Windows 10: Replacing HDD with SSD, want clean install windows. Win install does not see my SSD drive,...

How to install clean Windows 10 on SSD

:)

 

Replacing hdd with ssd in a laptop.

Hey,

I have an acer laptop that has an hdd with windows 10. I would like to replace this hdd with an ssd, but with a clean install of windows 10. Is there a way to transfer win 10 and activate it onto the ssd.

The laptop does not have an additional hdd option.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Nikaash

 

Install of Win 10 from old HDD to new SSD

My PC has a WD 1 T HDD as the primary drive with Win 10 installed. There is also an 2nd older WD HDD for data storage purposes if ever needed - unlikely.

I recently bought a new 500 GB SSD drive. I would like to install my WIN 10 on the new SSD using it as the primary drive.

To install on the new SSD, would I unplug the WD 1 T HDD and install the new SSD drive on the MB and then install Win 10 on the SSD.

After the above, I assume I then reconnect The WD 1 T HDD. With the OS on the New SSD, will the apps and programs that are on the WD HDD operate or will I have to reinstall them on the new SSD As well how do I delete Win 10 from the HDD - do I simply delete the files or delete the partitions or just don’t bother. The WD HDD a was not even close to being full and was bought for faster access.

Any suggestions on how to get the new SSD to work properly and windows off the old WD HDD so it does not interfere with the new SSD would be appreciated.

 

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 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 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.