HDD to M.2 SSD SATA -> OS Migration [HELP Please]

[Konoha A8]

Dear Friends,

I have MSI CX62-2QD Notebook -> https://www.msi.com/Laptop/CX62-2QD.html#hero-overview
It has 1TB of HDD built-in. Partitioned into Drive C and D. OS has been installed into Drive C:
Based on its specs sheet, it do have M.2 SSD SATA slot on board.

Now I am pre-ordered an INTEL SSDSCKKW240H6 M.2 SSD SATA -> http://ark.intel.com/products/94328/Intel-SSD-540s-Series-240GB-M_2-80mm-SATA-6Gbs-16nm-TLC

 

My unit is still under warranty and I don't want to void, good thing there is a nearest Authorized Service Center in my location.

But the problem now, is even the Technician of the shop didn't tried any OS Migration, specially when it comes to HDD to M.2 SSD SATA OS Migration.

Could someone tell me, that this is possible. I am so eager to add a M.2 SSD SATA on my laptop and then migrate the OS into it, would it be possible?
Why and How?

Please give me some motivation dear friends.

Thank you in advanced for all your comments and suggestions.

-Konoha A8

[Morgan MLGman]

It is possible. You can do it through software such as Acronis True Image or TodoUS Ease Backup, you might need to rebuild boot sector after you created a disk clone onto the SSD, but it's nothing hard. I've done that many times when switching laptops at work from HDD's to SSD's, as well as at home and for a few friends, and I can confirm it works.

[SydneySideSteveSomewheres]

Will the machine actually boot from and see the M.2 SSD as a boot drive?

 

If so then just do as @Morgan MLGman suggested and use a free trial of Acronis to create a recovery image of the boot drive. You may need to remove any files to a spare drive that are not operating system defined, for example, photos and music files. Because 240 GB is nowhere near the 1 TB of storage you currently have installed. It can take a while to create also, and downsizing the image that you want to copy speeds up the process. Then it is as simple as removing the 1 TB and slotting in the new M.2 drive. At reboot use the bootable Acronis media to recover the image you created on an external drive to the new drive.

 

hope this helps

 

Link:

Acronis backup software free trial

[dragoon20005]

Some brands like Samsung bundled the migration software for their SSD

 

sadly they are only for Samsung

 

 

FOUND IT

 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19324/Intel-Data-Migration-Software
 

 

 

there is one for Intel!

 

@Morgan MLGman @SydneySideSteveSomewheres

[Morgan MLGman]

1 minute ago, dragoon20005 said:

Some brands like Samsung bundled the migration software for their SSD

 

sadly they are only for Samsung

 

 

FOUND IT

 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19324/Intel-Data-Migration-Software
 

there is one for Intel!

 

@Morgan MLGman @SydneySideSteveSomewheres

Some ADATA SSD's also came with a voucher for Acronis licence for a period of time, and TBH my company works with Acronis quite closely, we sell their products in Poland and they're really working as intended, nothing flashy or fancy but they do work so I'd still recommend to go for Acronis's solution or the TodoUS EaseBackup (free trial for 30 days for any version) as I personally used them both and can confirm they work as they should.

 

That being said, those tools you mentioned may also work great, I just never used them so can't say much.

[dragoon20005]

Just now, Morgan MLGman said:

Some ADATA SSD's also came with a voucher for Acronis licence for a period of time, and TBH my company works with Acronis quite closely, we sell their products in Poland and they're really working as intended, nothing flashy or fancy but they do work so I'd still recommend to go for Acronis's solution or the TodoUS EaseBackup (free trial for 30 days for any version) as I personally used them both and can confirm they work as they should.

 

That being said, those tools you mentioned may also work great, I just never used them so can't say much.

