I finally made it back home to Utah, and now I have to set up my new PC. I'm wondering what the best way to go about moving the new OS (Win Home) from the internal spinning HD to a new M.2 SSD that I purchased at the same time.

Do I install the SSD first thing, before I register Windows or do anything? Or do I set up the PC and get everything up and running on the installed drive, then image it over to the SSD? What are the implications with registering it first on the spinning drive WRT Microsoft's license?

My last PC setup was in 1998 running Windows NT4.0, so I have little experience in the current PC world. I only have Macs available, so I cannot do anything on another PC first, unless it's in a virtual machine. What is the best way to image the Windows drive? On the Mac, I'd use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, so I assume there's something that works the same way on a PC. Also, should I make OS installation media, or is Windows just a downloadable ISO where you use your own reg key? If I need to make media, I assume it would be a bootable USB stick (no DVD . What utility do I need for that?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'll be doing this on Christmas day, and want to avoid unnecessary frustrations.

I don't think you'll have an issue if you've already registered Windows on the HDD.

What I would do is create a windows install flash drive and install a clean copy of windows onto the SSD. After of course you backup any files from the HDD that you need onto another flash drive.

Microsoft has a program that creates the install flash drive for you. Its called the Windows 10 media creation tool.

You didn't mention what OS you will use - but some helpful advice on W10 for privacy when you reach that point.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...670020154#2670020154

Well now I'm curious. The link from that other thread is dead. Got another source?

I would disconnect the old drive and install the new SSD. Install from USB Windows 10. Do all updates. Rebooting several times probably. Also as sgalczyn mentioned, search on privacy for windows 10. There are a few good pages that explain in detail how to minimize the data collection in Win 10. Once you have the SSD fully setup with your programs you can connect your original drive and copy anything onto your SSD like documents and pics etc.

If you want to get a little more detailed, you could update the system bios and go through setup to make sure it is optimized for Win10. I have mine setup so all my personal files are on a different SSD so if I ever want to reload the primary OS I don't have to do anything with my data but point Win10 to the location. If you want to contact me offline I can help you with that.

Here are a couple privacy sites

https://www.zdnet.com/article/...ivacy-in-windows-10/

https://www.pcworld.com/articl...-piece-by-piece.html

https://pixelprivacy.com/resou...ws-privacy-settings/

OK, so the only software that I'll need is the Media creation tool? That should be easy. I'll make a bootable USB, plug in the SSD, install the OS and I'm done. Sounds easy enough.

Thanks for the links.

Sigcrazy, Apple guy, former Novel dude? Using Win x.x? Hope your conversion goes smooth.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
OK, so the only software that I'll need is the Media creation tool? That should be easy. I'll make a bootable USB, plug in the SSD, install the OS and I'm done. Sounds easy enough.

Thanks for the links.

There should be few updates/reboots if you DL the latest build.
After you install you may need to install some device drivers and I would do that first before any MS updates.
Go to your mb mfg and get the latest for your motherboard > usually INF, LAN, Graphics and Audio.
THEN do you MS updates.

Excuse me for butting in but there is knowledge here that I need. I just repalced a 10 year old Acer pc win7 with another Acer w. win10. I use chrome os and see little about win10 that causes me problems.

I put my data from old pc on a flash drive and am leaving it there. I don't do anything but e-mail, web surf and my taxes w/turbo tax.

I was concerned about learning Win10 but since I use Chrome there isn't much to learn. I don't know how much I don't know is what I suspect but it works fine. Suggestions?

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
Excuse me for butting in but there is knowledge here that I need.

I was concerned about learning Win10 but since I use Chrome there isn't much to learn.
I don't know how much I don't know is what I suspect but it works fine.

Suggestions?

So what is your question?
FWIW ...what does Chrome have to do with anything here?

One thing I didn't see (and hopefully didn't miss) in those privacy checklists posted in this thread was to turn off Windows keeping track of where you've been in the TaskView history. Having browsing history off, etc. doesn't kill this. It must be specifically killed.

Win button + I
Go to Privacy
Go to Activity History
Uncheck Let Windows Collect My Activities

Also use the clear activity history button.

As mentioned above, I'd hold off on messing with the SSD right off and get the current Windows setup registered and updated. As smschultz noted, it would also be a good idea to update your drivers. Once everything is updated, configured, and running as it should, then attack installing the SSD. It should be an easy job using the software provided by the SSD manufacturer for that purpose.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
As mentioned above, I'd hold off on messing with the SSD right off and get the current Windows setup registered and updated. As smschultz noted, it would also be a good idea to update your drivers. Once everything is updated, configured, and running as it should, then attack installing the SSD. It should be an easy job using the software provided by the SSD manufacturer for that purpose.

One huge caveat is having your BIOS set to AHCI for SSD efficiency *BEFORE* installing Win10.

On my recent upgrade from Win7 to Win10 (clean install) this wasn't done until after which lead to a huge crapfest to iron things out. Something I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy.

If this is a preinstalled Win 10 OS, I’m not sure you can just transfer the whole thing to a SSD. You may be better off just buying a fresh copy of Win10 and doing a clean install on the SSD.

This way you’ll also have the bonus of getting rid of all the bloatware that most likely came with that new PC.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
If this is a preinstalled Win 10 OS, I’m not sure you can just transfer the whole thing to a SSD. You may be better off just buying a fresh copy of Win10 and doing a clean install on the SSD.

This way you’ll also have the bonus of getting rid of all the bloatware that most likely came with that new PC.

You can still do a clean install with an OEM PC that came preinstalled. Just download the media creation too. WHen you install a second time just skip the KEY entry stage. Microsoft knows about the license for OEM pc's like Dells and should automatically activate based on the BIOS.

Clean install is WAY BETTER even on a brand new machine. Bought mu daughter a new laptop last summer. First thing I did was reload Win10 from scratch. As mentioned, this eliminates the bloatware programs that oem's like to install to waste your computer's resources.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (doing this off the top of my head), but...

1) Install the SSD as a secondary drive.

2) Get a disk imaging package, and image the boot drive onto the SSD. A lot of SSDs come with this.

3) Reboot, and got to the BIOS configuration before the OS boots. In there you should be able to change the boot device to the SSD.

4) Reformat the old bood drive and make it a secondary data drive (what magnetics are go for now.

If it's a new machine, the OS install may be lurking in a hidden partition on the magnetic. Again you can usually get to this on boot before the boot loader starts the OS. If you use that to do a fresh OS install on the SSD. Then pick up at step 3 above.

If you want more detail on the cloning procedure, here's a video:




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/BZqkYnmDnas