New PC Installed OS on wrong drive

Steven Rimmington · 2 Sep 2021 at 17:54

Hi I have put together a new PC, I have stupidly put the OS on the wrong m.2 ssd

I have had 2 days of installing all my new games, software and setting up the OS

I have x3 drives

Windows 10 512Gb m.2 SSD
Games/Software 512Gb m.2 SSD
Games 1TB Mechanical HDD

The OS is fitted to a drive with 500MB/s Read/Write
The Games/Software is 1900MB/s Read/Write

Just started to do a few benchmarks and noticed my mistake! I can either copy everything over to the 1TB drive and start afresh OS install on the quicker drive, clone the drive? Not being able to find a free program yet or just stick with what I have?

I am not sure ill notice the difference but its bugging me the quicker drive is just used as storage :confused:

sumyungi · 2 Sep 2021 at 19:09

Hi

Use the forum search and copy/paste this ... The best free program to clone a ssd ... into search forum>keywords>search titles only...in this subforum.

I followed this thread plus a youtube vid called... update: using macrium reflect free to clone windows to a bootable M2 ssd... by access random.
Sorry i dont know how to do a link.

At the finish i could not expand the drive because there was another partition between the cloned and the unallocated space so i followed the link in post 27 of said thread and deleted the recovery partition.

Hope that helps.

keenan · 2 Sep 2021 at 19:24

To be honest, just leave it as it is..

You will likely transfer more data while gaming/loading than by running Windows on it.

However, day to day use I doubt you'll see any real world difference in either configuration!

Steven Rimmington · 2 Sep 2021 at 20:40

Thanks for the replies ! You are probably right in that I would not notice an improvement, just my initial plan was to get the quicker drive for the OS but somehow mixed up the two 512 drives

it's benchmarked X3 times faster though.

@sumyungi is this 100% free? I've followed a few guides on Google but the software has turned out to cost after downloading so I've been put off.

sumyungi · 2 Sep 2021 at 20:55

Yep free.

The home use one not the trial.

Dwarfy · 2 Sep 2021 at 21:05

The single and only benefit of windows on a ssd is boot time, once you're up and running you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two. Games and software will benefit from shorter loading times though

THX1138 · 3 Sep 2021 at 15:19

you will never notice the difference unless you put the OS on the mechanical then you would have to start again

Steven Rimmington · 5 Sep 2021 at 22:56

I have decided to leave it be until I need to upgrade to 1tb+ 512 these days does not to far with the size of games these days

ANDARIAL · 6 Sep 2021 at 08:36

Next time ONLY have the drive you are wanting to install windows on connected

Dg834man · 6 Sep 2021 at 14:20

You really should have just bought one 1tb nvme and partitioned it, its cheaper than buying two 512gb and leaves you with empty nvme slots to add to as needed

EsaT · 6 Sep 2021 at 15:12

Dg834man said:
You really should have just bought one 1tb nvme and partitioned it, its cheaper than buying two 512gb and leaves you with empty nvme slots to add to as needed

And even worse, one of those M.2 slots is wasted for SATA drive, which would be as fast in end of the cable.

THX1138 · 6 Sep 2021 at 15:36

ANDARIAL said:
Next time ONLY have the drive you are wanting to install windows on connected

Good point only connect the boot drive or the drive you intend to install the OS on.

Tanin'iver · 6 Sep 2021 at 17:45

Personally I always disconnect all drives except the one I'm installing Windows on during installation. Not because of the possibility of installing to the wrong place, but because Windows seems to do strange things, touching drives it shouldn't.

I had an installation years ago, Windows 7, where I'd left my storage drive connected while installing Windows - everything went smoothly, no problems. Then a few months later I had cause to remove that storage drive to replace it - and suddenly Windows wouldn't boot without it. Windows wasn't even installed on it. I'm damned if I know what it had done, but it took me days of messing around, repairing boot sectors, that sort of annoying stuff, before I eventually got it working without the storage drive connected.

Never again - now it's physical disconnect, either the power or the data, to be sure. Other drives only go back on once Windows is up and running, drivers installed etc...

d_brennen · 6 Sep 2021 at 17:53

Pretend it didn't happen, you won't notice any real world difference

THX1138 · 7 Sep 2021 at 11:36

Tanin'iver said:
Personally I always disconnect all drives except the one I'm installing Windows on during installation. Not because of the possibility of installing to the wrong place, but because Windows seems to do strange things, touching drives it shouldn't.

I had an installation years ago, Windows 7, where I'd left my storage drive connected while installing Windows - everything went smoothly, no problems. Then a few months later I had cause to remove that storage drive to replace it - and suddenly Windows wouldn't boot without it. Windows wasn't even installed on it. I'm damned if I know what it had done, but it took me days of messing around, repairing boot sectors, that sort of annoying stuff, before I eventually got it working without the storage drive connected.

Never again - now it's physical disconnect, either the power or the data, to be sure. Other drives only go back on once Windows is up and running, drivers installed etc...

Windows 7 had a few issues in that area which is what started me doing the one drive only best way avoids problems down the line.

mrbazmondo · 7 Sep 2021 at 11:49

To be honest you're probably better off with the games on the faster drive.

Steven Rimmington · 7 Sep 2021 at 13:35

ANDARIAL said:
Next time ONLY have the drive you are wanting to install windows on connected

I've not really made this mistake before but you live and learn

Dg834man said:
You really should have just bought one 1tb nvme and partitioned it, its cheaper than buying two 512gb and leaves you with empty nvme slots to add to as needed

Just something I've always done in years building my own rig. Tend to get a fast drive for Windows only then separate drives for files/game installs.

I used to partition but I've had bad luck with a OS drive failing then loosing all my files so tend to do it this way. Yes always backup your files, I just find it easier if I need to nuke an OS or upgrade it in future.

FredFlint · 7 Sep 2021 at 15:54

I have my OS/Apps on a SATA SSD and games on a fast M.2 to boost loading times. If you used the faster drive for games then i would say thats probabley the better option.