C Drive with Win 10 to New Win 11 PC Question

• 

  scrimshaw on 23/01/2024 - 00:16

  +4

  The easiest and most straightfoward method:

  1. Buy a portable drive enclosure (M.2 enclosure if you have a M.2 drive, 2.5" enclosure if you got a 2.5" drive)
  2. Remove drive from old machine. Install it into the enclosure
  3. Mount drive in new system as USB storage device and copy contents over and you can do whatever you want with the drive once you got data you want copied.

  That's it.

  edit: I should also note that you should generally only copy your personal data, like the files found in the Users directory. Anything that's found in the core system folders, like \Program Files or \Windows should not be copied over.

  You will need to reinstall programs properly or they won't work.

• 

  freefall101 on 23/01/2024 - 00:44

  +3

  Can I then put that Win 10 SSD into another recycled PC and have one of the kids use it as their own after I remove my content (except Win 10)? I assume Win 10 will still work for them.

  Maybe, but it’s best to do a fresh install. Key reason is drivers, all the hardware is going to be different and even if you install the new drivers the old ones could cause issues.

  Depends where the key is stored too, if you have an old dell office machine for example it might be in the bios of the old machine and may not like being transferred. OEM keys behave differently to retail keys, so it might depend on where it originally came from.

• 

  Malik Nasser on 23/01/2024 - 08:13

  +1

  Also remember to disable BitLocker drive encryption before removing the old SSD (if enabled) otherwise you will run into issues getting access to and moving the data.

  Can I just put the Win 10 SSD into the new PC and drag and drop the contents?

  Yes this will work, as long as drive encryption is disabled. scrimshaw's use of a drive enclosure will give you more flexibility / optionality.

  Can I then put that Win 10 SSD into another recycled PC and have one of the kids use it as their own after I remove my content (except Win 10)? I assume Win 10 will still work for them.

  Maybe. As per freefall101 above, there may be issues with the Windows activation. If you have a retail key you can transfer it to a new system. If it is an OEM key, then you will need a new Windows key (as OEM keys are locked to the motherboard). You can still use Windows without activation, it will just be a more locked down version (cant change wallpaper, etc…).
  Also, as noted by freefall101, it is generally good practice to do a fresh install of Windows when changing major hardware (ie. motherboard).

• 

  USER DC on 23/01/2024 - 12:42

  Have a new PC coming with Win 11.
  I want to move my contents from the previous Win 10 computer's C drive to that new SSD on the new 11 Win 11 PC.
  Can I just put the Win 10 SSD into the new PC and drag and drop the contents?
  Will Win 10 conflict at all?

  Dont be lazzy, I know its time consuming, sort you data first, you ONLY and ONLY need to copy/transfer your data files, aka stuff in your Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, Video's etc.

  You should not try to just copy and paste all the stuff from C drive to other C drive, (the pottential conflict for windows files is there), so DONT copy and paste any folders like "

  Program files
  Program files (x86)
  Windows
  ProgramData
  Recovery
  Users
  PerfLogs

  Take you time, and Copy all the necessary files only to a portable SSD or Hard disk or NAS. then paste them to the windows 11 PC.

  Or try to do a windows 11 update from the settings, (if you want you can clone entire W10 disk to the newer SSD using like Macrium Reflect for free, then do a update to windows 11 from settings).

• 

  rattle on 23/01/2024 - 22:30

  Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate it as I know nothing about this stuff (old neighbour did it for me last time).
  @USER DC I'm not being lazy, I just don't know what to do as I've not done it before
  Happy to do whatever work is needed.

  So it looks like we have a small change of plan.
  I have an i9 4080 coming
  Kid1 takes my i7 2080
  Kid 2 takes his i7 1080
  Kid 3 takes his i5 1060
  Changes are happening due to child ages and requirements.

  So I need to get my head around…
  Moving my data to the new PC (bought a 2.5 ssd enclosure, following @scrimshaw's advice).
  Move data from Kid 1's to my old PC.
  Move data from Kid 2 to Kid 1's PC.
  Create a new profile on kid 2's PC for kid 3.

  All PC's came with legit Win 10 and were built by stores each time.

  This is a lot to take in for a novice like me, so thanks very much to all of you for taking the time to help. Much appreciated!