Need to replicate boot drive to new SSD

[yellort]

I plan on replacing my current 240gb slower ssd with a 1tb faster one but i am completely clueless on how i go about it.

How do i get my current windows onto the new ssd?

Can i keep both ssds in the pc or will i have to take the old one out?

Is the ssd i plan to buy a good one?

My motherboard - msi b450 pro carbon max wifi

My current ssd - wd green 240gb

The new ssd - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-Rocket-Internal-Performance-SB-ROCKET-1TB/dp/B07LGF54XR/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3Z6HNQNFBL3M&keywords=sabrent%2B1tb&qid=1649850978&s=computers&sprefix=sabrent%2B1tb%2Ccomputers%2C74&sr=1-4&th=1

Sorry if this if this is worded badly.

 

 

[IAmNik]

Do you have important stuff on the old ssd? If not, you could just clear it out. Install new drive and go with a fresh install of windows.

[Allan Leon]

How do i get my current windows onto the new ssd?: Macrium Reflect to clone the drive (requires another computer), then later you use the disk manager to open the remaining space.

Can i keep both ssds in the pc or will i have to take the old one out?: You can keep both as long you have a free m.2 slot, and your board seams to have at least two of then

Is the ssd i plan to buy a good one?: Yes

[FliP0x]

You can clone your Windows Installation to another drive. You can do this with both drives installed on the same PC.

 

Software that you can use for this is either Acronis True Image or EaseUS Todo Backup. EasyUS also has a free version that does enough to achieve the task that you need.

I used EaseUS Todo Backup to clone my M2 Sata SSD to my new M2 NVMe SSD. 

[BiotechBen]

Macrium Reflect is super easy to use for cloning, and it's free.

[Kedohawyr]

5 hours ago, Allan Leon said:

 Macrium Reflect to clone the drive (requires another computer),

You won't need another computer. You can clone or backup your OS drive while it's still running since Macrium uses shadow copy. It's literally it's biggest selling feature.

 

So uou install Macrium, clone the drive while you do other work, then shutdown and switch the boot order. I'd also suggest unplugging the old drive the first time you boot with the new one. This ensures that Windows correctly adjusts itself to mark the new drive as C: and you don't get any weird dependency were it boots from one drive but reads the user profiles and such from the other one (you might get a "Windows needs to reboot to complete changes" a moment after logging in with the new drive).

 

You can also make a bootable USB version of Macrium (refered to as rescue media) so that you can clone or restore from backup even without Windows. This is useful if you have a laptop with space for only one drive. You'd use the Windows version to make rescue media and make a backup file on an external HDD or a NAS, then turn off the laptop, install the new drive and use the bootable rescue media to now restore the backup onto the new drive.

5 hours ago, Allan Leon said:

then later you use the disk manager to open the remaining space.

This can be done during the clone or restore (from backup) process. If the partition to be expanded is the last one it's dead simple (click the partition properties and select max size). If there's something like an OEM recovery partition at the end then you'll want to do this:

 

1. Select the original boot drive and click Clone

2. In the target area at the bottom select the new drive

3. In the order that they appear drag the partitions from the top (original) drive to the bottom (new) drive

4. Stop when you've dragged over the C: drive. Click it and adjust the size but leave enough space for the partition(s) that come after it.

5. Drag over the remaining partitions

6. Click finish and it will clone and resize at the same time

[yellort]

On 4/13/2022 at 1:00 PM, IAmNik said:

Do you have important stuff on the old ssd? If not, you could just clear it out. Install new drive and go with a fresh install of windows.

I'd I do it this way can I just unplug the hdd I also have in the pc when it's off so the hdd isn't affected at all? 

[IAmNik]

4 hours ago, yellort said:

I'd I do it this way can I just unplug the hdd I also have in the pc when it's off so the hdd isn't affected at all? 

Yes