Cloning From Smaller Drive Containing No OS Into Larger Drive

[PacMappy Solvalou]

I plan to clone one of my older drives (WD 1TB, lets call it "Drive E") into a larger drive (Seagate 2TB "Drive G"). Drive E does not have the OS on it since Win10 is already on an SSD ("Drive C"). Drive E contains some important programs on it, like Discord, printer software, iCue, Mountain Everest keyboard settings, etc. I plan to keep Drive D after cloning as backup.

 

#1 - Even though there is no OS on Drive E, can I still clone Drive E into Drive G, rename G as the 'new' E, and have my PC operate as normal once cloning is complete?

#2 - Just in case #1 isnt an ideal solution, can I clone E into G then swap the SATA cables that Drive E is currently connected to, so that when I reboot into the bios, the pc thinks that drive G is drive E? Or it doesnt matter as long as I tell the PC "This is now 'Drive E' so pull the programs you need from here" ?

 

[Poinkachu]

23 minutes ago, PacMappy30 said:

I plan to clone one of my older drives (WD 1TB, lets call it "Drive E") into a larger drive (Seagate 2TB "Drive G"). Drive E does not have the OS on it since Win10 is already on an SSD ("Drive C"). Drive E contains some important programs on it, like Discord, printer software, iCue, Mountain Everest keyboard settings, etc. I plan to keep Drive D after cloning as backup.

 

#1 - Even though there is no OS on Drive E, can I still clone Drive E into Drive G, rename G as the 'new' E, and have my PC operate as normal once cloning is complete?

#2 - Just in case #1 isnt an ideal solution, can I clone E into G then swap the SATA cables that Drive E is currently connected to, so that when I reboot into the bios, the pc thinks that drive G is drive E? Or it doesnt matter as long as I tell the PC "This is now 'Drive E' so pull the programs you need from here" ?

 

#1. Yes, it's simply copy/cut then pasting the files in E to G
Cloning is mainly used for migrating OS to a different drive. Is making exact same down to the volume sizing.
So if your old drive consists of a Volume of 1TB and the new drive have max capacity of 2TB, after the cloning process on the new drive you'll get a Volume of exact size of your old one, along with Unallocated Space consisting of the rest.

Which you have to reintegrate into the rest, or make a new partition out of it.
This unallocated space won't show up in windows explorer, only in disk management, so don't panic if you see your new drive only have less capacity than supposed after cloning process.

For non OS stuffs you can simply just use the ol' copy paste. Less work.

 

Swapping cable doesn't have anything to do with drive letters. Just make sure you change the drive letter in windows disk management.

[szalony9szymek]

Software in windows usually cares about the drive letter, change that in disk manager or cmd and you will be fine