How to copy all my stuff from HDD to SSD?

[ergonaut]

I was just wonderin', since I haven't ever done this before. My gaming PC has a small SSD for Windows and a large HDD for the games and all the other stuff. I want to replace that with an SSD as well. Now, my naive approach would be to install the SSD alongside the HDD and simply copy everything to the HDD. But then the SSD would have a different drive letter, would that be a problem for e.g. Steam or any other program? Could I change the drive letter afterwards, after I get rid of the HDD? Or is there some other approach that is better overall?

Thanks!

[fanpeople]

When I first got an SSD (like in 2014), it came with software that you could use to essentially clone the HDD so you didn't have to reinstall everything. I did that initially with no issues.

 I think a clean install of windows and reinstall all the software/copy over remaining files is the gold standard though.

[Faceman76]

I've used Samsung's software several times for this procedure and it worked flawlessly.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[suicidal_orange]

Install a clean OS on the SSD (remove the old drive first so it doesn't get confused) then reinstall the old drive and check in bios that you're booting from the SSD.  Once booted copy your steam folder to the new drive then run the steam installer and point it to the new drive where you just put the files and it should see all the games and work as if nothing had happened.

Other programs may not be so friendly, you can copy config files from "C:\Users\YOU\Local Settings" for some things (Firefox is in the Mozilla folder in there) but many windows specific programs will have their settings in the registry so you're out of luck.

I just actually read the OP - if the OS is on a separate drive then the OP and fohat are correct, all you need to do is install the new drive, copy the files, then change the drive letter.

[fohat.digs]

I would just install the new one side-by-side and copy everything, then remove the old one and set it aside as a backup.

Then reassign the drive letter of the new one using disk management.

[tp4tissue]

Tp4 would do a clean install.

But if you MUST be lazy.  Macrium reflect works well. Time tested.

You tell macrium to clone the main drive.  This creates a file (Drive Image), store this on your HDD

You tell macrium to create a recovery thumbdrive

Remove your main drive,  put in the SSD.

Boot the thumbdrive,   tell Macrium in the recovery os to IMAGE the drive image onto the SSD. and you're done.

Turn it off, tell the Motherboard to boot the SSD as main drive.

[Rika]

As Suicidal added at the end OP is NOT asking for moving their boot drive, it's their game drive, in which case their primitive method would probably work fine, especially if it's near on just games.

Just enabling hidden and system files and copy pasting should be fine, a clone can be used if worried, and then as previously said, remove the old HDDs letter in disk management, set the new SSD to that letter, and then give the HDD a letter again.

It should all work fine after that, the only thing that might need adjusting is things that ran while you were doing this, like steam, before you do it you probably want to force quit steam and anything else that runs or saves on the HDD so it won't get confused at the end, worst case you forget and have to readd the steam library (and even worse, it wants to validate, but redownloads shouldn't happen even if you mess up... probably)

Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk

[Leslieann]

I would just install the new one side-by-side and copy everything, then remove the old one and set it aside as a backup.

Then reassign the drive letter of the new one using disk management.

This is absolutely the best option here.

However, I will add, do not just drag everything over, you want to do it in chunks. Do one root level tree at a time, I.E. D:\pics, then D:\documents and so on. This allows time for things too cool between chunks, buffers to dump (to increase speed) and most importantly if it fails at some point, and it likely will, you will know what failed and be able to restart the copy without redoing everything again, over and over and over again.

[ergonaut]

Thank you all for your helpful answers.

Meanwhile I went ahead and installed the SSD, and it seems like I have another problem before even getting to copying anything: my computer doesn't recognize the SSD, neither in the BIOS nor in Windows' Device Manager. I'm pretty sure I connected it correctly, I did it the same way I also connected the HDD when I first built the PC. What else could be the issue here?

[Faceman76]

Win 10?  It's in disk management. 

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Leslieann]

If it's not in bios it won't be in Device Manager and if it's not in Device manager it won';t be in Disk management.
Disk Management is the last in line to see it before you can access it, all it does is initialize it to start, everything else has to find it first.

Double check cables, try a different port. If it's an older system some ports may be on a secondary channel or chipset and need to be enabled in bios. Worst case, try it in another systems.

[ergonaut]

Thanks, I'll try that. Also, regarding the cables: my PSU included a bunch of power cables which each have multiple SATA plugs. So I figured I could just connect the SDD to the one that was already connected to the HDD. Is that correct, or should I have connected a separate power cable?

