Need help installing Windows on new SSD

[Bill the Butcher]

So I have Windows 10 on a SSD that's running out of room. I've tried removing files and I can't get it down any more. I wanted to remove Windows from this old SSD and install Windows 10/11 on another SSD I have with more room. Or even just transferring it to the new SSD if possible. How should I go about doing that?

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

unplug current ssd

plug in new one

install win10/11 fresh from usb drive (download iso from microsoft first before removing current ssd)

once setup on new ssd plug old ssd back in to get personal data

[r.linder]

You can use the boot menu in BIOS to boot into whichever USB drive or CD/ROM that has the Windows installation media, select the drive you want to install Windows to, and then boot into it when it's done.

You might have to adjust the boot order in BIOS so that it selects the new drive's boot partition if it defaults to the old drive. Once you get all you want off that drive, you can secure erase it and turn it into a drive as game storage. Ideally, you should have the OS on its own drive and keep all of your programs and games on another drive, just in case because if a drive with your programs and games dies or runs out of writes, at least it doesn't take out your boot drive and you won't need to completely reinstall Windows on a new drive.

[Talby]

Sounds like you want to just clone existing drive to the new one - just plug in your drive, set it up in windows, then run a drive clone to the new one, reboot with the new ssd then format the old one. Good guide about it here[www.pcmag.com] using Macrium Reflect (although there is no more free version, 30 day trial - works all the same). I use it all the time, it's the fastest IMHO...

[Bill the Butcher]

Messaggio originale di Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}:

unplug current ssd

plug in new one

install win10/11 fresh from usb drive (download iso from microsoft first before removing current ssd)

once setup on new ssd plug old ssd back in to get personal data

Can I remove Windows from the old ssd once I plug it back in?

[Bill the Butcher]

Messaggio originale di 尺．し工几句ヨ尺:

You can use the boot menu in BIOS to boot into whichever USB drive or CD/ROM that has the Windows installation media, select the drive you want to install Windows to, and then boot into it when it's done.

You might have to adjust the boot order in BIOS so that it selects the new drive's boot partition if it defaults to the old drive. Once you get all you want off that drive, you can secure erase it and turn it into a drive as game storage. Ideally, you should have the OS on its own drive and keep all of your programs and games on another drive, just in case because if a drive with your programs and games dies or runs out of writes, at least it doesn't take out your boot drive and you won't need to completely reinstall Windows on a new drive.

Oh I didn't realize that. I wanted to put it on a SSD with more space but I have files and games on it. Maybe I should just buy a bigger sized SSD and replace it with this old one for OS?

[r.linder]

Messaggio originale di Bill the Butcher:

Messaggio originale di Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}:

unplug current ssd

plug in new one

install win10/11 fresh from usb drive (download iso from microsoft first before removing current ssd)

once setup on new ssd plug old ssd back in to get personal data

Can I remove Windows from the old ssd once I plug it back in?

The safest method is to do a secure erase and wipe the whole drive after you've backed up whatever data you want to keep

You never want to straight up wipe an SSD like you would a hard drive because it reduces the lifespan

[r.linder]

Messaggio originale di Bill the Butcher:

Messaggio originale di 尺．し工几句ヨ尺:

You can use the boot menu in BIOS to boot into whichever USB drive or CD/ROM that has the Windows installation media, select the drive you want to install Windows to, and then boot into it when it's done.

You might have to adjust the boot order in BIOS so that it selects the new drive's boot partition if it defaults to the old drive. Once you get all you want off that drive, you can secure erase it and turn it into a drive as game storage. Ideally, you should have the OS on its own drive and keep all of your programs and games on another drive, just in case because if a drive with your programs and games dies or runs out of writes, at least it doesn't take out your boot drive and you won't need to completely reinstall Windows on a new drive.

Oh I didn't realize that. I wanted to put it on a SSD with more space but I have files and games on it. Maybe I should just buy a bigger sized SSD and replace it with this old one for OS?

Example setup would be a ~250GB OS drive, and then 1+TB storage drive for everything else

[Bill the Butcher]

Messaggio originale di 尺．し工几句ヨ尺:

Messaggio originale di Bill the Butcher:

Oh I didn't realize that. I wanted to put it on a SSD with more space but I have files and games on it. Maybe I should just buy a bigger sized SSD and replace it with this old one for OS?

Example setup would be a ~250GB OS drive, and then 1+TB storage drive for everything else

Ok I'm trying to figure this out. So I should do secure erase of old SSD with OS. Then remove it and put in new SSD and install OS?

[r.linder]

Messaggio originale di Bill the Butcher:

Messaggio originale di 尺．し工几句ヨ尺:

Example setup would be a ~250GB OS drive, and then 1+TB storage drive for everything else

Ok I'm trying to figure this out. So I should do secure erase of old SSD with OS. Then remove it and put in new SSD and install OS?

You don't need to remove it from the system at all, unless there's a bug in the installer where it won't let you install Windows when there's multiple drives detected, I've seen that before with my Windows 10 OEM disk that installs version 1709

[Blaagh]

there is no need to reinstall windows if you simply upgrade the drive.
do as talby says to clone drive with macrium

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Can easily clone entire disk (old to new; and smaller to larger) in the end the larger should reflect the rest of the drive size in free space. Once that is done, restart the system and enter the BIOS then change the boot options so only the new SSD is the boot device. Save & Exit BIOS.

Once in the OS on the new drive, wipe the old one clean via Disk Management, deleting all partitions. Then make one partition for that drive and format it.

Once that is done you can start creating folders on the new drive and then copy over what you wish to move off of C Drive. Once everything copied over such as loose personal files. Then delete them off of C Drive to free up space.

If need be you can also load up Steam Client and go to Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folder and create one on the other drive(s) so they will now be install options for games. And also allow you to use the move option in Steam should you wish to free up C Drive space even further by moving games over to the other drive.