how do I migrate a windows 11 system install to a SSD?

You can try cloning by using software such as Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image, EaseUS Disk Copy, or Clonezilla. Most of these tools provide a guided process that lets you select the SATA drive as the source and the SSD as the destination. Since you have already formatted the SSD, the cloning software may erase its contents during the cloning process, which is expected.

Once the cloning process is complete, shut down the computer. Enter your computer's UEFI/BIOS setup by pressing the appropriate key during startup (commonly Delete, F2, or F12), and change the boot order so that the SSD is the first boot device. Alternatively, you can temporarily disconnect the SATA drive to verify that the system boots correctly from the SSD.

After Windows successfully starts from the SSD, confirm that everything is working as expected. You can check by opening Task Manager, going to the Performance tab, and verifying that the C: drive corresponds to the SSD, or by using Disk Management to identify the system disk.

Once you are certain the SSD is functioning properly, you can reconnect the SATA drive if it was disconnected. At that point, you can delete the old Windows partitions from the SATA drive and use it as a secondary storage drive. Be careful not to erase the old installation until you have confirmed that the SSD boots normally.

One point worth investigating is why the Windows installer did not detect the SSD during the initial installation. If the SSD is an NVMe drive, the issue may have been caused by missing storage controller drivers, an Intel RST/VMD setting in the BIOS, or a BIOS configuration issue. If so, you might want to first ensure that you have the most recent firmware updates.

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hth

Marcin