Changing Laptop SSD

[Daonebest]

Hello, I want to replace my laptop's SSD, which is M.2 250GB, to an M.2 500GB. I want to migrate the original OS to the new drive. However, my laptop is a Dell Latitude 5400 and only has one M.2 slot. I also have my PC, which has two available M.2 slots and >500GB free space on it's own drive. How can I achieve this without purchasing a 250GB+ external flash drive?

[YoungBlade]

Welcome to the Forums!

 

I believe you can just put the two M.2 drives into your desktop, then clone the data from the 250GB drive to the 500GB drive.

[Dedayog]

24 minutes ago, Daonebest said:

Hello, I want to replace my laptop's SSD, which is M.2 250GB, to an M.2 500GB. I want to migrate the original OS to the new drive. However, my laptop is a Dell Latitude 5400 and only has one M.2 slot. I also have my PC, which has two available M.2 slots and >500GB free space on it's own drive. How can I achieve this without purchasing a 250GB+ external flash drive?

Just use one of these and clone via USB...  I've done SATA and NVMe cloning externally with similar.

 

https://www.amazon.com/ELUTENG-Adapter-USB3-1-Converter-Support/dp/B0CB45PRMF/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=m.2%2Busb%2Bcable&qid=1700659621&sr=8-4&th=1

[Agall]

1 hour ago, YoungBlade said:

Welcome to the Forums!

 

I believe you can just put the two M.2 drives into your desktop, then clone the data from the 250GB drive to the 500GB drive.

As long as bitlocker isn't enabled, which a lot of the time is by default since MS pushes most users towards a Microsoft account login.

 

1 hour ago, Daonebest said:

Hello, I want to replace my laptop's SSD, which is M.2 250GB, to an M.2 500GB. I want to migrate the original OS to the new drive. However, my laptop is a Dell Latitude 5400 and only has one M.2 slot. I also have my PC, which has two available M.2 slots and >500GB free space on it's own drive. How can I achieve this without purchasing a 250GB+ external flash drive?

External cloning should work, otherwise it depends on why you'd like to migrate the OS on whether you're not just better off doing a fresh install. If it's mostly user data, then that can be transferred from the old M.2 quite easily using what @Dedayog linked.

 

Cloning software can be hit or miss in the modern era, I personally use Acronis but that sometimes requires a 'backup and restore' versus a clone, depending on the UEFI settings (usually more complicated on newer systems). 

[Daonebest]

Thanks all, inserting the laptop's ssd in the PC results, unsurprisingly in failure to boot. I don't really understand bitlocker or how that can change this. The most viable option at the moment seems to be a USB to M.2 converter, as it means I can also use my old drive as an external flash drive. However, like you said I could do a fresh install, as I have a spare activation key for windows 10 pro (the laptop currently has home) also what's currently on my laptop isn't anywhere near as large or important to me as what is on my PC. The problem is the largest external drive I own is 16gb, which I'm not sure is large enough for a windows 10 pro install. Perhaps I could use my PC for this?