Expanding my Boot SSD

[J.Munslow]

For a long time I've been using the ~2015 solution of a large HDD (4TB) and a smaller boot NVME SSD (256GB) as a dual storage solution for my PC. 

 

Now though, the 256gb capacity of my SSD is proving to be a little too small as i start to store a few more games on it for faster load times. 

 

So, I'm considering swapping out my current Samsung 960 Evo for a Crucial P3 or P3 Plus in either a 1TB or 2TB capacity. (both are on sale in the UK now for an attractive price - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B25LZGGW/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B0B25P44CL&pd_rd_w=C2lFL&content-id=amzn1.sym.15c0cc83-c6c5-4d44-aa3d-0de17a9f3682&pf_rd_p=15c0cc83-c6c5-4d44-aa3d-0de17a9f3682&pf_rd_r=DDYV49BX4N9YES06G7HF&pd_rd_wg=bYGLx&pd_rd_r=c1a7a1f7-a79b-4629-8714-5b316c86db85&s=computers&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1)

 

My question then is:   

 

- How easy is it to clone my existing SSD into the larger drive? What is the best way to do this? 

- is the P3 or P3 Plus a decent SSD? I'm, still on a Z170 system so Gen4 vs Gen3 is less of a concern... 

- will performance from the crucial drive be comparable to my current Samsung? 

 

 

[johnno23]

Most modern cloning software allows the clone od smaller drive to a larger drive. just take your time and read the instructions. there is an option to clone and an option to clone to larger drive. just choose the correct option or you will need to reformat and start over.

As for the GEn 3 Gen 4 just get a good quasility Gen 3 as the prices are very low right now as retailers clear stock/ also once in a game you will never notice the speed difference.

I also have a seperate SSD for my steam library...so going Gen 3 means you could possibly double up on your storage options..

[PDifolco]

33 minutes ago, J.Munslow said:

For a long time I've been using the ~2015 solution of a large HDD (4TB) and a smaller boot NVME SSD (256GB) as a dual storage solution for my PC. 

 

Now though, the 256gb capacity of my SSD is proving to be a little too small as i start to store a few more games on it for faster load times. 

 

So, I'm considering swapping out my current Samsung 960 Evo for a Crucial P3 or P3 Plus in either a 1TB or 2TB capacity. (both are on sale in the UK now for an attractive price - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B25LZGGW/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B0B25P44CL&pd_rd_w=C2lFL&content-id=amzn1.sym.15c0cc83-c6c5-4d44-aa3d-0de17a9f3682&pf_rd_p=15c0cc83-c6c5-4d44-aa3d-0de17a9f3682&pf_rd_r=DDYV49BX4N9YES06G7HF&pd_rd_wg=bYGLx&pd_rd_r=c1a7a1f7-a79b-4629-8714-5b316c86db85&s=computers&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1)

 

My question then is:   

 

- How easy is it to clone my existing SSD into the larger drive? What is the best way to do this? 

- is the P3 or P3 Plus a decent SSD? I'm, still on a Z170 system so Gen4 vs Gen3 is less of a concern... 

- will performance from the crucial drive be comparable to my current Samsung? 

 

 

Simplest is to get some free cloning software and fully clone your drive, then manage partitions for either a 400GBish Windows partition and another for games, or up to full capacity on one big drive

P3 is decent low/mid range drive and at $50 for 1TB it's a great deal

 

[SorryBella]

45 minutes ago, J.Munslow said:

- How easy is it to clone my existing SSD into the larger drive? What is the best way to do this? 

Very easy if you just use cloning apps. I like to recommend trial version of Acronis True Image myself even though that thing is 1 giant overkill bloat, but peeps in this forum also recommends Macrium Reflect.

55 minutes ago, J.Munslow said:

- is the P3 or P3 Plus a decent SSD? I'm, still on a Z170 system so Gen4 vs Gen3 is less of a concern... 

At its price range its really hard to complain. Yes it suffers from SLC cache congestion issues but when other drives at similar price have similarly congested caching issue and some even have no caching whatsoever, you cant really go really wrong with it.

56 minutes ago, J.Munslow said:

- will performance from the crucial drive be comparable to my current Samsung? 

Pretty much yes.

[NobleGamer]

One example of cloning software that I personally used was Macrium Reflect, but you'll have to get it from an unofficial site because the free version is no longer in development and at some point will no longer be supported.

 

Cloning from small to larger drive will likely result in only the partition being cloned, so the extra space on new drive would be unallocated. Either the tool from the drive manufacturer can help, or get something else like Partition Wizard that can resize the partition to include all unallocated space.

 

P3 or P3 Plus might be fine. However, I will say that for a similar price (at least in the US), there are other drives with more consistent performance - Sequential and random, see benchmarks here: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/benchmarks/?benchmark=seq50#A=1000000000000,2048000000000&D=1&m=1,11,12,23,30,31,794,32,444,916,341,38&t=0

 

One example of that is the WD SN570, which I personally would buy when I need my next SSD.

 

I think that matters more than how it compares to your specific Samsung model, since smaller drives have less cache and often a bit weaker performance than larger drives, but it's not like it would be noticible unless maybe you do a ton of random reads+writes.

[J.Munslow]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:44 PM, SorryClaire said:

Very easy if you just use cloning apps. I like to recommend trial version of Acronis True Image myself even though that thing is 1 giant overkill bloat, but peeps in this forum also recommends Macrium Reflect.

At its price range its really hard to complain. Yes it suffers from SLC cache congestion issues but when other drives at similar price have similarly congested caching issue and some even have no caching whatsoever, you cant really go really wrong with it.

Pretty much yes.

I've just attempted to clone the disk using the Acronis software available with the Crucial drive but now have an issue where my PC boots into the windows recovery but not into actual windows? 

 

Acronis stated the clone was successful and boot manager is present for my new drive in the BIOS, do you have any ideas?