Here's my situation.


I have a Dell Inspiron 580 that I purchased in 2010. It came with Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English installed. I upgraded it when Windows 10 came out and it's now running Windows 10 Home, 64-bit. I do not have a Windows key for the Windows 10 version, but it sounds like I don't need it because it will be there digitally in the installation media.


My C drive is a 1 TB drive, but I want to replace it with the 500 GB drive that is installed as a backup drive. I know, that seems backwards, but I eventually want to move that 1 TB drive into a case and use it to do offline backups of photos.


I used the creation tool to create installation media on a DVD I'm burning the DVD now.


I'm confused about the next steps. As I said, I have a C drive currently running the OS and a D drive empty, but not re-formatted and a DVD for installing Windows 10.


1 Do I need to remove the current C drive and move the 500 GB drive into its slot BEFORE I try installing Windows? I'm thinking yes, but I want to confirm.


2 Should I reformat that 500 GB drive before I attempt this, or is it okay to just move it into the C drive slot and start the install?


3 In earlier posts, some people said that when they tried to boot the computer with the DVD in the drive, the computer just hung. Do I need to press a certain function key while I'm booting, or is this a problem only for certain computers or something that no longer happens?


4 If the computer just hangs, what should I do?


Thanks for your help.


MMM

:)

 

Installing Windows 10 on New PC?

I'm going to be building a new PC on Christmas and want to install Windows 10 on it. I have Windows 10 on my current PC, which I installed upgrading from 8.1 with the files on a USB. How do I go about installing a clean copy of Windows 10 on this new PC? I think I recall something about installing it once makes Microsoft recognize your hardware, but since this will be a PC I'm not sure what steps I need to take. Do I need to go 8.1 -> 10 or is there a method of going directly to 10?

 

Installing Windows 10 on New PC?

What's your intended PC specs ??

 

Is it time for Windows 10 already?

Here's a good step by step guide on doing a fresh install.

How to clean install Windows 10 from a USB drive - Software - Feature - HEXUS.net