I just installed an SSD alongside my HDD, with the plan being to launch Windows and WoW from the SSD.
Is it possible to copy paste my entire WoW folder over to the SSD successfully? I’ve seen conflicting reports with a Google search. Would it be better to just do a fresh install and download all of my addons fresh?
And would I need to install my addon manager on the SSD or can I still update my addons even if they’re on separate drives?
WoW will probably be fine to copy but Windows its always best to do a fresh install of that since copy pasting over ‘can’ cause issues. I recommend backing up what you wanna hold onto from you HDD just for safety sake install windows on the SSD and then copy over your WoW directory you backed up, as far as addons you should be able to just install whatever addon control app you use whether that be Curse of Wowup or whatnot and it should recognize your addons that are already installed in the WoW directory and from there you should be good to go. If you have any questions I’ll try to help if I can.
I suggest a fresh install and just copy over the main saved variables folder. That’s what I did, even redownloaded the addons. It went very smoothly and my game runs better.
Fresh install would be better but you can also do a mirror/clone of the drive if the SSD is same size or larger, there’s free programs that allow you to do it.
Then would have to go into bios to set the SSD as the main boot drive.
I actually have someone doing the dirty work for me, so all I’ll have to do is set up WoW.
I don’t relish the idea of redoing my UI, but maybe a fresh install would be best. When I download WoW will it ask where I want the game installed, so I can just select the new drive? And does my addon manager need to be on the new drive as well, or can I just leave it on my old drive and it will still recognize WoW?
Thanks 
The problem has to do with the Windows Registry. When you install a product the installation script makes changes to the Windows Registry so that Windows can find the application and the application can find it’s files and other important information.
Now you can use a utility called regedit to manually make changes to the Windows Registry but any mistakes could have dramatic results. You could end up having to reinstall Windows itself.
It’s best to uninstall and reinstall.
That being said, when I switched to SSD the result was a dramatic improvement in performance.
Ohhhh no. I won’t touch the registry, ever lol. I did tech support eons ago and learned that the hard way.
You can select a different drive for your install I actually have 2 SSD’s and its on the one I don’t have windows installed on. Either way best of luck and enjoy the benefits of SSD speed load times.
Blizzard does not care where you have it installed. You will need to do two things:
That should prevent you having to redo your addons and it saves a ton of time on the DL.
This applies to all modern Blizzard games. You just need the files, not an “install” for each.
How big is your HD, how much free space is left on the HD, and how big is the SSD? Depending on the answers you may have something as simple as cloning the HD to the SSD, swapping their boot order in the BIOS, and then just formatting the HD and using it for downloads and data storage while you use the SSD for the OS and games.
Just make your SSD your new boot drive, install windows on it, then copy the files over you want, and finally do whatever with the old drive. When moving your game folders like this the launcher won’t find them initially, but once you point it in the right direction all will be well. If you don’t know how to set your SSD as a boot drive, disconnect your old drive, and the computer should default (though it might go back if you don’t set it in bios, good time to learn what this is if you don’t know)
Yes, you can copy the WoW directory over. The battle.net client has a “find my game” feature, if I recall correctly.
Just a basic copy paste of my entire WoW folder? Nothing is going to get jumbled up in the process? And by “point the launcher” do you mean just instruct it to recognize WoW’s new location ?
HDD is 1TB and the SSD is only 500G… that should be enough I think? I really only play WoW so I can’t imagine I’d need a full TB. I can’t remember offhand how much space is left on my HD but it’s a lot… I want to say it’s got about 75% free space on it, if not more.
YES! Exactly that. Copy the whole WoW folder to your new SSD after you are done installing Windows and such. Then you go into the launcher and tell it to find the game - and make sure that is it looking in the right place.
I keep a copy of my Blizzard game Directories on an external drive so I can easily put them on a machine, then just have to do a quick update if they are not quite up to date with the latest patch. Saves me a LOT of bandwidth use.
Made it super easy to switch to a new laptop this year.
Thank you! This has been very helpful… everyone in this thread has been helpful. Thank you all so much! I put off getting an SSD for so long but hopefully it’s a smooth switch!
You are going to LOVE how fast your machine boots once it is on the SSD as a boot drive. WoW will be a ton faster loading too.
You are going to wonder how you lived without one for so long 
If you purchased a Samsung SSD drive, install the free cloning software. Clone original HD to SSD. Only use HD for extra storage.
Otherwise find other cloning software.
Right click your C: drive and see how much space is left. If the free space is larger than your SSD, you can simply clone the whole drive to the SSD, format the HD after setting the SSD as the boot drive, then just move over any files you don’t want taking up space on the SSD.
As for the cloning software, you’ll need to find one you’re comfortable with. I used to recommend Acronis, but they moved entirely to subscription based services and no longer offer a standalone product for consumers. Quite frustrating and it makes me glas I got the 2020 standalone version before they went that route.
This as well. Samsung’s cloning software works marvelously, but only for their SSDs.
The machine booting isn’t a biggie for me, but WoW loading is something I’m looking forward to! Not having everything pop in bit by bit, little chunks at a time, haha
Also, one more question… 500 gig should be enough for the OS and WoW? I don’t play any other games so I don’t need much extra space
Boy some of these response…
OP
Just down load blizzard app on fresh SSD
Then put your entire wow folder from the HHD In the blizzard directory…thats it…