Summary :
Do you know how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10 to make your computer gain the best performance? If you don't know, don't worry. This article will show you the ways and some useful tips for SSD and HDD setup Windows 10.
Nov 23, 2018 The Disk Management screen will bring up a list of all disk drives connected to your computer, and if you plugged your HDD in correctly, you should see it on the list. Right click on your HDD and select the 'format' option. If prompted, make sure you set the File System type as NTFS. Most desktop/laptop computers use a different type of external storage, such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid Sstate Disk (SSD). Typically these are built into the computer, though you can add an external one also. In fact, we can add one of those types of drives to the Jetson Nano through the USB 3.0 port!
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Nowadays, many users want to upgrade their HDD to SSD or install SSD and HDD together on their machine for better user experience and computer performance. However, many users don't know how to install SSD and HDD together or how to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10.
For users who are not computer savvy, they may feel that it is complicated and it's the job for the professional.
Actually, it is not so difficult to complete SSD and HDD setup by yourself. If you are a fresh hand and don't know how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10 or how to use SSD and HDD together, you can follow the detailed steps and screenshots in this article. You will find that SSD and HDD setup is very simple.
How to Setup SSD and HDD Windows 10
How to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10? As we all know, SSD uses flash memory to store data. Since it has no moving mechanical components, it is less likely to get damaged and enjoys great reliability.
More importantly, it offers better performance than HDD. A PC using SSD as boot drive will boot faster, run computer programs faster, and transfer files faster. Considering the above reasons, it is recommended to setup SSD as boot drive.
As for HDD, it offers larger capacity than an SSD. And its price is inexpensive. So you can choose the HDD as the storage option. So, if you want to enjoy both of the high performance provided by SSD and the large capacity of HDD, you can set SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive. And it is also the SSD and HDD setup for gaming.
Well, how to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive? If you have used the HDD as the boot drive and the SSD is new, you can do the OS migration to setup SSD as boot drive. If you do not want to use the old operating system, you can perform a clean install on your SSD.
If you don't know the detailed steps to finish OS migration and system reinstallation, you can follow the steps as below.
Setup SSD as Boot Drive and HDD as Storage
To setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage, you need to install your operating system and frequently used software on SSD, and save all your personal files including pictures, videos, music, and documents to the HDD. It is also the perfect SSD and HDD setup for gaming.
Here are two ways that can help you setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive. If you don't know how to install SSD with existing HDD, you can read the following content.
Migrate Your OS to SSD with MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is an all-in-one partition manager. It can help you manage SSD and HDD on your computer in an effortless way with its features like extend partition, resize partition, convert MBR to GPT, align partition, surface test, wipe disk and so on.
In addition, its Migrate OS to SSD/HD feature is perfect for you to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage. You can try this feature to finish SSD and HDD setup in Windows 10.
Using MiniTool Partition Wizard to migrate OS to SSD, you can use your old operating system directly and all the programs installed on your computer will be copied to your SSD drive (if you install programs on the C drive).
Kindly Remind: To migrate OS from MBR disk to GPT disk is not allowed in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition. You need to upgrade to MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro and its above versions. And to boot from GPT disk successfully, your motherboard should support UEFI. SEE: UEFI vs. BIOS – What's the Differences and Which One Is Better
Before you try the following methods, you can install the SSD into your desktop computer firstly. You can check if your SSD can be detected in Disk Management after the SSD installation.
Here I use MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate Edition to migrate OS to SSD for demonstration.
Step 1. Launch the program.
- Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard.
- Click Migrate OS to SSD/HD on the main interface.
Step 2. Migrate your OS only.
1. Choose a method to migrate OS and then click Next.
- If you would like to replace the system disk with SSD completely, choose the first mode.
- If you would like to migrate Windows OS to SSD only, choose the second to copy the system required partitions to the SSD.
Here since you want to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive, you can just migrate system related partitions to SSD only.
2. Choose a destination disk and click Next. Then click Yes on the pop-up window to go on.
3. Review the changes you are going to make. Then click Next.
Note:- Align partitions to 1MB could help to improve performance for SSD and advanced format disks.
- Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk option allows users to use all space of hard disk larger than 2TB, and UEFI boot should be enabled in BIOS. However, this is a paid feature.
4. This page tells you how to boot from the new disk. Read the note and click Finish.
Step 3. Apply the operation.
Click Apply on the upper left corner to allow the pending operations.
