Windows 10: Upgrading hdd to M.2 SSD

I got a new m.2 drive for Christmas and ive been trying to set it up so that my new SSD drive will replace my old hdd. I partitioned and cloned the new drive and it works well with HDD. However when I take the hdd drive out and turn my computer back on it brings up support assist and then eventually tells me that there is no drive to boot from. Ive been looking online and I can't find what I did wrong.

:)

 

Upgrading hdd to M.2 SSD

I got a new m.2 drive for Christmas and ive been trying to set it up so that my new SSD drive will replace my old hdd. I partitioned and cloned the new drive and it works well with HDD. However when I take the hdd drive out and turn my computer back on
it brings up support assist and then eventually tells me that there is no drive to boot from. Ive been looking online and I can't find what I did wrong.

 

Upgrading hdd to M.2 SSD

Hi ColMac75

Honestly to get the best performance from that M2 you need to clean install Windows 10 onto that drive

You must disconnect the HDD before you install Windows 10 onto the M2 SSD, otherwise the boot config or pagefile can end up on the HDD and your system will then not boot form the SSD

Click this link:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-downlo...

to download the Media Creation Tool (Click on Download Tool Now), with that you can download the latest Windows 10 ISO (Select Create Installation Media for Another PC), you can create a bootable USB flash drive (min 8GB) using that tool

Then, Boot your PC from the Installation Media you just created (change Boot Order in your BIOS) to begin installing Windows 10

Since you previously had Windows 10 installed and activated on that PC during the installation process skip the steps which ask for a product key and select the option 'I am Reinstalling Windows 10 on this PC', and activation will not be an issue, your PC will
have a digital entitlement stored on the Microsoft Activation Servers

 

Upgrading hdd to M.2 SSD

Hi Col. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 9 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

The problem is that when you're changing hard drives the old one needs to be taken out during install to the new one so that it doesn't interfere. But it's possible that it may still interfere even then, so before removing the HDD Please post a screenshot of
Disk Management, which I read like a doctor reads X-rays. Follow the steps here so I can see everything needed to advise you:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/foru...

Remove the hard drive and install only the SSD. Then follow these illustrated steps in this link which compile the best possible Clean Install of Windows which will stay that way as long as you stick with the tools and methods given, has zero reported problems,
and is better than any amount of money could buy:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

Afterwards plug back in the HDD, making sure that Windows Boot Manager (for UEFI) or the SSD (for Legacy BIOS) remains set first to boot in the BIOS/UEFI Setup.

It's always best when replacing a HDD to wipe it with at least Diskpart Clean Command to get bootable code off that can conflict. You can do this from the booted Windows media Command Prompt if the new SSD install won't start with it plugged in, or from the
SSD Command Prompt otherwise:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk...

https://www.pcworld.com/article/248980/how-to-p...

At the minimum one should delete the System and C partition off of the old drive.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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