Transfering OS from a 3rd gen m.2 to a 4th gen m.2 of the same size

[Mouse-Potato]

Hi all,

When i first built my PC i could only afford a 1gb gen3 m.2(Sabrent) and now i have purchased a 1gb gen4 m.2 (Samsung 980 pro).

I've been trying to use Samsung Magician to make an image of the OS on the new drive but always seem to be getting an error...

I've tried using Acronis for crucial since i have an external m.2 drive of the brand so that I can use their software without a license, this has also failed.

At this point i feel like i've tried everything but have failed. Does anyone know of a way that i can do this withouth having to reinstall windows and everything else ?

[johnno23]

you should be cloning the drive not trying to make an image.

once cloned you can swap the two drives around so that the new drive is now in the slot closest to the CPU. once the PC has rebooted form the new drive

you can safely format the old drive so that is is ready as an extra storage.

 

[Robchil]

3 hours ago, Mouse-Potato said:

Hi all,

When i first built my PC i could only afford a 1gb gen3 m.2(Sabrent) and now i have purchased a 1gb gen4 m.2 (Samsung 980 pro).

I've been trying to use Samsung Magician to make an image of the OS on the new drive but always seem to be getting an error...

I've tried using Acronis for crucial since i have an external m.2 drive of the brand so that I can use their software without a license, this has also failed.

 

At this point i feel like i've tried everything but have failed. Does anyone know of a way that i can do this withouth having to reinstall windows and everything else ?

get something like this. 

https://www.amazon.com/m-2-SATA-Tool-Free-Clone-duplicator/dp/B0B2NDBS39/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?adgrpid=87126886691&hvadid=585359103831&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1010826&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=12323297097424022331&hvtargid=kwd-582118853166&hydadcr=2752_13541858&keywords=m2+drive+duplicator&qid=1684956389&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFGSkdTTFBHTjRXSzMmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA2ODA3NjEzTk5JVE42NkxZUTVXJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3MTQxNDgzNDQ0QUxKRVlDMUVBJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

you can not clone active boot disks. you will have to get a clone tool usb to boot from and then do the cloning. 

 

[Mouse-Potato]

17 hours ago, johnno23 said:

you should be cloning the drive not trying to make an image.

once cloned you can swap the two drives around so that the new drive is now in the slot closest to the CPU. once the PC has rebooted form the new drive

you can safely format the old drive so that is is ready as an extra storage.

 

OK but what software are you using to do this ? it seems the gen3 is slightly larger cpaacity than the gen4, would that cause an issue ?

 

Thanks

[Mouse-Potato]

14 hours ago, Robchil said:

get something like this. 

https://www.amazon.com/m-2-SATA-Tool-Free-Clone-duplicator/dp/B0B2NDBS39/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?adgrpid=87126886691&hvadid=585359103831&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1010826&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=12323297097424022331&hvtargid=kwd-582118853166&hydadcr=2752_13541858&keywords=m2+drive+duplicator&qid=1684956389&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFGSkdTTFBHTjRXSzMmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA2ODA3NjEzTk5JVE42NkxZUTVXJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3MTQxNDgzNDQ0QUxKRVlDMUVBJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

you can not clone active boot disks. you will have to get a clone tool usb to boot from and then do the cloning. 

 

i have something similar but for sata, maybe i can get a couple of adaptors for the m.2 to sata then feed it into the unit.

 

When you say that you can't clone active boot disk do you mean the drive i'm trying to write can't be physically installed in the motherbaord ?

 

What clone tool would you recommend?

 

Thanks !

[Robchil]

17 minutes ago, Mouse-Potato said:

i have something similar bnut for sata, mayeb i can get a couple of adaptors for the m.2 to sata then feed it into the unit.

 

When you say that you can't clone active boot disk do you mean the drive i'm trying to write can't be physically installed in the motherbaord ?

What clone tool would you recommend?

No you can't boot from a disk you want to clone as some files will be locked and not possible to copy.

 

You can boot to a utility usb. and have the disks installed on the board and clone it. 

 

The sata to m.2 adapters are only for SSD m.2 drives, not nvme. SSD's use SATA controller, NVME use PCIE cpu based controller. 

 

Better leave them on the board and download a utility like clonezilla or gparted and create a bootable usb to start it from so your nvme's isn't in use. 

 

[johnno23]

try going here to learn what you have to do .

All links should be live and info was updated march this year.

https://www.wikihow.com/Clone-a-Hard-Drive-to-an-Ssd#:~:text=Clone Hard Drive on Windows 1 1 Purchase,to" in the pop-up window. ... More items

[Mouse-Potato]

1 hour ago, johnno23 said:

try going here to learn what you have to do .

All links should be live and info was updated march this year.

https://www.wikihow.com/Clone-a-Hard-Drive-to-an-Ssd#:~:text=Clone Hard Drive on Windows 1 1 Purchase,to" in the pop-up window. ... More items

I'll definitely try this one to see if it works. Thanks for the share !