Then you can change BIOS boot order to boot from the SSD drive.
You see, you can migrate OS to SSD/HDD in just a few clicks with MiniTool Partition Wizard. Don't know how to how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10? Get MiniTool Partition Wizard to complete SSD and HDD setup now!
If you want to resize SSD partition after system migration, you can perform the operation with the freeware MiniTool Partition Wizard. If you find that your SSD freezes sometimes after the SSD and HDD setup, you can perform SSD alignment to align SSD partition.
Install Windows 10 on the NewSSD
Of course, system migration is not the only method to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage. If you don't want to continue with the old operating system, you can perform a clean install of Windows 10 with Windows Media Creation Tool, though it might be a little complicated and time-consuming.
You can follow the steps as below to install Windows 10 on a new hard drive (with pictures).
Step 1. Create Windows 10 installation media bootable drive.
You can utilize Windows Media Creation Tool to create a Windows 10 installation USB drive/DVD disc to perform a clean install or to repair an unbootable PC in an effortless way.
Prepare a USB drive and connect it to your computer. (Make sure there is no important file on the USB drive.)
1. Download Windows 10 Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website.
2. Run the tool and on the What do you want to do page, select Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PCand click Next.
3. Choose the Language, Windows Edition, and Architecture on this page. Then click Next to continue.
4. Choose USB flash drive and click Next.
5. Follow the step-by-step guide to create the bootable drive. When it says 'Your USB flash drive is ready', click Finish to exit.
Step 2. Boot from the USB drive.
- Restart your computer and enter BIOS setting.
- Set the USB drive as the first boot option in BIOS.
- Restart and boot from the USB drive.
Step 3. Install Windows 10 on SSD.
1. Select your language preferences, and click on Next button to continue.
2. On the next page, click on Install now.
![Boot Boot](https://cdn.guidingtech.com/imager/media/assets/WordPress-Import/2016/01/135883/Types-of-SSDs_7c4a12eb7455b3a1ce1ef1cadcf29289.png?1524147269)
3. Enter the license key and click Next.
4. Accept the license terms and click Next.
5. Choose [Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)] to perform a clean install.
6. https://pengtopsblinat1972.mystrikingly.com/blog/paint-like-app-on-mac. Choose the SSD to install Windows 10.Once the installation is done, Windows 10 will reboot. You can go to BIOS to change boot order and boot from the new SSD.
If you are able to boot from the new SSD successfully, you can delete unnecessary partitions on the old HDD with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.
Conclusion
This post has shown you two ways to complete SSD and HDD setup. If you don't know how to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10, you can refer methods in this post to set SSD as boot drive and SSD as storage drive.
If you have any question about how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10, you can leave a message in the following comment zone and we will reply as soon as possible. If you have better solutions toward SSD and HDD setup, please don't hesitate to share it with us. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].
Summary :
What is M.2 SSD? How to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD? How to boot from M.2 SSD? This post from MiniTool will show you how to set up M.2 as boot drive within 3 different ways. If you want to know how to install Windows 10 on NVMe SSD and enjoy better performance, keep on your reading.
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What Is M.2 SSD?
When it comes to improving computer performance, the option for the fastest storage device is a smart move. So, the M.2 SSD would be a good choice. M.2, also known as the Next Generation Form Factor, is an interface standard for Ultrabook or tablet computer, which can be used to replace the mSATA SSD.
The M.2 SSD enjoys a more flexible physical specification, thus allowing different module width and length. In general, it is smaller than the mSATA SSD.
M.2 SSD supports PCIe 3.0, SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 interfaces, while mSATA SSD only supports SATA. The M.2 SSD offers fast speed and stores more data than most mSATA SSDs. The M.2 SSD has a maximum speed of 4GB per second, whereas the SATA SSD can only hit 600 MB per second.
For more information about M.2 SSD, you can read the post: M.2 SSD vs. SATA SSD: Which One Is Suitable for Your PC? – MiniTool
![Hard Hard](https://www.deskdecode.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/solid-state-storage-ssd-technospares-min.jpg)
3. Enter the license key and click Next.
4. Accept the license terms and click Next.
5. Choose [Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)] to perform a clean install.
6. https://pengtopsblinat1972.mystrikingly.com/blog/paint-like-app-on-mac. Choose the SSD to install Windows 10.Once the installation is done, Windows 10 will reboot. You can go to BIOS to change boot order and boot from the new SSD.