[yui]

I was just wonderin', since I haven't ever done this before. My gaming PC has a small SSD for Windows and a large HDD for the games and all the other stuff. I want to replace that with an SSD as well. Now, my naive approach would be to install the SSD alongside the HDD and simply copy everything to the HDD. But then the SSD would have a different drive letter, would that be a problem for e.g. Steam or any other program? Could I change the drive letter afterwards, after I get rid of the HDD? Or is there some other approach that is better overall?

Thanks!

if both disks are the same size you could use an utility like clonezilla or dd (if you know linux a bit, dd is rather dangerous for newcomers), put both disk in a machine, clone the hdd on the ssd and remove the hdd, you will be done, although the process is rather slow, and if you invert the drives you will erase your drive (well you will copy empty data from the ssd over the data on the hdd), but that process also works with system disks for pretty much any OS i know of.
and yeah ssd and hdd do not draw much current so you can plug many on the same cable (about 5 to 10 should be fine, depending on power, 2 definitely is fine)

[suicidal_orange]

I figured I could just connect the SDD to the one that was already connected to the HDD. Is that correct, or should I have connected a separate power cable?

One cable is fine, better even as you know it works.

[Leslieann]

Thanks, I'll try that. Also, regarding the cables: my PSU included a bunch of power cables which each have multiple SATA plugs. So I figured I could just connect the SDD to the one that was already connected to the HDD. Is that correct, or should I have connected a separate power cable?

It should be fine, but the plug could be bad.

[Darthbaggins]

I was just wonderin', since I haven't ever done this before. My gaming PC has a small SSD for Windows and a large HDD for the games and all the other stuff. I want to replace that with an SSD as well. Now, my naive approach would be to install the SSD alongside the HDD and simply copy everything to the HDD. But then the SSD would have a different drive letter, would that be a problem for e.g. Steam or any other program? Could I change the drive letter afterwards, after I get rid of the HDD? Or is there some other approach that is better overall?

Thanks!

if both disks are the same size you could use an utility like clonezilla or dd (if you know linux a bit, dd is rather dangerous for newcomers), put both disk in a machine, clone the hdd on the ssd and remove the hdd, you will be done, although the process is rather slow, and if you invert the drives you will erase your drive (well you will copy empty data from the ssd over the data on the hdd), but that process also works with system disks for pretty much any OS i know of.
and yeah ssd and hdd do not draw much current so you can plug many on the same cable (about 5 to 10 should be fine, depending on power, 2 definitely is fine)

Hell Clonezilla can be beyond dangerous for newcomers as well.   I would personally do as Leslieann previously mentioned and just move one root folder/file at a time to the new drive.  Also wouldn't set the destination in the programs until you remove the HDD from the system and re-compile the directories in the apps tied to said folders (Steam & UbiPlay will be the easiest since they have that feature imbedded into them/ at least have the option to locate the directory). 

[Leslieann]

Hell Clonezilla can be beyond dangerous for newcomers as well.   

All imagers can be, I've been doing this a long time and I still occasionally screw up, it doesn't take much.

Even if you do everything right it may not work and even if it appears to, you probably have no way to verify.

[yui]

Was i just extremely lucky to never have screwed up with either Clonezilla or DD? i used both quite a lot and especially with clonezilla is you are not boneheaded it gives you plenty of warnings and let you check you actually are not doing things backward. dd is less forgiving but i never though of zilla as a dangerous tool.

[Leslieann]

Was i just extremely lucky to never have screwed up with either Clonezilla or DD? i used both quite a lot and especially with clonezilla is you are not boneheaded it gives you plenty of warnings and let you check you actually are not doing things backward. dd is less forgiving but i never though of zilla as a dangerous tool.

It's easier if you have two very different drives but when they are identical in almost every way bad things can happen, like select the wrong drive or you just start clicking/pressing enter out of habit. Personally, I don't like images and I think people rely on them far too much as a means of backup and moving data, it includes far too much useless and out of date data as well as a lot of garbage you simply don't need. My backups, non-incremental are usually less than 2gigs each.

By the way, disk manager is windows is also not foolproof. Several times I've seen it format the wrong drive, usually if you're doing multiple drives and doing hot swap. I've seen all these things happen enough that I often use a sacrificial system when imaging drives and make sure all drives are of different size or make it so I can identify them easier. You may not have had a problem (I do a lot of this) but all it takes is once and you can be screwed.

