If you want to perform a fresh install of Windows, then create bootable flash drive that contains Windows installation media (you can download Windows 10 directly from Microsoft here) and then when you get to the step in the install wizard where you choose where to install Windows, you should see your M.2 SSD listed, so just choose it and then Windows will create the necessary partitions automatically. If you don't see your SSD listed, you'll either need to supply the Intel Rapid Storage driver or go into your BIOS and look for the option to switch from RAID mode to AHCI mode, then try again. Once you get Windows running from the SSD, you can use the command-line tool diskpart to run a "clean" command against your SATA HDD in order to wipe it, including all of the hidden partitions, and then you can create a single partition to use it as a data-only drive.
If you want to clone your existing Windows installation over to the M.2 SSD, then if your system's BIOS is currently set to RAID mode, it's pretty straightforward. You can just use a freeware tool such as Macrium Reflect Free to do that. If it's currently set to AHCI mode, cloning is trickier because the Windows installation currently on your SATA HDD won't be configured to load the NVMe driver required for your 970 Evo at boot time, which means it won't be able to boot after it's cloned to an NVMe SSD. And unfortunately, you can't just switch to RAID mode at this stage for an existing Windows installation. So if you're currently in AHCI mode, you can either use the paid version of Macrium Reflect that includes a feature called ReDeploy that can tweak the cloned installation so that it will load the necessary NVMe driver, or you can just perform a clean install instead as I originally described.
jphughan
9 Legend
•
14K Posts
0
June 10th, 2018 13:00
If you want to perform a fresh install of Windows, then create bootable flash drive that contains Windows installation media (you can download Windows 10 directly from Microsoft here) and then when you get to the step in the install wizard where you choose where to install Windows, you should see your M.2 SSD listed, so just choose it and then Windows will create the necessary partitions automatically. If you don't see your SSD listed, you'll either need to supply the Intel Rapid Storage driver or go into your BIOS and look for the option to switch from RAID mode to AHCI mode, then try again. Once you get Windows running from the SSD, you can use the command-line tool diskpart to run a "clean" command against your SATA HDD in order to wipe it, including all of the hidden partitions, and then you can create a single partition to use it as a data-only drive.
If you want to clone your existing Windows installation over to the M.2 SSD, then if your system's BIOS is currently set to RAID mode, it's pretty straightforward. You can just use a freeware tool such as Macrium Reflect Free to do that. If it's currently set to AHCI mode, cloning is trickier because the Windows installation currently on your SATA HDD won't be configured to load the NVMe driver required for your 970 Evo at boot time, which means it won't be able to boot after it's cloned to an NVMe SSD. And unfortunately, you can't just switch to RAID mode at this stage for an existing Windows installation. So if you're currently in AHCI mode, you can either use the paid version of Macrium Reflect that includes a feature called ReDeploy that can tweak the cloned installation so that it will load the necessary NVMe driver, or you can just perform a clean install instead as I originally described.
escape-e
5 Posts
0
January 25th, 2019 05:00
Maybe it's a little late but you can solve this problem by using this link.
How to Install Windows on an M.2 SSD