Installation on second drive


zaarin_2003

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Hi,

I have two hard drive's, one has my copy of Windows 11 on it (let's call it drive C) and it is a Samsung HDD, the other is empty (drive G). G is a newer and faster Corsair SSD drive.

C - Windows (1tb) - Samsung HDD
G - empty (1tb) - Corsair SSD

I'd like to move Windows from C to G basically, and boot from that SSD instead for obvious reasons.

What's the best way to do this? Should I do a clean install of Windows 11 on drive G - how do I do that? Will Windows reassign the drive letters itself once I can boot into the install on G (G becomes C and vice versa)?

Or would it be better to clone C (Samsung HDD) to G (Corsair SSD)? If so, how? I tried to use DriveGenie a couple of weeks ago using the clone option to clone C to G, but G wasn't bootable, whatever order I chose in the BIOS, it always booted into the Samsung (I had to option to use System Migration, but that would have only copied over the OS, I assumed a full clone would copy everything and also be bootable).

Grateful for any advice! Thanks
z
 

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Hi,

I have two hard drive's, one has my copy of Windows 11 on it (let's call it drive C) and it is a Samsung HDD, the other is empty (drive G). G is a newer and faster Corsair SSD drive.

C - Windows (1tb) - Samsung HDD
G - empty (1tb) - Corsair SSD

I'd like to move Windows from C to G basically, and boot from that SSD instead for obvious reasons.

What's the best way to do this? Should I do a clean install of Windows 11 on drive G - how do I do that? Will Windows reassign the drive letters itself once I can boot into the install on G (G becomes C and vice versa)?

Or would it be better to clone C (Samsung HDD) to G (Corsair SSD)? If so, how? I tried to use DriveGenie a couple of weeks ago using the clone option to clone C to G, but G wasn't bootable, whatever order I chose in the BIOS, it always booted into the Samsung (I had to option to use System Migration, but that would have only copied over the OS, I assumed a full clone would copy everything and also be bootable).

Grateful for any advice! Thanks
z
The first question is why you have a C: drive and a G: drive instead of a D: drive.

The second question is why do you want to change drives? I know Crucial is good, but so it Samsung.

This desktop came with Windows 11 Pro installed on the C: drive and an empty D: drive, which is named Data. I don't remember if I named it Data or it came that way. So, it's strange to me that you have a C: (?) and a G:.
 

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The first question is why you have a C: drive and a G: drive instead of a D: drive.

The second question is why do you want to change drives? I know Crucial is good, but so it Samsung.

This desktop came with Windows 11 Pro installed on the C: drive and an empty D: drive, which is named Data. I don't remember if I named it Data or it came that way. So, it's strange to me that you have a C: (?) and a G:.
I want to swap Windows to G because it’s currently on a HDD and G is a SSD, which is a heck of a lot quicker.

It’s G because I also have a dvd drive, blue ray drive, removable media drive… G is the next letter in the sequence (it’s a new drive).
 

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@zaarin_2003

Yeah, you want to clone your windows install from the HDD to the SDD.


As you mentioned, you can also do a clean install...


If you decide to do a clean install, unhook the hard drive and the removable drive, before you do the clean install.
With the HDD unhooked the Windows clean install will be labeled as C:\
After the install you can set the HDD and the other drives to whatever letters you want in Disk Management. :-)




In your case, I would probably do a clean install. Once you get everything installed and set up the way you like... get some 3rd party backup software, and make a full backup.




Assigning drive letters is easy in Disk Management. You can even get all OCD when you do it....

image1.png



This may be of some use after a clean install...

 
Last edited:

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The most reliable method of accomplishing what you want to do, which succeeds nearly 100% of the time is to do a clean install to G: drive. Once it boots into at least the first setup screen on G: drive (not the install USB flash drive), then copy only the Windows partition by itself right over the top of the brand new Windows partition.

Many times if you were to clone the entire physical disk from the old one to the new one you have to repair the boot files in the system partition, which isn't all that hard to do, but for the novice the clean install and then replace method works well.
 

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I would just do a clean install, period.
Your specs say Intel Optane, your topic says hard drive... and the new drive is SSD.

I would start completely fresh. You'll have less problems in the long run.
 

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I want to swap Windows to G because it’s currently on a HDD and G is a SSD, which is a heck of a lot quicker.

