Tips for Cloning Windows install?

[GalacticViper]

When I built my PC a few years ago, I installed Windows on an M.2 drive, but it was just one I got on sale for cheap and it has no integrated cache.

About a year ago I added a new M.2 that is much faster and does have cache.

I was using it for games, but, as I don't play games that much anymore and the games I do play are not intensive by any means, I was thinking it would be better to move Windows onto the faster newer drive and use my other one for games.
But I don't want to re-install Windows, so I was looking into cloning it.

I moved all my games off of the faster drive onto an HDD for now while I clone Windows.

But as I've never done this before, I really want to make sure I don't do anything wrong and accidentally bork my Windows installation...

 

Is there a certain software that is better for this than others? I would rather use something free since I only plan to do this once.

 

I was looking at Clonezilla, but it looks kind of complicated for what I'm trying to do.

I also found Macrium Reflect, which looks nicer, but if Clonezilla would work fine I'd rather not make a Macrium account.

Does anyone have experience using either program?

 

Any other tips/ tricks are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[jebk]

Clonezilla works, and is quite straightforward to use if you can get past the docs.

 

You want these instructions:

https://clonezilla.org/fine-print-live-doc.php?path=./clonezilla-live/doc/03_Disk_to_disk_clone/00-prepare-clonezilla-live.doc#00-prepare-clonezilla-live.doc

[strange13930]

and you could create a installation media on a usb drive as a back up if your bork the cloning

 

[Biohazard777]

52 minutes ago, GalacticViper said:

I also found Macrium Reflect, which looks nicer, but if Clonezilla would work fine I'd rather not make a Macrium account.

Macrium Reflect is very simple and does a great job, the only caveat as you already found out is that they dropped the free version and now only have the free trial...
That being said, the older free (not trial) version does not require an account and works perfectly fine on Win11 and will continue working just fine for a long time, you just don't get any updates, which is not crucial for this type of software.
Macrium of course removed that older version (8.0.7) from their website, but there are other places you can get it, like MajorGeeks:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/macrium_reflect_free_edition.html
Both x86 and x64 versions hosted by MajorGeeks are clean:

Spoiler

VirusTotal , just now scanned them myself:

Even though I scanned them for you, I still suggest you scan them as well... Since it isn't hosted by the 1st party never blindly trust a 3rd party source, even if that 3rd party has a good reputation and is historically trustworthy- like MajorGeeks.
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

Normally I'd suggest getting used to Clonezilla and other alternatives, but since you will be doing this once... eh might as well stick to the older Macrium Reflect free.

[CasualExtremist]

6 minutes ago, Biohazard777 said:

Macrium Reflect is very simple and does a great job, the only caveat as you already found out is that they dropped the free version and now only have the free trial...

Spoiler

That being said, the older free (not trial) version does not require an account and works perfectly fine on Win11 and will continue working just fine for a long time, you just don't get any updates, which is not crucial for this type of software.
Macrium of course removed that older version (8.0.7) from their website, but there are other places you can get it, like MajorGeeks:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/macrium_reflect_free_edition.html
Both x86 and x64 versions hosted by MajorGeeks are clean:

  Hide contents

VirusTotal , just now scanned them myself:

Even though I scanned them for you, I still suggest you scan them as well... Since it isn't hosted by the 1st party never blindly trust a 3rd party source, even if that 3rd party has a good reputation and is historically trustworthy- like MajorGeeks.
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

Normally I'd suggest getting used to Clonezilla and other alternatives, but since you will be doing this once... eh might as well stick to the older Macrium Reflect free.

 

Once you get a confirmed clean copy of Macrium Reflect Free (non-trial) hold onto it for dear life, have backups. It is so smooth to use. I also don't remember having to make an account when I used it (this was years ago). If an account is necessary, there are always alias email generators if you don't want to use your personal. https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327?hl=en#:~:text=You can add up to 30 aliases for each user,re visible to other users.

[OhYou_]

19 minutes ago, Biohazard777 said:

Macrium Reflect is very simple and does a great job, the only caveat as you already found out is that they dropped the free version and now only have the free trial...
That being said, the older free (not trial) version does not require an account and works perfectly fine on Win11 and will continue working just fine for a long time, you just don't get any updates, which is not crucial for this type of software.
Macrium of course removed that older version (8.0.7) from their website, but there are other places you can get it, like MajorGeeks:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/macrium_reflect_free_edition.html
Both x86 and x64 versions hosted by MajorGeeks are clean:

  Reveal hidden contents

VirusTotal , just now scanned them myself:

Even though I scanned them for you, I still suggest you scan them as well... Since it isn't hosted by the 1st party never blindly trust a 3rd party source, even if that 3rd party has a good reputation and is historically trustworthy- like MajorGeeks.
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

Normally I'd suggest getting used to Clonezilla and other alternatives, but since you will be doing this once... eh might as well stick to the older Macrium Reflect free.

this, it is sad to have to use a third party website to obtain it these days but it is a solid piece of software.
the site linked is the web installer. I highly recommend that you use the web installer and take a copy of the actual installer that it then downloads and store it away. If the software ever fully goes away, you are always free to install it again with that copy well into the future.

 

  

3 minutes ago, CasualExtremist said:

I also don't remember having to make an account when I used it

you do if you try to download it from macrium's site, but that is because that is a different product. they have reflect free, reflect home, reflect pro, and reflect trial. they no longer offer the free version on their site or if they do it is so hidden away that I cannot find it.

[brob]

3 hours ago, GalacticViper said:

When I built my PC a few years ago, I installed Windows on an M.2 drive, but it was just one I got on sale for cheap and it has no integrated cache.

About a year ago I added a new M.2 that is much faster and does have cache.

I was using it for games, but, as I don't play games that much anymore and the games I do play are not intensive by any means, I was thinking it would be better to move Windows onto the faster newer drive and use my other one for games.
But I don't want to re-install Windows, so I was looking into cloning it.

I moved all my games off of the faster drive onto an HDD for now while I clone Windows.

But as I've never done this before, I really want to make sure I don't do anything wrong and accidentally bork my Windows installation...

 

Is there a certain software that is better for this than others? I would rather use something free since I only plan to do this once.

 

I was looking at Clonezilla, but it looks kind of complicated for what I'm trying to do.

I also found Macrium Reflect, which looks nicer, but if Clonezilla would work fine I'd rather not make a Macrium account.

Does anyone have experience using either program?

 

Any other tips/ tricks are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Samsung has Magician that works with their drives. I believe Crucial, Kingston, and WD have versions of Acronis available for download. Check the downloads / support pages of other drive manufacturers.

[UNIXNETWORK]

You can clone with Rescuezilla which is same as Clonezilla but with nice GUI. But most issue with all of them is, if you have bitlocker enabled. And best software for it with easy to unlock bitlocker with some clicks is Paragon Hard Disk Manager Advanced.

With Macrium I have partly possitive and negative memories. With Windows 10 I purchased Macrium Reflect Workstation version. And for some reason it didn't work. Backup was sucessful but restore was mess. System didn't boot anymore and repair boot didin't help. But good part is I spoke with Macrium support and for nice price I get Macrium Reflect Enterprise version wich works for years.

[GalacticViper]

Thank you everyone for the tips!
I think I will use WD's Acronis because both the drives in question are WD, and that seems simple enough to use.
Good to know about Macrium and Rescuzilla though.