move C: into SSD

[pajamas86]

Hi all,

I am thinking of buying a 250GB SSD to improve the loading speed for my desktop. I have the following partitions in my hard disk currently.

I am thinking if I can just transfer my current C drive (where Windows and other apps are installed) to avoid needing to reinstall everything again. Is it possible? (my C drive can fit into the SSD)

Also, I see hidden partitions in my hard disk. Do I need to transfer them over to the SSD drive (trying to conserve space in the SSD to load other stuff)

Also, can I combine the recovered space from C: into D: to increase space for D drive?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Cokester]

Use EaseUS to clone C drive, Free Home edition
The steps are quite straight forward with the software.
One good thing about it, able to clone to ext hdd when samsung magican can't detect.

 

[VoodooKing]

Use cloning software. There are some free ones u can use.

What u want do to is a hard disk to hard disk clone. 1:1.

 

[yusoffb01]

if you buy pny, crucial or samsung, they comE eith cloninG software.

 

[Koenig168]

I am thinking if I can just transfer my current C drive (where Windows and other apps are installed) to avoid needing to reinstall everything again. Is it possible? (my C drive can fit into the SSD)

Also, I see hidden partitions in my hard disk. Do I need to transfer them over to the SSD drive (trying to conserve space in the SSD to load other stuff)

Also, can I combine the recovered space from C: into D: to increase space for D drive?

Thanks for your help!

Just clone.

The hidden partitions will be copied as well. These are for boot manager, recovery etc and I suggest you leave them alone.

It is possible to span a volume across two physical drives but it is much better to leave your SSD and HDD with separate volumes.

 

[Phen8210]

just use any cloning software, easy as ABC. RMB to change your drive letter afterwards if you boot from it.

 

[riotpatriot]

Also, can I combine the recovered space from C: into D: to increase space for D drive?

If you doing through Disk Management you need to copy all your stuff in D: elsewhere first. diskmgmt cannot merge backwards one

After you finish cloning your C:, if you got space elsewhere for the 500GB++ you're using now, copy it there, make sure everything is there, format the old disk (after you finish cloning your C:. I repeat here for you.), then copy it back in.

 

[pajamas86]

Thanks for the replies.

I will definitely move C: into SSD exclusively, not gonna mix SSD and HDD into 1 drive. (too confusing for me anyway). Seems cloning is feasible loh.

My other concern is that if I clone C: to SSD, can I still keep all the data in D: and will there be any clashes in Windows due to the change in disk locations?

I have installed games on D: so it will still work right?

As for merging my D: with the old C: space in HDD, can I just create E: from the remaining space to avoid transferring files back and forth?

 

[riotpatriot]

Okay clone already first thing to do is to delete the old C: partition, reassign the old storage disk to D again (because no such thing as two C:, and windows will reassign accordingly on the first time), then restart for good measure. Only issue is if you have programs that run on startup but also install in D:, but try first

As for creating a E: instead of merging, can is can, is depend on you can deal with managing two drives like that or not.