Migrating win10 HDD to new SSD
Hello, I am sure I am asking a question that has been asked many times before but so far while I have been able to get some answers from Forum posts I am still a little confused and would like to get my process fully understood before I begin so I am hoping for some help from all the knowledge that seems to be on this forum.
I have a 1tb HDD with about 650gb of data, programs and OS on it. The disk has two partitions although only one has a dive letter (C:). I now have a 525Gb SSD that I would like to migrate the OS and the software to from my HDD. Having read a forum post that it is not possible to clone from one drive to another when drives are different sizes I believe I must either migrate some of the HDD info to the SSD or as that may not be possible with Acronis then I may need to make a full disk copy then use Acronis restore to just move the OS and program files to the SSD. At least I think that is what I need to do. If I make a full disk copy do I use the WIN10->Control Panel->File History option or can I do it from Acronis? If I do have a full disk copy can I then just restore the OS and Program directories to the new SSD from that copy using Acronis?
Currently much of the file data on the PC is also stored in the Cloud either at OneDrive or at Dropbox. I can turn these off so should be able to reduce the space they currently occupy on my HDD and assume that when I reconnect to those accounts I will get the data downloaded again onto my selected drive (probably the SSD if enough space).
After I have the new SSD operating the PC I would like the old HDD to become a secondary drive available for storage but also to maybe run some of the software I would not transfer to the new SSD. Is this a feasible idea or is running software from a drive other than the main drive not a good idea? Also do I delete the old Windows OS from the HDD to prevent dual boot problems or should I solve that problem in another way?
I have two readily available network drives, one with 870gb free and one with 500gb free. How much space should I expect a full disk backup to need and is it OK to backup to one of these two drives or would I be safer burning a DVD with an ISO of the copy?
If I can migrate and choose what I want to migrate do I install the new SSD into my PC with the existing HDD and then can I migrate from the HDD to the SSD which will be seen as a second installed drive. If I do that how do I get the new SSD to take the C: drive letter from the HDD?
Sorry for the lengthy post and maybe I am overthinking this exercise but hope someone here can advise on my questions before I begin and wish I had asked them when I bump into problems.
Regards


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Thank you Steve for the very comprehensive and clear response to my many questions. I think you have laid out quite clearly for me the process and requirements I will need to follow to make this new SSD my primary drive. Much appreciated.
I will be able to reduce my current HDD data load by turning off sync for the Dropbox and OneDrive folders prior to making the the backup of the disk and have already moved some data folders with images and music etc to a separate drive so will one way or another get my HDD disk capacity down to the 400gb you recommended.
I now however have a couple more questions so hope to again call on your knowlege and patience in these items.
Using either my NAS drive or my USB external HDD I calculate the backup of the 400gb will take about 6 hours. Is that about what you would expect?
The Acronis vesrion I received access to with my SSD purchase is a LITE version and as I am only doing this once I am not keen to spend the additional licensing dollars to upgrade to the full home user version of the app. It does seem however that the limited capability I have with this LITE version will give me the capability I need to achieve the process of backup and restore you have outlined. Is that your take also on the software version I have?
Regards and thank you for your advice.
Les
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Les, the time required to create a full backup will vary depending on a number of different factors, but the only real way to prove how long it will take is to run the backup.
Your LITE version of ATI is an OEM version which may be both restricted in terms of some functionality and also of an older product version but it should still have the base Backup and Restore functionality that you require.
I would recommend that you should be doing regular Backups of your OS and user data - this shouldn't be considered just a once-off activity - there are too many threats in the 'wild' to trust to running any computer without the protection of having regular backups.
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