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So, right now I have a plain ole generic 1 TB hard drive. I want to upgrade to a SDD for my OS and apps, and then use my old hard drive just to store stuff. Been a long time since I installed windows from scratch… so, right now I just upgraded to Windows 10. I have the Windows 8 DVD that came with my PC, but I think it’s more like a recovery disk.. so will that not really work right if I plug in a new drive? will it try and reinstall over my old drive and not use the SSD? Is Windows 10 free for all like Mac OS now, or if I wanted a pure windows 10 install without upgrading, would I have to buy that too? I always feel like upgrading leaves junk behind and I’m better off installing the newest version from scratch... but I'm cheap and don't wanna pay for it.

Windows 8 or Windows 8.1? You can only upgrade from 8.1 and 7, not 8 IIRC (go from 8 to 8.1 then from 8.1 to 10, which are all free upgrades). Additionally I think you need a product key to use Windows 10 fully, so unless you have an OS which you can upgrade from you probably won't have that.

Going from 8.1 to 10's going to give you less problems than 7 as 10's not too different from 8.1 in the background. You can upgrade from either, though for ease installing from scratch will give you less hassle. 10 isn't happy about certain drivers, so you may have to arse about in Device Manager fixing things if you're going for an upgrade (it can use 8.1 drivers, so there's less of an issue, but you'll probably still have at least some drivers which aren't working perfectly).

Remember that you can of course create a partition on your drive and run two operating systems. You can also downgrade if you chose to upgrade from one of those applicable systems, though I'd advise against that as you'll be using the Windows 10 drivers on older systems then and have to arse about in Device Manager sorting them out (again not so much of an issue if going from 8.1, but anything older and you may as well just do a clean install).

Long story short? Stick anything you want to keep on an external hard drive or the cloud and just go for a clean install. If it screws up you always have that Windows 8 install disc. Like I said though you can't upgrade from a straight 8, only 8.1, so that may be your only option. So to go to 10 you'll need to first upgrade from 8 to 8.1 then from 8.1 to 10.

Edit: damn, sorry I focussed on the upgrading to Windows 10 process a bit too much there and not so much the drives. Aye if you want to use both of them I'd format your drives and repartition your OS to run on both. Alternatively you could just use the spare one as an external one and plug it into a USB port (which wouldn't require an OS reinstall).

Cool thanks. I just looked up my motherboard and didn't realize there was a list of specific SSDs just like with RAM. what a pain. I wish everyone would make everything "just work"

So the most I can get is 256gb, which will be more than enough. Right now I only use about 200 and that's with all my music and videos and stuff. What I was thinking is I'd use the SSD as my "C" drive, and then plug my old 1TB in as my D drive, and I would use that to save all of my content, the SSD would only be OS and apps.

I just did some googling and I found this page where I can make an install disk

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

So I'll have to see if I have a product key.. would my windows 8 product key work with that? I'm pretty sure I started out with 8.1, my PC is only a year old.. but my 8.1 product key would work with that?

What do they do if you wanted to build a brand new PC from scratch right this second with a totally blank hard drive, do you have to buy a windows 10 DVD? Or buy 8.1 and upgrade?

 Necros wrote:
What do they do if you wanted to build a brand new PC from scratch right this second with a totally blank hard drive, do you have to buy a windows 10 DVD? Or buy 8.1 and upgrade?

Basically, yes. That's how it's always been for those of us who build machines from scratch instead of buying a package deal. I've bought several different Windows licenses through the years and alowly passed them off to either my mom (for her bank/surfing PC) or some friend in need of a new build.

As for your problem, I'd say you just have to test it to be sure. If your computer came with one of those install disks it probably shouldn't have any problem installing on a new SSD - leave the old HDD out until you've installed Windows and other stuff like drivers and AV software. Then just power off to connect the HDD and happily use it ever after.

 Necros wrote:
So I'll have to see if I have a product key.. would my windows 8 product key work with that?

The media creation tool can be used to upgrade your current PC to Windows 10 or to create a USB or DVD and install Windows 10 on a different PC. It does say it works with 7 or 8.1, but to be honest I've not tried it. Just disconnect your old HDD while you try this on the new SSD. If it fails at least you have a fully functioning drive to put back in.