I used the Samsung tool for my dads PC and customers PCs with the 850 Evo and 750 Evo

 

you just either use SATA or USB 3.0/2.0 and let the tool mirror the whole drive, SATA3 will be the fastest

 

you can also adjust the size of the partition of your C and D drive if there is multiple partitions on your HDD

 

that being said

 

i not sure if it also works with NVME

[Morgan MLGman]

1 minute ago, dragoon20005 said:

I used the Samsung tool for my dads PC and customers PCs with the 850 Evo and 750 Evo

 

you just either use SATA or USB 3.0/2.0 and let the tool mirror the whole drive, SATA3 will be the fastest

 

you can also adjust the size of the partition of your C and D drive if there is multiple partitions on your HDD

 

that being said

 

i not sure if it also works with NVME

It's probably a regular SATA 3 interface drive in an M.2 form factor so it should be fine either way FYI: M.2 ≠ NVME, it might be an NVME drive but all of the cheaper M.2 drives are just SATA 3 SSDs

[dragoon20005]

Just now, Morgan MLGman said:

It's probably a regular SATA 3 interface drive in an M.2 form factor so it should be fine either way FYI: M.2 ≠ NVME, it might be an NVME drive but all of the cheaper M.2 drives are just SATA 3 SSDs

yes that it true

 

have you ever tried migration to NVME?

[Morgan MLGman]

5 minutes ago, dragoon20005 said:

yes that it true

 

have you ever tried migration to NVME?

No, I haven't. Though from what I know the only issue with NVMe drives is that it's sometimes annoying to set them as a primary boot device, not all motherboards support NVMe boot... But if that's alright then it should be the same as a regular SSD, though I cannot say for sure as I haven't tried that yet, I work more in a server (enterprise) environment than consumer PC one so I might not get an occasion for that until I get such SSD for myself

[SydneySideSteveSomewheres]

50 minutes ago, dragoon20005 said:

[snip]

 

have you ever tried migration to NVME?

 

 

I've moved from spinning rust to NVMe which was quite an upgrade path, the only problem encountered was when the Acronis cloned image would not boot on the new NVMe device using both a paid for full distribution and free trial version of Acronis. Eventually, after numerous failed cloning attempts the process was completed using just the recovery option in the Acronis suite.

 

@Konoha A8 here are a couple of youtube clips hopefully, they will help. BTW MSI does have their own software so why your Authorized Service Center Technician could not be of more assistance to you is strange!

 

Video links:

How to install SSD and recover the pre-installed system to SSD on MSI Notebooks (ignore the RAID creation step).

How to restore Windows 10 system on MSI Notebooks.

[Konoha A8]

Thank you so much friends to all of your very informative and very helpful replies.

It really helps me a lot.

I will prepare all the software needed and I will gonna show it to the Tech of MSI Authorized Center.

Actually, they even have no single idea with M.2 SSD.

I will just let him open my laptop for me to not to void my warranty and then I will guide him through all the process of OS Migration now.

They really need a training because they are still attached to the technology of behind.

 

Again, my dear friends, thank you so much for clearing all my confusions.

I am really motivated now to push through my plan on adding up M.2 SSD on my laptop.

I really appreciated all your good response. Have a great day to all of you.

[Konoha A8]

By the way, I am planning to use INTEL DATA MIGRATION SOFTWARE first because my M.2 SSD is an INTEL product.

Then, I will prepare a backup like Acronis and ToDo in case the first can't do it.

Thank you guys.

[Konoha A8]

7 hours ago, SydneySideSteveSomewheres said:

I've moved from spinning rust to NVMe which was quite an upgrade path, the only problem encountered was when the Acronis cloned image would not boot on the new NVMe device using both a paid for full distribution and free trial version of Acronis. Eventually, after numerous failed cloning attempts the process was completed using just the recovery option in the Acronis suite.

 

@Konoha A8 here are a couple of youtube clips hopefully, they will help. BTW MSI does have their own software so why your Authorized Service Center Technician could not be of more assistance to you is strange!

 

Video links:

How to install SSD and recover the pre-installed system to SSD on MSI Notebooks (ignore the RAID creation step).

How to restore Windows 10 system on MSI Notebooks.

@SydneySideSteveSomewheres

Thank you for the video.

I actually already created a System Recovery via MSI Burn 2 weeks ago, in case the Tech of the Authorized Service Center mess up with my laptop.

Thank you so much my friend for this. I have an idea now on how to use the Recovery.

[Konoha A8]

Just visited their shop, Authorized Service Center, and it cost me $45 for the Installation fee for RAM and M.2 SSD.

I didn't deal with it yet. And just decided to go home for a while and think for the extra cost.

Note that my laptop is still under warranty and I just want to add an upgrade.