If you are able to boot from the new SSD successfully, you can delete unnecessary partitions on the old HDD with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.
Conclusion
This post has shown you two ways to complete SSD and HDD setup. If you don't know how to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10, you can refer methods in this post to set SSD as boot drive and SSD as storage drive.
If you have any question about how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10, you can leave a message in the following comment zone and we will reply as soon as possible. If you have better solutions toward SSD and HDD setup, please don't hesitate to share it with us. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].
Summary :
What is M.2 SSD? How to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD? How to boot from M.2 SSD? This post from MiniTool will show you how to set up M.2 as boot drive within 3 different ways. If you want to know how to install Windows 10 on NVMe SSD and enjoy better performance, keep on your reading.
Quick Navigation :
What Is M.2 SSD?
When it comes to improving computer performance, the option for the fastest storage device is a smart move. So, the M.2 SSD would be a good choice. M.2, also known as the Next Generation Form Factor, is an interface standard for Ultrabook or tablet computer, which can be used to replace the mSATA SSD.
The M.2 SSD enjoys a more flexible physical specification, thus allowing different module width and length. In general, it is smaller than the mSATA SSD.
M.2 SSD supports PCIe 3.0, SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 interfaces, while mSATA SSD only supports SATA. The M.2 SSD offers fast speed and stores more data than most mSATA SSDs. The M.2 SSD has a maximum speed of 4GB per second, whereas the SATA SSD can only hit 600 MB per second.
For more information about M.2 SSD, you can read the post: M.2 SSD vs. SATA SSD: Which One Is Suitable for Your PC? – MiniTool
With the faster speed, more and more users would like to install M.2 SSD on their computers and ask whether they can boot from M.2 SSD or set up M.2 as boot drive. Of course, you can do that.
In the following section, we will walk you through how to boot from M.2 SSD or how to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD.
3 Ways to Boot from M.2 SSD
In this section, we will show you 3 ways to boot from M.2 SSD. If you don't want to reinstall the OS to the M.2 SSD, you can try the first two ways. They will be much easier for setting M.2 as boot drive. If you want to perform a clean installation of Windows 10, please refer to the third way.
Way 1. Clone OS to M.2 SSD via MiniTool ShadowMaker
In order to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD, you can choose to clone the OS from your original disk to the M.2 SSD and boot from it. In this way, you would not lose any personal data and this way is also time-saving and convenient.
So, to clone OS to M.2 SSD, you can use the clone tool – MiniTool ShadowMaker, which can help you to clone OS from HDD to SSD without bringing any damage to the original data.
In addition, it is a piece of professional Windows backup software, being able to keep PC and data safe through creating backup images.
So, with so many features, just download it from the following button or choose to purchase an advanced edition.
Now, here is the tutorial on how to set M.2 as boot drive.
Step 1: Install M.2 SSD on PC
To begin with, you need to install M.2 SSD on your PC. You can read the post How to Install an M.2 SSD on a Desktop PC to take a reference.
Step 2: Install and launch MiniTool ShadowMaker
- After installing M.2 SSD on your pc, you need to install MiniTool ShadowMaker.
- Then launch it.
- Click Keep Trial.
- Click Connect in This Computer to continue.
Step 3: Select clone source and destination
- After entering its main interface, go to the Tools page.
- Click Clone Disk.
- Click Source module to select the disk clone source. Here you need to select the original system disk as the clone source.
- Click Destination module to choose the target disk. Here, you need to choose the M.2 SSD as the target disk. Then click Finish to continue.
Step 4: Start to clone OS to M.2 SSD
- After selecting the clone source and target disks, click OK on Clone Disk page, then MiniTool ShadowMaker will begin cloning disk.
- Do not interrupt this process until it is finished.
When the disk cloning process is finished, you will receive the following warning message. It tells you that the source disk and target disk have the same signature, so please remove either of them. If you want to boot from the target disk, please change the BIOS setting first.
Hard Disk Type
Step 5: Set M.2 SSD as boot drive
- After cloning OS to the M.2 SSD, you need to set M.2 as boot drive so as to boot from it.
- So, reboot your computer to enter BIOS. Start your computer and press the hotkey, such as F2 (It may vary depending on different computer brands) to enter BIOS.
- Then go to Boot tab to change the boot order. You need to set the M.2 boot drive as the first boot sequence.
When all steps are finished, you can boot your computer from the M.2 SSD. In this way, it is very simple for you to set M.2 as boot drive.