You know you're living in the future when...

I have a plain ole generic 1 TB hard drive.

I haven't tried installing windows 10, but I know I was able to do a clean install of windows 8 from the upgrade download, but they made it awkward. I don't remember exactly how I did it, but I do remember burning a disk and then during set up there was an option to go to command line, and then I formatted the drive using diskpart. Then I was able to install windows 8. Then I deleted windows 8 and installed ubuntu, and now my computer works really well.

Sorry skim reading this as I'm about to leave work right now. Is your motherboard the same one which you bought Windows 8 on? Windows 10 bases the eligibility of your upgrade on the product key of the OS which your system was sold with. So if you were running Windows 8 Pro on that motherboard you could upgrade to Windows 10 pro. If you changed that motherboard however to a third party one which didn't come with an OS then you can't just straight up upgrade without extra hassle. So if you want to use the Windows 8 computer for ten you need to do the follows to maintain that product key: upgrade to 8.1 first and then go onto 10.

Oh and you don't have to strictly format your drives to use both of them on the same computer. However as I presume you've done a clean install for 10, or at least don't have anything you aren't willing to lose (in which case back it up), its much easier to just format both drives and create a new partition. There are ways to avoid formatting them, but its more stable to just wipe them and start again.

Yeah I had windows 8 preinstalled when I got my PC. It's from Cyberpower. I liked how it was more of a clean install rather than all the extra crap you never use that the big brands add in.

So then the only way to do it would be to use my recovery CD to install windows 8 on the new drive, then download and install 10?

Install Windows 8, if you still have the product key you should be able to download the installer if you don't have it.

Then upgrade to Windows 8.1 on top of 8.

With 8.1 installed click the Windows 10 upgrade icon on your desktop toolbar.

Its obtuse, but its because you're updating from 8 rather than 7 or 8.1. Had you been using one of those you could go straight to 10. Like I said 10 detects your motherboard and bases what you get off of that, but it doesn't work with 8. So were you to upgrade from 8 straight to 10 you'd have to do so from a blank drive and in that case it won't register the product key either.

At least that's my understanding of it. I sat my Windows 10 cert last week and put it by the guy who ran that today and that was his clarification. Google it though. If you want you could try installing Windows 10 first, inputting your product key from Windows 8 and see if it takes that, though I think if you go from 8.1 it won't ask for the product key. Don't quote me on that.

Edit: I thought you could go from 8 to 8.1 for free? Google "8 to 8.1", I think they rolled it out for free after a while, though again don't quote me on that. *yeah still skim reading posts in this thread

Edit: Edit: OK...

Aye if you have a Windows 8.1 product key then hell just make a Windows 10 install disc/ USB (remember to go into the BIOS and set the computer to boot off the right media). I'm getting caught up on your motherboard, but that's moot if you have a 8.1 product key. If you're going from 8.1 to 10 you won't have to worry about so many of the driver issues, but if for instance your audio's gubbed then go into the Device Manager and delete your audio driver (Realtek is the typical one). The most common issues with Windows 10 right now are people upgrading and the drivers not working properly (though if you're going from a clean install it won't be that bad). 10 doesn't like third party programs so much though, so if you do happen to have any of those then you may have to reinstall them (for instance security programs like Malware Bytes could wind up randomly not working because Windows is dead set on you using its stuff and buying the rest off of its store).

So far everything I have has been working in 10.. mostly just been using Adobe apps so far, they're all fine. I do my gaming on my xbox so I haven't tried anything else. I just wanted to get a new hard drive and do a fresh install. I'll see if I have a product key on my restore disk case or whatever, I think I remember seeing a card that had a product key on it. So all I need is the ISO thingy and the key and I'm all set? If not, start with 8.1?

Pretty much. Till something silly happens and then uh... wasn't me! So aye, either install 8, then 8.1 then upgrade to 10, or install 10 from scratch and input the 8.1 product key when prompted.

I'm about to do the same thing. My configuration was already a 128mb SSD as C:\ and a 1TB 5400 as my D:\.

