Apologies if this is a tremendously simple question, it's been so long since I've had to do anything like this. I have a 60 GB SSD from 5 years ago that has always been my Windows 7 drive, but after Windows growing to use up the majority of this space I decided to get a 250 GB SSD to replace it. What's the best way to go about upgrading? I'm not averse to just starting from scratch. What I'm unsure about is, is there any problem with using the same serial number as I used for the previous Windows install? Is there any issues with this being tied to the old SSD? I've also signed up for the free Windows 10 upgrade, do I just have to repeat the sign up when I reinstall on the new drive?
Shouldn't be any issues, as long as you're only using that copy of windows on one machine. I've reinstalled mine plenty of times, never had any issues. The codes are supposedly linked to the mobo, but I've just done an upgrade and changed mobo, cpu and ram and had no problems. If you do have problems activating, worst case is you'll have to phone Microsoft from the activation screen and they give you the activation code after you tell them you're hard drive broke, Make sure to disconnect all other drives when you install to your new SSD, as you don't want the MBR going onto a different drive (I had it go onto an external one once, and the PC then wouldn't boot unless the external drive was connected). Then once you got windows on the new SSD, you can reconnect any other drives, if the old SSD is staying then you might need to make sure the system boots from the new one until you've wiped the old SSD.
Exactly as above. Make sure you disconnect all other drives bar the new SSD, and then install. My dads machine will not boot without the HDD plugged in, but I have never bothered reinstalling it as it is more of a pain than anything. It works fine, and he uses the drive, so I left it as is.
Thanks for the advice guys, and sorry for taking so long to reply. I ended up being away from my computer for a bit due to work. I have registered for the free Windows 10 upgrade - presumably when I reinstall it will prompt me again to register or it will remember that I had registered.. I hope? Think I will just do a clean install on the new drive. Quick question about game saves - I'm in the middle of the Witcher 3 and although it is installed on a separate HDD (I have a large capacity one for games, etc. that the OS isn't on), I think saved games are automatically put in the Documents folder on the C: drive. Is it simply a matter of copying those over to a USB or something then dumping them back in the Documents folder when I install Windows on the new drive?
Yeah, copy documents folder, and also look in AppData (Local, Roaming etc) for any save games in there that you want to keep. Then as you say, just chuck them back in on the new install. My Documents folder has just been copy/pasted through about 4 reinstalls, I should really look at cleaning it up,