Oh, now it makes more sense.
It’s G because I also have a dvd drive, blue ray drive, removable media drive… G is the next letter in the sequence (it’s a new drive).
OK, so is "G" a removable drive or an internal drive?
 

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The most reliable method of accomplishing what you want to do, which succeeds nearly 100% of the time is to do a clean install to G: drive. Once it boots into at least the first setup screen on G: drive (not the install USB flash drive), then copy only the Windows partition by itself right over the top of the brand new Windows partition.

Many times if you were to clone the entire physical disk from the old one to the new one you have to repair the boot files in the system partition, which isn't all that hard to do, but for the novice the clean install and then replace method works well.
That approach is unfamiliar to me. I'm unclear on the details. You'd leave the original boot drive in place, do a clean install to the new drive, and then copy over the old drive's boot partition to the new at some point during the initial setup for the new drive?

I have cloned a boot disk a few times, using purpose made software. I've never had to repair the boot files. Just lucky, I guess.
 

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Split the Corsair into two parts: 100Gb and 900Gb.
Install Windows on the 100Gb.
On the 900Gb, create folders for Documents, Pictures, etc.
There will be drives C, D (Corsair) and E (Samsung).
 

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Split the Corsair into two parts: 100Gb and 900Gb.
Install Windows on the 100Gb.
On the 900Gb, create folders for Documents, Pictures, etc.
There will be drives C, D (Corsair) and E (Samsung).
What is the point on an SSD?
 

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@zaarin_2003

Yeah, you want to clone your windows install from the HDD to the SDD.


As you mentioned, you can also do a clean install...


If you decide to do a clean install, unhook the hard drive and the removable drive, before you do the clean install.
With the HDD unhooked the Windows clean install will be labeled as C:\
After the install you can set the HDD and the other drives to whatever letters you want in Disk Management. :-)




In your case, I would probably do a clean install. Once you get everything installed and set up the way you like... get some 3rd party backup software, and make a full backup.




Assigning drive letters is easy in Disk Management. You can even get all OCD when you do it....

View attachment 86376



This may be of some use after a clean install...

Thank you!

The consensus seems to be to go down the clean install route. I did try to use cloning software but it didn’t seem to work, the PC just booted into the C drive no matter what order I chose.

So, just to be clear, if I unhooked C (Samsung) and booted into the installation USB I’d created earlier, I can do a clean install onto G (Corsair). Then, when it’s all working, rehook the Samsung?

Will it play ball then and boot into the Corsair, assuming I ensure it’s set top of the boot order, even though there’s another drive suddenly attached that’s bootable? I would like to erase the Samsung when I’m happy, rather than erase it beforehand, you know?
 

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Windows 11i9 990032 Gb DDR4nVidia 1070
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
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i9 9900
Motherboard
Z390 Gigabyte Aorus Elite
Memory
32 Gb DDR4
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia 1070
Sound Card
Realtek
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Thank you!

The consensus seems to be to go down the clean install route. I did try to use cloning software but it didn’t seem to work, the PC just booted into the C drive no matter what order I chose.

So, just to be clear, if I unhooked C (Samsung) and booted into the installation USB I’d created earlier, I can do a clean install onto G (Corsair). Then, when it’s all working, rehook the Samsung?

Will it play ball then and boot into the Corsair, assuming I ensure it’s set top of the boot order, even though there’s another drive suddenly attached that’s bootable? I would like to erase the Samsung when I’m happy, rather than erase it beforehand, you know?
Ah well, the zealous clean install brigade always say that.

Frankly, it is dead easy to simply backup drive 0 and then restore image to new drive.

As you are not changing PC, there is absolutely no reason to do a clean install if your current installation is ok.

What is the worst that can happen? Something (unlikely) goes wrong in image restore and you end up clean installing and you undertake all the crap that goes with a clean install.

Compare that with an image backup and restore that takes maybe max 1 hour (ymmv).

So
1) make image backup to external drive

2) restore image to new drive

3) set bios to boot from new drive

4) optional - temporarily remove old drive and check pc boots ok.

5) wipe old drive (only if you have tested with step 4)

6) enjoy speed of new ssd without hours of crap reinstalling.

I have changed drives many times and never once clean installed.

Clean installs are the LAST thing you should do.
 

