New machine/ssd old OS best practice

[Psittac]

My dad HATES change and therefore technology.  What is the best practice to get him off his sata ssd and onto an nvme with the new components I have ordered without him ever knowing the difference?  I just want to shut it down, do the swap then turn it back on and have everything exactly as he left it.  I don't want to just save data, I want everything the same down to the last icon.

[Dedayog]

9 minutes ago, Psittac said:

My dad HATES change and therefore technology.  What is the best practice to get him off his sata ssd and onto an nvme with the new components I have ordered without him ever knowing the difference?  I just want to shut it down, do the swap then turn it back on and have everything exactly as he left it.  I don't want to just save data, I want everything the same down to the last icon.

Just use the SATA drive then, he wouldn't be able to tell vs an NVMe, nor will you.  

[Psittac]

41 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Just use the SATA drive then, he wouldn't be able to tell vs an NVMe, nor will you.  

The nvme is far bigger and I'd like to cut any problems off ahead of time.

[BoomerDutch]

Just use clone utility then expand that's only way.

 

If windows is being derp then just create new volume and treat as second drive.

 

Only issue you cannot use that ssd on same pc because it clones GUID of drive as well so use that ssd somewhere else.

[DoctorNick]

2 hours ago, Psittac said:

My dad HATES change and therefore technology.  What is the best practice to get him off his sata ssd and onto an nvme with the new components I have ordered without him ever knowing the difference?  I just want to shut it down, do the swap then turn it back on and have everything exactly as he left it.  I don't want to just save data, I want everything the same down to the last icon.

Idk if this program works, but I saw someone mention it on reddit. I tried installing it and it seems good for cloning. Its very easy, just run the clone and remove the sata ssd to test if it works for booting windows. If it makes and error https://www.wittytool.com/disk-clone

If you get a Kingston or Samsung SSD, cloning software is included. Samsung Magician is better than Acronis (kingston)

[Dedayog]

7 hours ago, Psittac said:

The nvme is far bigger and I'd like to cut any problems off ahead of time.

Oh then just clone it.  Macrium Reflect is free.  Otherwise use the ones with the drive.

 

Problems?  You assume SATA drives have problems?  No.

[aqarwaen29]

if it is 2.5 ssd you could buy brand new 2.5 ssd and swap board from new to old ssd case.there are probably some nvme adapters that you can use in order in order to disguise nvme look like 2 5 ssd and hide it in 2.5 case?

 

and lastly why are so obsessed with nvme ssd.

is your dad somekind video editor or power user that he notices speed?

i have serval 2.5 and nvme ssd and hardly notice speed difference in games.

i only notice difference barely then copying files.

so why such huge obsession with nvme?

[Kisai]

8 hours ago, Psittac said:

My dad HATES change and therefore technology.  What is the best practice to get him off his sata ssd and onto an nvme with the new components I have ordered without him ever knowing the difference?  I just want to shut it down, do the swap then turn it back on and have everything exactly as he left it.  I don't want to just save data, I want everything the same down to the last icon.

As long as the MB PCB has a slot for an NVME, and "bitlocker" is disabled:

- install the NVME

- clone the drive (the fastest way is to just go to windows disk partitions, make a raid 1, reboot, make sure it powers up, then unplug the SATA, and see if it works), there are better ways, but this is the "without installing anything else" solution. If it boots, remove the disk mirror'ing from the partition.

 

If bitlocker is enabled, then you'll have to reinstall the OS to the NVMe to do it properly. In which case, don't bother if this is intended to be sneaky.

 

 

[Dedayog]

14 minutes ago, Kisai said:

As long as the MB PCB has a slot for an NVME, and "bitlocker" is disabled:

- install the NVME

- clone the drive (the fastest way is to just go to windows disk partitions, make a raid 1, reboot, make sure it powers up, then unplug the SATA, and see if it works), there are better ways, but this is the "without installing anything else" solution. If it boots, remove the disk mirror'ing from the partition.

 

If bitlocker is enabled, then you'll have to reinstall the OS to the NVMe to do it properly. In which case, don't bother if this is intended to be sneaky.

 

 

You can also just install the nvme and use it as a secondary drive .   Direct whatever apps Dad uses to save to it .  He'd never know .

 

No need to replace the SATA.

 

 

[David A. Tatum]

On 12/5/2024 at 8:37 AM, Dedayog said:

Oh then just clone it.  Macrium Reflect is free.  Otherwise use the ones with the drive.

 

Problems?  You assume SATA drives have problems?  No.

 

One note:  Macrium Reflect, outside of a 30-day trial, is no longer free.  They eliminated their free version.