You're facing an unusual issue when attempting to duplicate your hard drive to an SSD.
You're facing an unusual issue when attempting to duplicate your hard drive to an SSD.
You recently assembled your first PC but made a mistake by installing Windows 10 on a 1TB hard drive instead of the intended 250GB SSD. The setup included using the hard drive as a game storage device, but when attempting to copy Windows 10, the BIOS reported no boot devices on both the SSD and hard drive, indicating issues with copying. This might be confusing for others, so please clarify if this isn't the right place to ask.
You can't simply transfer the Windows folder to another storage device. You'll need to re-run the installation media and set up Windows directly on the SSD. It's wise to disconnect other drives from the system beforehand if you're concerned about installing on the incorrect drive.
There are at least two possible concerns here. First, simply copying Windows isn't sufficient. You need to create an exact replica of the storage drive. Secondly, switching from a larger to a smaller drive presents challenges. I’d recommend reinstalling Windows on the SSD and then transferring the required files from the previous drive afterward. Regarding why neither is recognized, if both devices were connected during setup, it’s likely Windows installed on the HDD and placed the bootloader on the SSD—so reformatting the SSD beforehand might have erased that bootloader, preventing the system from starting.
Ensure the BIOS selects the correct storage device, as I'll default to the one with Windows. You may need to either back up the entire primary drive or reinstall Windows from a USB drive for a clean setup.
Copying as in like just you used Copy and Paste to move the files to the other drive? If so, no, that is not how it works. You need to clone the Windows install from the drive you don't want it on to the one you do using a cloning program such as Aomei Partition Assistant or Macrium Reflect. It does take a little bit of time and you may need to run a boot fix on the clone after it's done. It sounds like this is a fresh install of Windows? Like you just installed it and realized it was on the wrong drive? If so and you haven't put anything on it then it would just be easier to reinstall Windows with the installer on the correct drive. Unless you have extremely important data on the install already it's much easier to just install it again but this time on the correct drive. If you want to be sure just simply unplug the mechanical HDD until you get it installed so only the SSD shows up in the installer.