Need help cloning windows 11 pro

[Hopes11]

I watched a video and downloaded the software they used (Macrium Reflect FREE), but my PC keeps getting stuck and won't go past that point. It gets frozen and crashes. I'm going from 1TB to 4TB on Windows 11, which is up to date. 

[AnoN38X]

You (and probably others) might not like this answer but don't clone do a fresh re-install. Although not needed as much as in the past a good refresh every now and then ain't bad, for de-bloating, re-optimizing and re-evaluating your windows experience, a new Storage seems like the perfect moment to do it. Sure it may be a bit more time consuming then a cloning but the pros far out weight the cons.

[Mumintroll]

You can try if it works better with other softwares. I've used DiskGenius which is free, and is demostrated in this video on how to do an OS migration with it.

 

If that get stuck, freeze and crash too then there might be something suspicious going on.

 

 

Remember after you've done an OS migration successfully and booted up on the new drive you'll need to reconfigure the Windows Restore Points, if you used that function before.

[Needfuldoer]

If you bough a "name brand" SSD, see if they give away a cloning tool (usually a branded version of Acronis True Image that only works if it detects one of their drives).

[Hopes11]

4 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

If you bough a "name brand" SSD, see if they give away a cloning tool (usually a branded version of Acronis True Image that only works if it detects one of their drives).

I have the lexar NM790 I didn't see one on their site, I know that samsung has one. I didn't think any other brand would have one

[Pusbucket]

@Hopes11

I use Diskgenius, but not the cloning feature. I make an image of the disk and then restore that image to the new drive. It has always worked no problem for me.

https://www.diskgenius.com/free.php 

[Hopes11]

14 hours ago, Mumintroll said:

You can try if it works better with other softwares. I've used DiskGenius which is free, and is demostrated in this video on how to do an OS migration with it.

 

If that get stuck, freeze and crash too then there might be something suspicious going on.

 

 

Remember after you've done an OS migration successfully and booted up on the new drive you'll need to reconfigure the Windows Restore Points, if you used that function before.

This came as a massage on it 

[Hopes11]

7 hours ago, Pusbucket said:

@Hopes11

I use Diskgenius, but not the cloning feature. I make an image of the disk and then restore that image to the new drive. It has always worked no problem for me.

https://www.diskgenius.com/free.php 

 

[Hopes11]

16 hours ago, AnoN38X said:

You (and probably others) might not like this answer but don't clone do a fresh re-install. Although not needed as much as in the past a good refresh every now and then ain't bad, for de-bloating, re-optimizing and re-evaluating your windows experience, a new Storage seems like the perfect moment to do it. Sure it may be a bit more time consuming then a cloning but the pros far out weight the cons.

I may just do it as fresh install just because i keep getting stuck on this part on and this is a new software i just hope that the Lexar SSD i got from amazon is not a fake 

[Pusbucket]

27 minutes ago, Hopes11 said:

I may just do it as fresh install just because i keep getting stuck on this part on and this is a new software i just hope that the Lexar SSD i got from amazon is not a fake 

you should do a "verify and repair bad sectors" on it before doing anything else. That error indicates the drive likely has bad sectors.

You will find it under the "DISK" heading.

 

thats not an error with the software.

[Hopes11]

2 hours ago, Pusbucket said:

you should do a "verify and repair bad sectors" on it before doing anything else. That error indicates the drive likely has bad sectors.

You will find it under the "DISK" heading.

 

thats not an error with the software.

is this something i can do under disk management or how do i do this i thought that only on mechanical drive because of its moving parts not an ssd 

[Pusbucket]

1 hour ago, Hopes11 said:

is this something i can do under disk management or how do i do this i thought that only on mechanical drive because of its moving parts not an ssd 

No, use Diskgenius.

Under the menu bar heading "DISK" you will find a test called "Verify or Repair Bad Sectors" (the wrench & screwdriver icon).

Yes it also works for SSD's.

 

 

 

[Mumintroll]

After you've scanned the drive with DiskGenius you should make use of the warranty.

Contact Amazon and explain it to them, showing the scan results and error messages.

[Hopes11]

On 11/9/2025 at 3:09 AM, Mumintroll said:

After you've scanned the drive with DiskGenius you should make use of the warranty.

Contact Amazon and explain it to them, showing the scan results and error messages.

 

[Mumintroll]

20 minutes ago, Hopes11 said:

 

 

Well the error message said it had trouble writing to a sector.

The test you did is a read only test.

 

But did it take 27 hours 36 minutes?

[Hopes11]

4 hours ago, Mumintroll said:

 

Well the error message said it had trouble writing to a sector.

The test you did is a read only test.

 

But did it take 27 hours 36 minutes?

Yes it did i was doing it via an ssd m.2 usb case thing so it was not inside the pc 

[Pusbucket]

10 minutes ago, Hopes11 said:

Yes it did i was doing it via an ssd m.2 usb case thing so it was not inside the pc 

are you using that case when trying to clone the disk?

If so, that's probably the problem.

That scan should have taken maybe an hour or so at the most. Scanning my 1 terabyte SSD takes about 10 minutes.

If it's that slow in the enclosure, it's probably timing out when you try to clone it.

[Hopes11]

4 minutes ago, Pusbucket said:

are you using that case when trying to clone the disk?

If so, that's probably the problem.

That scan should have taken maybe an hour or so at the most. Scanning my 1 terabyte SSD takes about 10 minutes.

If it's that slow in the enclosure, it's probably timing out when you try to clone it.

Yes I am then i have to see if the pc has an extra m.2 slot 

[Pusbucket]

3 minutes ago, Hopes11 said:

Yes I am then i have to see if the pc has an extra m.2 slot 

if not then the roundabout way to do it is;

Setup a USB drive with Diskgenius bootable (follow Diskgenius instructions, you have to download some software from Microsoft, but small and easy)

 

Then create a disk image of the drive you want to clone. Save the image to a location that is big enough, can be external as long as windows sees it, so will diskgenius. (the image will only be the size of the data, not the entire disk). Then install the new SSD, boot off the usb with Diskgenius (boots into a small win 10 session) and then restore the image to the new SSD. 

it will allow you to set the size of the new partition, so just use the entire drive. Wil be clear when you do it.

 

Then reboot, remove usb and it should be good.

[Hopes11]

12 hours ago, Pusbucket said:

if not then the roundabout way to do it is;

Setup a USB drive with Diskgenius bootable (follow Diskgenius instructions, you have to download some software from Microsoft, but small and easy)

 

Then create a disk image of the drive you want to clone. Save the image to a location that is big enough, can be external as long as windows sees it, so will diskgenius. (the image will only be the size of the data, not the entire disk). Then install the new SSD, boot off the usb with Diskgenius (boots into a small win 10 session) and then restore the image to the new SSD. 

it will allow you to set the size of the new partition, so just use the entire drive. Wil be clear when you do it.

 

Then reboot, remove usb and it should be good.

So i got it to clone. i changed ports from the front usb c port to a usb port on the back of the pc and it clone it just fine thanks for the help everyone