Easiest way to install win 10 in my situation?
Easiest way to install win 10 in my situation?
You can transfer your data from the existing drive to the new one without needing a full installation. A fresh install would overwrite everything, so you’d need to reinstall Windows afterward. Yes, you can keep the old drive running alongside the new one during the process.
In my opinion, a fresh installation is usually the best choice. If you choose to do a fresh install on your second M.2 drive, remove all other storage devices first.
It seems you're planning a rebuild. You'd swap the M.2 drive into the same position, use Media Creation Tool to install Windows 10, and then put the previous M.2 drive in the other slot to keep data safe.
Well you can have both drives with windows and select the one to boot to in the BIOS but why would you want to do that? There are several disk cloning software options that you can make your new drive exactly like your current one. What i would do tho, is save all the important stuff on a thumb drive, install the new drive and clean install Windows on one of the drives. Edited June 20, 2022 by MedicTim78 Typos
I’d handle it that way. Don’t shift the second device into the first slot unless you’re just setting up Windows. If your motherboard restricts the second slot for performance reasons—because of PCIe lane setup or something—you’ll need to reposition it after installation to achieve optimal hardware speed. The instruction to remove all other storage devices is mainly to stop Windows from loading EFI on a different drive. That file is essential for booting, and if it’s on another disk you’ll encounter an error. Fixing it afterward works better than trying to prevent it. You can still keep the old drive with Windows installed, but ensure the EFI file points to the right location in BIOS.