I want to replace the primary HDD on a windows 8.1 machine with a SSD and I'm wondering what is the best way to proceed?

The SSD comes with migration software but I'm wondering if it might be better to:

1. do a clean install using a windows recovery disk (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive), and enter the windows repair environment, to ...

2. restore a system image that includes programs, settings and files (created as per http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows-8/what-happened-to-backup-restore).

Any advice?

Re point 2: Can I confirm that 'File History -> System Image Backup -> Create a system image ...' etc in windows 8.1 saves programs as well as drivers?  

Thanks very much for any help.

• Edited by You'reDreaming Saturday, February 28, 2015 8:46 PM typo

Hello You'reDreaming,

Do you mean that you want to migrate from HDD to SSD?
Is this SSD space larger than HDD?

It is recommended to use clean install in the SSD.

If the SSD is smaller than HDD, you are not able to use the system image backup to restore the system.

Please take a look at the following article about System image backup.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-hk/windows7/what-is-a-system-image
The system image is used to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or entire computer ever stops working.

Due to the system image backup has the system partition information, the clean installed Windows in SSD is hard to similar to the original system image backup.
So it is recommended to use the clean install without System image backup.

Please note: It is not recommended to use the third-party software to migrate the Windows 8.1 from the HDD to SSD. It may have the harmful effect on the system.

Best regards,
Fangzhou CHEN

Thanks Fangzhou CHEN,

The migration went well - I've been a little busy, hence slow to reply.

After the installation, windows 8.1 sees the capacity of the SSD as 449Gb rather than 500 Gb.

Is there an explanation for this?

Kind regards,