Hoping to get some direction here because I have been out of this stuff for too long

[G+_J Miller]

Hoping to get some direction here because I have been out of this stuff for too long.

 

I just opened up a shiny new gaming rig with W10 and no discs except for the manufacture driver discs with a HDD that has 2 partitions (1TB(C=300GB D=650GB)).

I then installed Steam and Origin with a few of my favorite games on the C drive.

I then found a SSD (129GB) laying around and installed it into the PC.

I would like to now get my OS over to the SSD and merge the C and D drives on the HDD together to form one drive for the games.

Any tips on how to do this? Maybe a link on how to do this?

Thanks in advance.

[G+_Stu Iaukea]

It sounds like you are trying to create your own hybrid drive by using your HDD and SSD. I have not done it, however I found an article (from 2011) which talks about what you need and the advantages/disadvantages of doing it. I hope this helps.

 

superuser.com - Making SSD & HDD work together like a hybrid

[G+_Jon Paul Bubendorfer]

You'll want to find the migration disk that came with your SSD and use it to migrate OS to the SSD.

Then use W10 disk manager to merge the HDD partitions, pretty sure that will wipe tho.

[G+_Ben Reese]

This can all be done. Since the current C-drive is bigger than your SSD, it may not clone over easily. I'm sure there are tools designed to do that though.

 

My thought - and this might risk losing data - is to shrink the current C partition 100 GB (assuming you have at least 200 GB free). Then clone that 100 GB partition to your SSD and expand it to fill the drive.

 

After you get your OS back up and running, move any other data you want off the 300 GB partition (now 100 GB) and delete it. That will free up the rest of your TB drive to expand the remaining partition to fill it.

 

The Windows built-in partition tools probably can't do this - especially shrinking the C-drive, but there are Linux distros with partition tools pre-installed and run from a flash drive. Gparted is the one that comes to mind, but I may be thinking of something else.

[G+_Jon Paul Bubendorfer]

Been is right, I didn't think of the sizes involved.

I've also been away too long.

[G+_Dan Hockey]

Gparted is just a program that can be installed on just about any linux distro. Use some thing like a Ubuntu and run it as live dvd. Ubuntu calls it "try without installing". It has Gparted already installed.

Use that to see what you have for hidden partitions. Chances are you have a partition called "recovery" that is the very first partition on the drive. OEM's do things that way so they don't have to include a windows install or recovery disc.

If you computer came that way you could use Ubuntu or clonezilla to make a backup of your recovery partition.

The other option is to search for something like "create a windows install disk from recovery partition" for you make of computer.

[G+_J Miller]

Thanks for the help Stu Iaukea, Ben Reese, Jon Paul Bubendorfer and Dan Hockey.

I followed this tutorial.

howtogeek.com - How to Migrate Your Windows Installation to a Solid-State Drive

I cloned the C drive over to the the new SSD A drive and it seemed to copy well.

Then I went into the Bios to tell the computer to select the new A drive when booting up. Unfortunately, the new A drive does not show up in the list of drives in the bios.

I called tech support at MSI and the tech told me that cloning does not copy over all of the files necessary for the bios to see it as a bootable drive? Huh? Not sure why they call it cloning if that is true?

Anyway, now I am looking for a way to install a fresh copy of W10 on the new SSD (A Drive).

I did not get a W10 disc with the computer so I need to download W10 and use my license to legitimize it.

Anyone know how to do this?

Thanks again.

[G+_J Miller]

OK, I got Windows installed on the SSD. Easy Peasy following this tutorial.

answers.microsoft.com - Clean install of windows 10 OS on new SSD-best procedure for - Microsoft Community

 

Now have another ridiculous problem, reformatting the old drive and combining it's partitions into one drive for my games to be stored on.

I have no option to reformat the drive in "Disk management".

Anyone know how to do this basic procedure?

[G+_Ben Reese]

J Miller if you have all the data off you want, delete the partitions and create a new volume. It's possible Windows will let you expand partitions toward the end of the drive of there's nothing else allocated there, so you may just start with deleting the last partition. The most hassle free way is to just delete everything and start fresh.

 

If you want to try command line...

"diskpart"

"List disk"

(identify the disk you want to destroy)

"select disk #" (example, select disk 2)

"clean" (this should wipe the partition table)

"create volume" (this will create a new volume with the freshly freed space)

 

 

Good luck and congrats on getting the new drive and Windows installed!

[G+_J Miller]

That did it. Thanks +Ben Reese that worked.

Dont remeber Windows being so difficult to work with.

These SSDs are the bomb. W10 use to take over a minute to boot up, now 10 to 15 seconds. Awesome!