Way 2. Clone OS to M.2 SSD via MiniTool Partition Wizard
In order to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD and boot from M.2, we will show you the second way. In this way, you can also choose to clone OS to M.2 SSD.
MiniTool provides another tool for you to clone the operating system to the M.2 SSD. It is MiniTool Partition Wizard. It is partition magic, designed to optimize the partition and disk use, such as extending partition, performing data recovery, repairing partition and so on.
With so many features, download it immediately to have a try.
Now, we will show you how to clone OS to M.2 SSD and how to boot from M.2 boot drive Windows 10.
Step 1: Install M.2 SSD to your computer
At first, you also need to install M.2 SSD on your computer. For the detailed operation instructions, you can refer the first way listed above.
Step 2: Start to clone OS to M.2 SSD
Screenfloat 1 5 13 – create screenshots in floating windows. 1. After installing M.2 SSD to your computer, install MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch it.
2. After entering the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard, select the original system disk and choose Copy from the context menu to continue.
3. Select a target disk. Here you should select the M.2 SSD as the target disk. Then click Next.
4. Select the available copy options. Then click Next.
- For SSD users, the option Align partitions to 1 MB is recommended since it can improve the disk performance.
- If you choose the option Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk, the target disk will be converted to GPT and this is a paid feature.
5. Then read the note carefully which tells you to change the boot order if you want to boot from M.2 SSD. Then click Finish to continue.
6. At last, you can preview the changes and click Apply to execute them.
Step 3: Change Boot Order in BIOS
After cloning the OS to the M.2 SSD, you need to enter the BIOS setting to change the boot order and set the M.2 SSD as the default boot disk. As for the detailed operation instructions, please refer to the first way listed above.
After you have completed all steps, you can successfully boot your computer from the M.2 SSD.
Besides the Disk Clone feature, MiniTool Partition Wizard also provides the Migrate OS to SSD feature which enables you to transfer OS to the M.2 SSD.
Way 3. Install Windows 10 on NVMe SSD
In the above part, we have shown how to set up M.2 boot drive Windows 10 in 2 ways. In this part, we will show you the third way.
If you don't want to use the original operating system and want to install a new one, try this method. Before reinstalling the OS, please back up your important files.
Now, here is the tutorial on how to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD.
Step 1: Create Windows 10 installation media
- To install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD, you need to create Windows 10 installation media firstly.
- Click here to download the Microsoft Media Creation tool.
- Then run it on your computer. You can read the post A Complete Guide to Windows 10 Media Creation Tool: How to Use to know how to use it to create the Windows 10 installation media.
Step 2: Install M.2 SSD on your pc
Then you are required to install the M.2 SSD on your computer. For the detailed instruction, please refer to the first way listed above.
Step 3: Start to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD
1. Connect the Windows 10 installation media to your computer and boot from it.
2. After booting the computer from the installation media, select the language, time and keyboard. Then click Next to continue.
3. Then click Install Now to continue.
4. Next, you are required to enter the Windows license key. You can also click the option I don't have a product key and enter it later.
5. Then accept the license terms and click Next to continue.
6. Polarr photo editor 4 4 0. You need to make a choice of which installation type do you want. Here, we take the latter one – Custom: Install Windows Only (advanced) as an example.
Boot Disk Type Ssd
7. Select the drive to install Windows 10. Here you need to choose the M.2 SSD. Then click Next to continue.
8. Then you need to wait for Windows 10 to finish installing.
Boot Disk Type : Ssd Reviews
9. When the process is finished, enter BIOS to change boot order and boot your computer from the M.2 SSD. For the detailed instruction, please refer to the first way listed above.
After all steps are finished, you can successfully boot from M.2 SSD.
From the above information, this post introduced 3 ways to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD and also shows you how to boot from M.2 SSD. If you want to use the original operating system, you can choose to clone the OS to the M.2 SSD. If you want to newly install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD, you can try the third solution.
After installing Windows 10 on M.2 SSD, you can enjoy better performance because M.2 SSD provides fast transfer speed.
Bottom Line
To sum up, this post has introduced what the M.2 SSD is and shows you how to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD and how to boot from M.2 SSD. If you want to set M.2 as boot drive and enjoy better performance, try these ways.
If you have any problem with MiniTool products, please leave a message in the comment zone or send a message to the email [email protected] and we will reply to you as soon as possible.