Clean Win 10 install to second drive?

B

brennok

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 30, 2006
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I have an older PC which was still using a regular hard drive 640gb WD black. I scored a free SSD at work today so I wanted to install a fresh install of Windows 10 onto the SSD and then switch that to the primary drive. It is already running Windows 10.

I am probably over thinking this, but what is the best way? I would prefer to leave my original install intact in case something goes wrong and the drive is small enough it isn't worth wiping to use for storage.

A - I could possibly image the original drive to the SSD. Then opt to reset the PC with only the SSD attached which supposedly creates a fresh Windows Install. This seems like it could be the most time consuming though and not sure if any other drawbacks.

B - Use a USB drive or bootable DVD to do a fresh install.

C - Ask the forum. I obviously opted for C.
 
brennok said:
I have an older PC which was still using a regular hard drive 640gb WD black. I scored a free SSD at work today so I wanted to install a fresh install of Windows 10 onto the SSD and then switch that to the primary drive. It is already running Windows 10.

I am probably over thinking this, but what is the best way? I would prefer to leave my original install intact in case something goes wrong and the drive is small enough it isn't worth wiping to use for storage.

A - I could possibly image the original drive to the SSD. Then opt to reset the PC with only the SSD attached which supposedly creates a fresh Windows Install. This seems like it could be the most time consuming though and not sure if any other drawbacks.

B - Use a USB drive or bootable DVD to do a fresh install.

C - Ask the forum. I obviously opted for C.
Click to expand...

For now, just remove your 640GB drive, install the SSD and do everything from scratch. Chances are, you are not going to be able to clone down to the SSD because it will probably be too small to fit everything. Is that correct?
 
The 640 is only about half full with 250gb free.

I tried to do a clean install, but I may re do it. The PC definitely boots quickly, but it is running so sluggish in Windows 10 I can't do anything. I can't even download Chrome because Edge locks up on google and bing. I have installed all updates and rebooted, but still nothing is working right and can't even get to websites to download various programs. It also thinks I am being invited to a homegroup which I don't have setup currently.

Currently I am running the Windows Memory test since I couldn't do anything else. I bet if I reconnect the 640 drive and unplug the SSD it will work fine too. The drive is a new Samsung 850 Evo 500gb so it shouldn't be the problem.
 
brennok said:
The 640 is only about half full with 250gb free.

I tried to do a clean install, but I may re do it. The PC definitely boots quickly, but it is running so sluggish in Windows 10 I can't do anything. I can't even download Chrome because Edge locks up on google and bing. I have installed all updates and rebooted, but still nothing is working right and can't even get to websites to download various programs. It also thinks I am being invited to a homegroup which I don't have setup currently.

Currently I am running the Windows Memory test since I couldn't do anything else. I bet if I reconnect the 640 drive and unplug the SSD it will work fine too. The drive is a new Samsung 850 Evo 500gb so it shouldn't be the problem.
Click to expand...

If you did a clean install from the Fall Creators update, do so again. However, this time, do not connect to any network or the internet until you have gotten to the initial desktop. I have no idea why this works or what is broken that causes the problem in the first place but, that will fix it.
 
Ok I will try that.

It looks like I was also bit by the Ownership bug. I can't access a single file on any of the other drives I had in the PC because I don't have permission to access them. I am not even talking about Windows files or programs. This is even MP3s I had on secondary drives. The only solution I am finding is to either do the command line option or install the take ownership option in the context menu. These files shouldn't have permission issues so if anyone has any ideas I am all ears.
 
Windows automatically detects what type of media you install on. I've never tried cloning HDD to SSD but does anyone know if after it properly detects it's now on an SSD and disables Optimizer, super-fetch etc?
 
bigdogchris said:
Windows automatically detects what type of media you install on. I've never tried cloning HDD to SSD but does anyone know if after it properly detects it's now on an SSD and disables Optimizer, super-fetch etc?
Click to expand...

Provided AHCI is enabled the SSD should be detected and such technologies should automatically work just fine. I've cloned many HDD's to SSD's and I've never had an issue provided AHCI is enabled.

Once AHCI is enabled you need to boot Windows 10 into safe mode for it to install the correct drivers, otherwise a blue screen will result. Why Windows 10 needs to boot into safe mode to install the correct drivers is simply beyond my comprehension.
 
bigdogchris said:
Windows automatically detects what type of media you install on. I've never tried cloning HDD to SSD but does anyone know if after it properly detects it's now on an SSD and disables Optimizer, super-fetch etc?
Click to expand...
I've done it without issue on Intel chipsets, using the Intel SATA controllers. Anything else, like Marvell controllers, it can be a crap shoot. I'm not a big fan of drive cloning unless the drive types are the same. If it's been a while since the OS was installed, I take a drive upgrade as an opportunity to do a clean install.
 
DeaconFrost said:
I've done it without issue on Intel chipsets, using the Intel SATA controllers. Anything else, like Marvell controllers, it can be a crap shoot. I'm not a big fan of drive cloning unless the drive types are the same. If it's been a while since the OS was installed, I take a drive upgrade as an opportunity to do a clean install.
Click to expand...
Oh same here, I would never do it either. I'm asking for my own knowledge because a lot of people do it.
 
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