Hey everyone. I had a couple of questions.
I was told when switching from a HDD to a SSD I could simply transfer all the information from my HDD to my SSD, only if the SSD was of equal or greater size. And if it wasn't of equal size I would have to get windows 8 on a disk and re-install.
My question is, since my 750gb HDD is partitioned into two, file C:/ and D:/ I believe. and since Im only using C:/OS as of now, would a 500gb SSD be sufficient enough to just completely transfer the entire memory from HDD to SSD being that one partition is around 315gb.

My other question is if that isn't possible because I can't transfer from one partition alone, how can I re-download windows 8.1 to the SSD. I bought this laptop one month old, never used aside from start-up, even had receipt and un-registered warranty so I don't have the windows key, and honestly I'm not even sure whether or not windows came pre-installed or not. I have used Mac's for the past 8 years and am just now switching back. Any help appreciated!
Thanks, Adam