Duplicating an M.2 SSD

[BlargKing]

Looking at putting a bigger SSD in my laptop, a Lenovo Y700 Intel model, with an M.2 slot. It currently has a 256GB NVME PCI-E drive, and I want to put in a 512GB model, likely an Intel 600p Series. Now for ease of use, I would prefer to simply clone the SSD in my laptop onto the new drive, however, my laptop only has a single M.2 slot, and getting external enclosure that supports an NVME drive is kind of difficult and expensive. So what I'm wondering is, is there a way I can create an image of the M.2 drive, and save it to my big 3TB external hard drive, then use that image on the bigger drive once the bigger drive is installed in my laptop? 

 

My desktop PC has an unused M.2 slot I could put the new drive in, and use my desktop to facilitate copying the image of the old drive to the new one. 

 

[m0k]

you can either buy adapters from M.2 to USB

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-M-2-SATA-External-Enclosure/dp/B00T8F298Y

or m.2 to sata 

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=m.2+to+sata&rh=n%3A667823011%2Ck%3Am.2+to+sata

[m0k]

WAIT

 

some of these only run m.2 SATA and not m.2 NVME i think

 

worst case scenario you can clone your current m.2 to an external drive. then reclone the data onto your new NVME ssd

[BlargKing]

Yeah thats what I was asking about, because most of the M.2 to usb adapters are for SATA, not NVME.

 

At worst, I'll have to spend an evening re installing everything. The biggest pain in the but is re installing Windows 10 on the new drive and having it activate properly. 

[m0k]

5 minutes ago, BlargKing said:

Yeah thats what I was asking about, because most of the M.2 to usb adapters are for SATA, not NVME.

 

At worst, I'll have to spend an evening re installing everything. The biggest pain in the but is re installing Windows 10 on the new drive and having it activate properly. 

nooo have some faith

ive been using cloning software to swap SSD's HDD's for a while now using Acronis, it has never failed me

 

you dont have any external drive that can hold your 256gb clone (temporarily)?

[BlargKing]

22 minutes ago, mok said:

nooo have some faith

ive been using cloning software to swap SSD's HDD's for a while now using Acronis, it has never failed me

 

you dont have any external drive that can hold your 256gb clone (temporarily)?

I've got a 3TB external drive. Its not particularly fast but it will work. So basically I can make an image of my M.2 drive, copy it to the external drive, and write that image to the new drive?

[Cyborgsmith]

@BlargKing

Why not just do a fresh windows install?

 

 

 

[BlargKing]

2 hours ago, Cyborgsmith said:

@BlargKing

Why not just do a fresh windows install?

 

 

 

My experience with doing fresh Windows 10 installs, especially with OEM keys, has been less than enjoyable. 

[Cyborgsmith]

17 minutes ago, BlargKing said:

My experience with doing fresh Windows 10 installs, especially with OEM keys, has been less than enjoyable. 

I always forget this,  "people"  generally run 100% legit copies of windows..

I gave up trying to authenticate windows keys years ago.  Personally just run a hacked copy while holding my legit licence.  Not 100% legit but I do installs every couple months

 

So in your case it's not idea. Your best bet is to use an external drive to make a full clone of the m.2 then install the new one and restore the clone. 

Acronis has a nice bootable os that does a nice job of this.  You'll just want to expand your partition  once your up and running.