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ASUS Zenbook 14
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Macrium Reflect Home V8
Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
Ah well, the zealous clean install brigade always say that.

Frankly, it is dead easy to simply backup drive 0 and then restore image to new drive.

As you are not changing PC, there is absolutely no reason to do a clean install if your current installation is ok.

What is the worst that can happen? Something (unlikely) goes wrong in image restore and you end up clean installing and you undertake all the crap that goes with a clean install.

Compare that with an image backup and restore that takes maybe max 1 hour (ymmv).

So
1) make image backup to external drive

2) restore image to new drive

3) set bios to boot from new drive

4) optional - temporarily remove old drive and check pc boots ok.

5) wipe old drive (only if you have tested with step 4)

6) enjoy speed of new ssd without hours of crap reinstalling.

I have changed drives many times and never once clean installed.

Clean installs are the LAST thing you should do.
So will that create basically an identical drive for it to boot from as if nothing had happened, boot records, recovery partitions and all that? What would happen to drive letters?

Also, Windows is currently installed on the old drive. The new drive is plugged in and empty. Can I do this from Windows on the old drive, create an image of the old drive and then restore that image to the new drive, all from windows on the old drive? Does that make sense? Basically I’d like to boot into Windows on the old drive, do what I need to do, then boot into the new drive and it be identical.
 
Last edited:

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Windows 11i9 990032 Gb DDR4nVidia 1070
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
i9 9900
Motherboard
Z390 Gigabyte Aorus Elite
Memory
32 Gb DDR4
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia 1070
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Realtek
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Samsung 4k
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600w
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What is the point on an SSD?
For example, for a clean install of Windows. All your files are safe.
It takes 10 minutes to reinstall Windows. If there is a script to configure Windows.
 

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https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/66553205

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Windows 11i9 990032 Gb DDR4nVidia 1070
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
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i9 9900
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Z390 Gigabyte Aorus Elite
Memory
32 Gb DDR4
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia 1070
Sound Card
Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung 4k
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4k
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So, just to be clear, if I unhooked C (Samsung) and booted into the installation USB I’d created earlier, I can do a clean install onto G (Corsair). Then, when it’s all working, rehook the Samsung?


Yeah.

Unhook the Samsung AND the external drive as well.
Then do the clean install.
When that's done you can rehook the Samsung and the external.

Then you grab whatever you want from the Samsung. After that you can format the Samsung and use it for storage.
 
Last edited:

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You can use EaseUS Partition Master Free to clone your drive to another drive. I have cloned my operating drive to a new drive many times. I still have my old drive installed just in case my OS runs into any problem. I use EasyBCD free to boot to whichever drive I want on any given day. You can set it in the BIOS to booth to a selected drive of your choice. You don't need to do a clean install. Hope this helps.

cheers
 

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Windows 11 Pro
Computer type
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Manufacturer/Model
ASUS
CPU
Intel Core i7-11700K Desktop Processor 8 Cores
Motherboard
ASUS ROG Strix Z590-A Gaming WiFi LGA 1200
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ASUS GTX ROG STRIX 1080 8GB
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Silverstone Olympia OP1000W PSW
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Phanteks Enthoo Pro
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Noctua NH-D15 SSO2 D-Type Premium CPU Cooler, NF-A15 x 2 PWM Fans
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Corsair K70 RGB
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Logitech 310 wireless
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1 GB
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Firefox
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ESET Internet Security
Other Info
Testing Windows 10 Pro on 350GB drive
You can use EaseUS Partition Master Free to clone your drive to another drive. I have cloned my operating drive to a new drive many times. I still have my old drive installed just in case my OS runs into any problem. I use EasyBCD free to boot to whichever drive I want on any given day. You can set it in the BIOS to booth to a selected drive of your choice. You don't need to do a clean install. Hope this helps.

cheers
I noticed on the EaseUS website it lists cloning as a capability of the free edition, but doesn’t list migrating the OS, which is a feature of a paid tier.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11i9 990032 Gb DDR4nVidia 1070
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
i9 9900
Motherboard
Z390 Gigabyte Aorus Elite
Memory
32 Gb DDR4
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia 1070
Sound Card
Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung 4k
Screen Resolution
4k
Hard Drives
Intel Optane 905p
PSU
600w
Browser
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Microsoft Defender
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