So I'm soon going to buy a ssd because my hard drive is so slow, but I have a few questions.
1. Should I clone my old harddrive to the ssd or should I totally wipe all the data and do a clean install of windows on the new ssd? And I'm still going to use the old harddrive for storage in the same pc.
2. If I choose to clone the hard drive, using a program like Acronis True Image HD, will it move the data from the old hdd to the ssd and afterwards delete the data on the old hdd? Or will it just copy everything to the ssd and I will have the same data on both hard drives?
3. The ssd I'm going to buy is 256GB and the old hdd is 640GB, so will it be possible to clone it to the ssd? Or do I have to delete content on the old hdd so I have like 200GB on that one, because right now I have over 400GB on it?
4. If I choose to do a clean install of windows on the new ssd, I will have windows installed on both the ssd and hdd, right? So in that case, can I just delete the whole partition on my old hard drive in disk manager and make a new empty partition?
5. Which method would be easier? I just want my pc to boot up faster and my programs to load faster. I've never done anything like this before!
Thanks!
It's always better to do a fresh install. You could keep your 640GB drive to store all your programs and stuff. I haven't used Acronis only the Samsung magician software which came with my SSD. It should delete it after. There is probably an option. EDIT: It's probably easier to do a fresh install. I did it on my laptop and took the harddrive out put the SSD in and installed Windows. After that i placed the harddrive in another cadddy in the laptop and stored all my shit on it. You just have to remember to change the tree for like Downloads Pictures etc. I just delete C and replace it with D which is my hardrive. 1 Go to my pc. 2 Right click on every folder above your drives and go to properties. 3 Go to path or placement or whatever it's called in english and simply change fx videos from C:\Users\Nikolay\Pictures\Videos to D:\Users\Nikolay\Pictures\Videos (My windows is in danish so names may vary)
But would the cloning still work even if the hdd is larger than the ssd?
No. I don't think so unless you clone the OS and the OS only.
That's what I'd like to do! How do I do that? Only cloning the OS?
Many SSDs come with cloning software. However I didn't use mine, I made a fresh install.
If you choose to clone, I think you will be able to clone only one partition and not the entire hard drive.
But if I do a clean install on the new ssd, can I use the same windows key as I used when installing windows on the old hard drive? Because I don't want to buy a new copy of windows!
yes if it's windows 7, for windows 8 just install like normal and they will tell you your key is already being used, just call the hotline number they give you and it's all automated and that's it.
I have windows 8.1 but the windows disk I have is windows 8! But does it cost any extra money to call the hotline?
Ok, thanks! I'll probably go with the fresh install of windows now!
Btw, I read somewhere that you wouldn't have to call microsoft even if it's windows 8, as long as you have the same motherboard as before. Because it's still the same computer then.