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Thanks in advance for any help. I have a hdd which has windows 7 installed along with LOADS of programs. I have just bought a new SSD and installed a new install of windows onto it as the main drive. I am going to install most programs on to the old HDD anyawy so i don't actually need to move them, but registered programs and serials and bookmarks and settings are not working, is there any easy way of transferring all the relevant information from the windows on the HDD (drive G) to the new SSD (drive C)?

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    No, don't waste time. Reistall is the best way. – Steve Apr 27 '12 at 20:30
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    Just reinstall. It's fairly common that configurable program information isn't stored in the program's directory; it's usually in the registry, Common Files, AppData, PATH entries, etc., etc., so usually it's impossible to just copy a program's folder from one place to another. – Cᴏʀʏ Apr 27 '12 at 20:33

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You could use disk imaging software to overwrite the contents of the new disk with that of the old disk.

Or you could boot your old disk, create a full backup, then restore to your new disk.

Neil
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  • There is a risk with imaging a drive relating to partition alignment, so something to keep in mind. If the old drive isn't partition-aligned, the new one won't be either, which will lower the lifespan of the SSD and possibly decrease performance. –  Apr 27 '12 at 20:36
  • I did think that, but then it would copy all the program files, documents etc tec, which wont fit. The HDD is 2T the SSD is 64G so I was only going to move the operating system. –  Apr 27 '12 at 20:36
  • @RandolphWest It might depend on the imaging software, for instance I know of imaging software that realigns unaligned FAT partitions when they are copied so that they can be efficiently converted to NTFS. – Neil Apr 27 '12 at 20:46
  • We are talking of Windows7. So don't do that. When Win7 installs it recognize an SSD and many things are done differently. Windows 7 will disable disk defragmentation, Superfetch, ReadyBoost, as well as boot and application launch prefetching. With a restore from your old disk you risk to have less than optimal performance. – Steve Apr 27 '12 at 21:08
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    @Steve That's interesting; I don't suppose you have a link for that? – Neil Apr 28 '12 at 22:47
  • ssd tweaks for windows 7 but if you search for "SSD performance Windows 7" you will find tons of articles on the subject. And welcome to the SSD club :-) – Steve Apr 28 '12 at 22:52
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Change the letter of your boot drive.

It is possible to have your windows directory on something other than C. That way your existing HDD can remain being C:

(now if anybody figures exactly how to do that, I'm interested, because that is what i am trying to figure out now)

Aaron Peterson
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