I bought a 256gb SSD to replace my 128 since it's almost out of room. I just need to write down all my apps and make sure I know where to get them again before I swap my drives. Once I make the swap, I'll be reinstalling Win7 and upgrading to Win 10 from there. I just hope my old copy of Office XP will run on Win 10.

First, upgrade to W10 on the 1TB drive, however you need to do it. Once it has been activated, you can install from scratch, on the same PC, using the same MS account.

Then, back up everything you have tied to your logon. Favourites, settings for games, emails (if you use an email app), Documents, Pictures, Desktop, start menu shortcuts, etc.
Then, remove the 1TB drive. This is the important bit. Whatever you do next doesn't matter.

Build the PC using just the SSD installed, and as long as you upgraded to W10, it won't need an older version to install over.
Build it, activate it, patch it, install drivers, and just get Windows working.
Only then do you put the 1TB drive back in. Make sure the drive letter is correct, and the data is still there.
Install Steam or whatever, and point it at the old folder, with the D:\ drive path.
Most stuff can be run without reinstalling, if you can adjust the shortcut from the old desktop/start menu.

I always run a boot drive, and an apps drive. Formatting every game I have installed in the past decade is a right pain.

So, I checked my hard drive out last night and it turns out I have about 450 gigs on there.. I didn't think it was nearly that much. I'm starting to think I should go for a 512 drive so there's room to grow, but they are a little out of my price range.. plus, my motherboard (Asus Z87K) doesn't have anything higher than 256 listed.. well there's 1 320gb drive listed, the rest are lower.

So does that mean if I get a 512 anyway, it won't work? I had that issue with RAM lately, I wanted to upgrade from 16gb to 32, and I had 2 slots free, so I just ordered a 16gb upgrade and plugged it in and my PC wouldn't start. I thought it would "just work", I had no idea there was such a thing as a QVL till now, never had an issue before, but I guess I just got lucky. So anyway, I'm hesitant to buy something that's not on my list... or are SSDs not as fussy as ram?

Honestly, I'd go with the 256 for you boot drive. Push your data to the 1TB drive you have, including documents, pictures, and your music and video files if you haven't already done that.

When you install new software, point the installation to your 1TB drive and not the 256 drive. There will still be some files put on the 256 but the bulk should go to the 1tb drive.

Why two drives?

System starts up and launches programs faster if they're on the SSD. The larger (and usually slower) drive holds your data.

 Orlanth wrote:
Why two drives?

I rebuild my PC fairly regularly.
With a boot/system drive, I get to replace it without affecting my data.
That is all untouched on the data drive, which gets unplugged when I tinker.

Also, speed. If the PC is doing something 'systemy' in the background, the data drive can spin at full speed doing what I want it to.
A 3rd drive for the page file was handy, too, but if you have enough memory, page files aren't needed. It's what the Speedboost did with a spare USB stick.

I think I'm gonna take the risk and go for 512. Crucial.com lists a couple that are supposed to be compatible with my MB, so I'll go with one of those. I'd rather have extra space to grow into rather than start running low one day and need to upgrade again. I use lots of design apps and they usually take up lots of space. I want to be able to run all my apps on the SSD, and have the old drive for storage only.

So, you can upgrade to windows 10 with a windows 7 key? I can't find 8.1 key that came with my PC, but I do have a store brought Windows 7 CD with the key printed on the case, so I guess I can just use that?

You can upgrade for free with windows 7,

but (not having done it) I'm not certain if it would take the W7 product key when upgrading from a machine with w8.1 on it

(but if worst comes to worst install W7 on your new empty drive as a fresh install, upgrade to W10 then transfer your content from the old drive)

I upgraded from 7 to 10 yesterday. It wasn't a clean install, just an update. It didn't ask for a product key.

I'm currently trying to figure out how to make a permanent Windows 10 disk I can reinstall from.

I found this page for downloading windows 10

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Looks like you just download that and you can create an install DVD or thumb drive with it.. so I was gonna use that when I get my new drive and hopefully be able to install it totally fresh from scratch with no clutter.