Windows 10: Will the HDD be formatted once i reinstall windows 10 on a new SSD via USB?

Discus and support Will the HDD be formatted once i reinstall windows 10 on a new SSD via USB? in Windows 10 Installation and Upgrade to solve the problem; I currently have my OS installed in the HDD. Last year I added an SSD to my laptop, but refused to move the OS onto it. Fastforward, my laptop... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Installation and Upgrade' started by bieron lioe, Jul 15, 2023.

  1. Will the HDD be formatted once i reinstall windows 10 on a new SSD via USB?


    I currently have my OS installed in the HDD. Last year I added an SSD to my laptop, but refused to move the OS onto it. Fastforward, my laptop performance is quite poor and I decided to reinstall windows onto my SSD. My question is whether or not reinstalling windows 10 onto the SSD will affect the files/data in my current HDD??? will it automatically format both my HDD and SSD OR it will just format the SSD??

    :)
     
    bieron lioe, Jul 15, 2023
    #1
  2. mfcnorth Win User

    W10 - Install new SSD, format old HDD Query

    Hello,
    I have an old Dell Optiplex 790 that I am in the process of upgrading so it can be somewhat usable again. Next step is to install a new SSD. I have a genuine version of Windows 10 installed on the existing HDD. I am familiar with reinstalling windows and formatting drives, but I have never been in this scenario. I want to format the existing HDD to a clean state, and install windows on the new SSD. Please can someone explain what the most efficient steps are for doing this? The HDD will just be used for storing media (images, video, music etc.)
    Thanks.
     
    mfcnorth, Jul 15, 2023
    #2
  3. 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.
     
    Grangeland, Jul 15, 2023
    #3
  4. Will the HDD be formatted once i reinstall windows 10 on a new SSD via USB?

    Automatic repair while booting from hdd and installing windows on ssd.

    1. Migrated windows from hdd to ssd
    2. Formatted hdd
    3. Prioritised boot from ssd in bios
    4. Turned on the pc
    5. Automatic repair

    To deal with this I select boot from a device > then EFI USB device > it says no bootable USB detected, select from these drives > there are few options including the newly installed ssd > I select ssd > then it shows disk checking, press any key to stop > I stop it > windows then boots from ssd.

    It very difficult to repeat all this everytime I turn on my pc. Please suggest a fix.
     
    JagmanjotSingh, Jul 15, 2023
    #4
Thema:

Will the HDD be formatted once i reinstall windows 10 on a new SSD via USB?

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