[yui]

oh yeah i only use clonezilla to clone a disk, be it on an ssd or a new hdd, not making images, for backups i do rely a lot more on BTRFS snapshots, and i guess i should set up shadowcopy on my windows machines one day. just that when you deal in old machines cloning old dying disks to new fresh disks is a rather common thing to do.

[Darthbaggins]

Hell Clonezilla can be beyond dangerous for newcomers as well.   

All imagers can be, I've been doing this a long time and I still occasionally screw up, it doesn't take much.

Even if you do everything right it may not work and even if it appears to, you probably have no way to verify.

For the one's I have to clone/copy for deployment I tend to use my Gandalf tool/drive and use Acronis - it at least will recognize the parent drive you need to clone from (in most cases).  But I have screwed drives up that I had to recover later and fix w/in Terminal/CMD (fortunately there are ways/code to recover data for the most part).

[fohat.digs]

make it so I can identify them easier.

I have a label maker that is great for this, eg "WD 2TB 2019 photos" stuck on the end of the drive and visible when you open the case.
Generally I keep drives for archive after I retire them and it also helps when I have to go back a few years, just in case.

[tp4tissue]

You guys are insane,  use macrium reflect, boom done.  stop with this nonsense. dragging folder?? That's insane, without of filecopier doing checksum, there's significant risk windows will not copy properly, it'll error out and not even tell you.

[Leslieann]

oh yeah i only use clonezilla to clone a disk, be it on an ssd or a new hdd, not making images, for backups i do rely a lot more on BTRFS snapshots, and i guess i should set up shadowcopy on my windows machines one day. just that when you deal in old machines cloning old dying disks to new fresh disks is a rather common thing to do.

I especially pull as much personal data as I can before imaging old drives, I've had too many of them fail while creating the image. It's often the most work that drive has ever done in it's life, like asking you to run your first marathon on your 100th birthday. I've come to distrust any drive any more than about 3 years or older.

I have a label maker that is great for this, eg "WD 2TB 2019 photos" stuck on the end of the drive and visible when you open the case.

Not the label I was talking about.
I mean the label in the imaging software and device manager, etc...

Trying to decide between WD2387612736520 and WD2387612736501a.

You guys are insane,  use macrium reflect, boom done.  stop with this nonsense. dragging folder?? That's insane, without of filecopier doing checksum, there's significant risk windows will not copy properly, it'll error out and not even tell you.

It's easy to see if something was missed when doing it manually, usually it's something inconsequential and if you do it folder by folder it's even less likely. I usually just do a check to see if it got every file or folder and move on. Yes, it can miss something, but it's still faster and smaller than an image.

You can make a perfect image, doesn't mean the system will boot from the new drive, this means crossing your fingers the old drive still functions and you can either now manually pull data or try another image, yet again over-working the drive. Seriously, I can't tell you how many times I've had an image not boot. Macreum seems to do better than some but that's mostly because it contaminates the drive and makes the image even larger. Not so much an issue if you're just moving data but in an archive that extra data adds up and even if you remove it after the drive's now dirtier than when you began the process.

I hate dirty installs/reinstalls, it's just that much closer to needing a refresh.
It's amazing just how bad Windows garbage collection is compared to Mac, much less Linux. You can run every cleaning tool known to man and Windows will still be a dumpster fire after a year.

[Leslieann]

To do this, you can use cloud services or use an external hard drive.

Online makes for a fine backups system, it is not a method of temporary storage, especially if you're in a hurry or worried a drive is failing.


Ever upload 1GB, let alone 4TB over the average home internet connection?
Most home cable caps at 5Mbps to 10Mpbs upload. Yes, some people have faster but you also have to consider that many servers, especially backup servers have a 10mbit ethernet card or bandwidth throttle limit. Here's how long it takes to transfer over a 10Mbit upload connection.

1Gb requires 13 hours.
1TB requires 9 DAYS
4TB requires 37 days
Remember this is at full speed, nothing else using the connection (at either end!), even casual browsing, and  no glitches. The reality is you should add about 50%-100% to these numbers and double that if you have a 5Mpbs connection.

Don't forget you still need to download it again to get it back onto the new drive, and while probably faster, it can still take a very long time. You could literally backup to a drive and mail it faster than you can upload/download it, which is why some of these services actually offer that very thing.


Bottom line, you need a backup system in place BEFORE your drive starts to fail, not after, and that goes double if you plan on backing up remotely.