I'm having constant crashes on my PC, so I decided to get a new SSD and want to install a fresh version of Windows on it. I was wondering if I can just drag the Windows files from my old SSD to the new one, unplug the old SSD, and then reset the PC to boot from the new SSD. Or is it better to get an external USB drive and do the installation that way?
4 Answers
It's definitely not recommended to just drag the Windows files over. It might lead to even more problems since Windows needs special boot files to start correctly. Instead, I suggest using an external USB drive to perform a clean install of Windows on the new SSD. That way, you avoid bringing over any potential issues from your old drive.
You’ll need an external drive for this. Cloning isn't a straightforward drag-and-drop process—it's a bit more complicated than that. Tools like Clonezilla or DiskGenius are great for cloning. But I'd still recommend going for a clean install on the new SSD, keeping your old SSD out of the equation initially.
Yeah, if you're serious about starting fresh, just install Windows cleanly on the new SSD and leave the old one out for now. Once you're all set up, you can always plug in the old SSD and format it to use as extra storage. Just make sure your BIOS is set to prioritize the new drive.
Honestly, cloning from your old drive isn't the best idea if your PC has been crashing. It's cleaner to just do a fresh install. Plus, your Windows activation should still be valid, so you won’t have any issues there. If you want to reuse your old SSD for extra storage, you could format it later after the fresh install.
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