New SSD

[#1]

Hi I've decided to install a Crucial 500GB SSD to replace the old mechanical HDD in our 5 year old desktop; just waiting on delivery now. I was going to swap out and then download Windows 10 onto a flash drive and do a clean install restoring programmes and data from back up. Am I going to run into problems with that. approach?

The Crucial SSD comes with Acronis True Image which I haven't used, is that the better way to go?

[#2]

On a desktop, you could just clone your existing HD onto the SSD - but whether this gives Microsoft's licensing system a problem is another matter???

Will they want you to buy their software all over again?

[#3]

In the last week I've cloned a Win 10 system onto a SSD using Acronis True Image with no problems including licensing at all. A few months ago I did a clean install on a new SSD on another computer, again without any issues. 

A clean install can be a right pain. If you are going to do this you need to reinstal all the programmes, I suspect that you will have all sorts of problems if you try to install a fresh Win 10 with programs from a backup. Personally I would not bother going down this path unless having problems.

[#4]

@the_groundsman

Most likely Crucial will supply a "transfer" utility to move your current hard disk to the SSD.

Having done this kind of thing a few times in the past it does work.

The only thing I've ever had problems with in that respect is Microsoft Office which has required entering the activation code again once.

I did have "geometry" problems with an external hard drive case I was using for the copying process on one desktop machine.

In the end I disconnected the DVD drive and used the connectors for that while I was doing the transfer.

For laptops I've used a cheap USB external drive "caddy" and that has been successful.

[#5]

If the existing system in Win10, then you can associate the Win10 digital licence with a Microsoft account and use that account to reactivate things. Details at https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

That said I cloned the HDD from a machine with a dead motherboard (or processor!) to a completely different machine with an SSD, and it all reactivated with no problem.

[#6]

Thanks for the insights. Will do the clone. I can always clean install later if needs must.