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How hard to add SSD without windows OS media?

G

geepondy

Member
If I were to buy a vendor manufactured PC today (black Friday) or sometime in the future, I'm sure the windows individual OS disk will not be available, only if lucky a backup/re- installation disk. One of the first things I would want to do is swap out the main drive for an SSD. Is this hard/possible to do without the windows installation disk?
 
I don't have much experience with it, but there are many varieties of cloning software out there that make this a pretty easy task. It will make an exact copy of the contents of the drive that comes with your vendor PC and transfer that to the SSD.
 
There should always be a method of obtaining a Windows "fresh installer" disc. Whether it's by burning your own disc (sourced from what's already on the hard drive), or by calling the manufacturer help line and having them send a disc in the mail.
Also: the SSD package may include a disc cloner program, which should afterwards allow booting directly from the SSD drive. Acronis makes software that is often sourced for that purpose. In such a case, no Windows install disc would be required.
 
I understand I could clone the original drive and then copy back the contents to the SSD, but the hardware configuration will have changed with new SSD. Will windows accept that and recognize and configure the new SSD especially since it's a hard drive the operating system resides on?
 
geepondy said:
I understand I could clone the original drive and then copy back the contents to the SSD, but the hardware configuration will have changed with new SSD. Will windows accept that and recognize and configure the new SSD especially since it's a hard drive the operating system resides on?
Click to expand...

I'd think so. A different drive isn't that big of a deal. If you changed your motherboard on the same install, Windows might freak out a little more (with all the differing chipsets, etc.), but just a drive swap shouldn't be an issue. I'm pretty sure it's done, the exact way you're likely to do it, all the time.
 
Thank you. That's reassuring to know.

OCNewbie said:
I'd think so. A different drive isn't that big of a deal. If you changed your motherboard on the same install, Windows might freak out a little more (with all the differing chipsets, etc.), but just a drive swap shouldn't be an issue. I'm pretty sure it's done, the exact way you're likely to do it, all the time.
Click to expand...
 
geepondy said:
I understand I could clone the original drive and then copy back the contents to the SSD, but the hardware configuration will have changed with new SSD. Will windows accept that and recognize and configure the new SSD especially since it's a hard drive the operating system resides on?
Click to expand...

Windows only really cares about the motherboard for activation purposes, swapping the drive doesn't matter.

While it is possible to clone, I would recommend doing a fresh install. It is very easy to get Windows images directly from Microsoft authorized resellers. The license key should be printed on a sticker that's affixed to your PC somewhere.
 
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