I'm getting a prebuilt PC for Christmas that comes with a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD. I'm planning to replace it with a 1TB SSD. Before switching the drives, I want to make sure everything works correctly. Since it's a new SSD and won't have much data on it, I was hoping to skip the cloning process because I'm not very familiar with it and would need to buy an adapter. What's the best way to install the new SSD and get Windows on it? Any advice would be really appreciated!
4 Answers
Does your PC only have one M.2 slot? If so, you can't add the new drive as a secondary. If that's the case, you'll need to install Windows fresh on the new SSD.
If your motherboard has two M.2 slots, just plug both SSDs in and clone the old one to the new one. Once you’ve checked that the new SSD is bootable, you can wipe the old one using DISKPART and use it for extra storage. But if it only has one slot, this won't work for you.
The main steps are simple: just install the new SSD and then install Windows. Just keep in mind, you might need a Windows key—if your PC is prebuilt, it usually pulls the key from the motherboard, so you shouldn't have to worry about it.
To install Windows on the new SSD: First, make a Windows USB installation key using the Windows USB Creation Tool. Then, power down your PC, remove the old SSD, install the new one, and boot from the USB stick. Follow the prompts to install Windows, and you're good to go!
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