MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I've fitted plenty of hard drives and used partition copy utilities to shadow an existing partition onto the new drive, but this time I'm thinking of getting an SSD which will really only have the capacity to take the Windows (8.1) installation.
Is it possible to relocated an existing installation onto a new drive without reinstalling?
Its messy in my experience, never quite goes as well as it should.
That said, I know what I'd do with a Win 8 install, and it would involve a format...
A quick google suggests it will work but you might not get the full performance benefits of the SSD drive, though others suggest new cloning software should have the option to take this into account.
Off-hand if you have the installation media, I'd do a fresh re-install, just to make sure you get the full performance of the drive.
I moved my Win 8 install from a classic disk to a Samsung SSD and it worked just fine. Samsungs latest cloning software should deal with it just fine, make sure you get the latest version from the website and not from the CD in the box.
Make sure that the SSD isn't too small - given their prices these days that shouldn't be too expensive. It should then just be a case of copying the current C: drive to the SSD with something like Acronis TrueImage.
What I would not do is split things like the Windows, User and Program files directories onto separate drives in order to squeeze the OS on to a small SSD - it might work, or it might well get rather messed up.
Offhand, I'd have concerns with alignment issues. You'd need something which is "aware" of SSD structure and can clone the data in a sensible manner.
If you're asking "can I drag and drop a Windows installation?" then no, you can't.
Really, a reinstall is going to yield best results.
Thanks for the thoughts. I am aware that you can't do a 'drag and drop' install and would be looking for some sort of utility that would manage the transfer.
I have the original install media for Windows 8 (as an upgrade from Windows 7) but sadly I'd have to go through the experience of an update to 8.1 via the Windows Store (which is essentialy a second full OS installation).
Could I do a repair install that would leave my installed programs intact and then delete the Windows and Users directory or is this still a messy option? Starting with a clean SSD and main drive certainly feels the cleanest option but it would also involve by far the most work.
Do a clean install - that is quicker than doing your suggestion and then having to do a clean install as well afterwards when you run into problems.
for installing common applications ninite will save a bit of hassle.