I just installed my first ssd nvme m.2

[Dik]

Hi, i just installed it, and i wanted it because my old hdd was almos full and kinda slow.
The thing is, my Hdd has 1Tb and my Ssd 500Gb, and i ONLY want to put my OS (windows 10 pro), my sistem drivers and maybe some games on my new Ssd.
I dont want to replace my old Hdd, but the only things i find on youtube (cloning or migrating my OS) are for that purpose (i think).

Can someone help me out? please?

[nullable]

Well there's some challenges in cloning only parts of a drive, and often you're getting into the weeds for cloning software or will need to pay for something. And then, any issues you have are bound to be a consequence of some of your cloning decisions because you're really going for a complicated, non-optimal, solution which often is going to benefit you much aside from sounding good to you at the moment.

I'm not one to harp on clean installs, but this seems like a case where installing Windows 10 Pro clean on your NVMe and making it the boot drive is going to be your best option. And you can worry about cleaning up the HDD as you go.

It's going to be a lot more work to clone or install Windows 10 on the NVMe, and then try to massage all the software on the HDD to work like the OS was always on a separate drive. It might be easier to back up data from the HDD and format it clean and then install the software where you want it to go, on the NVMe or HDD. Also at some point getting rid of the old Windows folder and all the space used by Windows on the HDD wold be nice.

With 500GB on the NVMe you would be able to install some programs there, there's not much sense in letting all that space go to waste because you sold yourself on the NVMe being the OS only. I'm not saying you have to fill it up or anything, but you don't need to avoid using it either.

You're dealing with a smaller drive and unless the space used by the HDD is less than 465GB you've kind of limited your options by going with a smaller NVMe drive. And there's scenarios where wiping everything out (after backing up data) really is your best option.

If you had gone with a 1TB or 2TB NVMe you could have done a straight clone and picked up where you left off on the NVMe.

[_I_]

remove the hdd, and install windows on the ssd
put the hdd back in and boot from the new install on the ssd

you can copy your old docs and stuffs from the hdd to the new one

[Dik]

Wow, that was fast, thank you guys.
Yeah i think im going to fresh install windows into the new ssd and go with it.
One litle last question (sorry, im dumb), while doing the fresh install, will any of my file from my hdd survive?

[_I_]

remove the hdd, then the new install will not need the old drive, or attempt to put boot or other partitions on it

[Crashed]

feet lähetti viestin:

Wow, that was fast, thank you guys.
Yeah i think im going to fresh install windows into the new ssd and go with it.
One litle last question (sorry, im dumb), while doing the fresh install, will any of my file from my hdd survive?

If you ever do decide to image over instead, open Registry Editor and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme and check that Start is set to 0. This tags the driver as being loaded by the bootloader and ensures that NVMe drives can be seen at boot.

[nullable]

feet lähetti viestin:

Wow, that was fast, thank you guys.
Yeah i think im going to fresh install windows into the new ssd and go with it.
One litle last question (sorry, im dumb), while doing the fresh install, will any of my file from my hdd survive?

Installing Windows on one drive is not going to affect data on separate drives. You'll have to manage your HDD separately of course.

[_I_]

smallcat lähetti viestin:

All your data on the hdd will remain intact . Dont worry . No need to remove the hdd . Just install Windows on the ssd and later change the boot sequence - the ssd to be the primary boot drive .

its best to remove all other drives so it forces windows installer to put all of the needed partitions on the same drive
splitting the boot and other partitions across drives makes it a pain if you need to replace or remove any one of those drives

[_I_]

the intel igpu is useful, good for encoding/decoding video so the gpu can do its own task
if you do have problems with the dedicated gpu, the igpu can be used

that has nothing to do with how the os is installed

splitting the boot and os partitions on different drives can cause problems when you need to replace or upgrade drives

whats wrong with using common sense?

[Crashed]

_I_ lähetti viestin:

the intel igpu is useful, good for encoding/decoding video so the gpu can do its own task
if you do have problems with the dedicated gpu, the igpu can be used

that has nothing to do with how the os is installed
splitting the boot and os partitions on different drives can cause problems when you need to replace or upgrade drives

It's not that much more than the F model, and for instance if you happen to be an unlucky owner of a 4090 with a recalled 90 or 180 degree plug adapter it means your PC doesn't have to be made completely non-functional until you can get a replacement cable.

[pasa]

Optimal way is to just clone the current drive to the new and enjoy. However lot of migration tools require that the new drive be bigger than the current system partition. If all your 1T is in a single chunk, it a hassle to rearrange. Especially if it's close to full.

But it is doable. Easier if you can borrow a 1T drive for temp, but without you can use the new SSD as temp space. You just move data files over. Then run defrag and shrink the partition to < .5T. Create a new partition at the tail and move the files from temp to there. Then you can clone the system. to the ssd and reuse the original partition on the HDD.

Certainly first look for migration tool requirements, by now it's possible some can just do it itself -- i.e I saw one that did the cloning while I was working on the system.

Clean install is routinely suggested by people here who probably use throwaway systems, no setup, no installed programs with config just a steam and a browser -- for that use case it is certainly easy.