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I'd go ahead with your plan to copy the files and swap the drive. So long as the SSD is D: when running windows there should be no problem.
Keep your HDD until you are sure everything is okay.
If it doesn't work for some reason the consider cloning.
Replacing D: Date Drive with Installed Programs on it
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Anonymous
I have a 240 GB M2 SSD which is my C: drive, and is Disc 1 in Disk Management. This is my boot drive with Windows 10 pro installed.
I have a 1 TB SATA HDD which is my D: drive, and is Disc 0 in Disk Management. I have some games installed on this drive, and this is where my cloud storage folders are.
I would like to replace the 1 TB SATA HDD D: drive with a 4 TB SATA SSD drive. I can uninstall the games, and move the cloud storage folders. Then replace the drive, reinstall the games and move the folders back. But I think there is an easier way?
I was planning to hook the 4 TB SSD via USB, close all of the cloud storage programs, then copy all the files and folders from the 1 TB HDD to the 4 TB SSD. Then shut down the computer, and swap discs. I think it should work as long as all the files copy without any warnings of a file not able to copy? I also plan to check properties to make sure same number of files and same size. I am pretty sure the 4 TB SSD will still be D: drive and Disc 0. And I don't think the registry should be effected because no paths are changed.
I am pretty sure this will work but thought I would ask the experienced users here if it will indeed work or if I should just do it the longer way.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage
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Anonymous
2023-01-22T15:02:56+00:00 I always prefer a clone over a simple copy, you can avoid these file access problems and also make an exact image of the original data and sometimes it is a faster process.
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Anonymous
2023-01-22T15:27:10+00:00 Thank you Anderson and Neil. You have given me something to think about.
Both think it should work. One suggests cloning to make sure nothing goes wrong. Other suggests going with my plan but if it doesn't work then I should clone the 1TB HDD at that time.
I am thinking it might make sense just to clone it. Easy enough to do and as is pointed out, I think it saves me some grief if my plan doesn't work for some reason.
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Anonymous
2023-01-22T14:51:53+00:00 HP Laptop
WD Blue 1 TB HDD
Samsung 870 QVO 4TB SATA SSD
I am not replacing the C: system drive. I am replacing a second D: data drive with some programs installed. Is cloning the drive necessary?
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Anonymous
2023-01-22T14:42:47+00:00 Hi, my name is Anderson Souza, I hope I can help you with your issue.
What is the brand of this new record? Some manufacturers offer a free disk cloning tool that would make the process easier for you. It should work yes. When I changed my system disk to an SSD, I did a system disk clone with the system running and everything went smoothly.