Looking to upgrade your computer's SSD without having to reinstall Windows and all your apps? We've got you covered with this guide to cloning a boot drive.
https://www.techspot.com/guides/2697-upgrade-ssd-no-reinstall/
How to Upgrade Your SSD (and Retain All Data)
- Thread starter neeyik
- Start date
takaozo
Posts: 944 +1,479
When disk were MBR and BIOS was king an simple dd would do the trick. Now cloning the GPT/UEFI and Bit-Locked drives is a real pain. I prefer to reinstall all because not only windows is faster but also junk is left on old drive.
VariableSpike
Posts: 249 +297
Literally just dd cloned a gpt windows drive with secure boot last week and it works, so I assume the only issue is if you have bitlocker turned on for your drives (but that makes cloning drives a pain anyways)
Only thing I had to do was go into gparted so it could correct the GPT as the new drive was a different size, but I was going to do that so I could extend that data partition to fill the new space anyways
RudyBob
Posts: 1,474 +1,566
TheBigT42
Posts: 792 +866
It is ALWAYS best to back up your data and do a fresh install of Windows. I do a fresh install every year to year and a half. It keeps things neat, clean, and running smooth.
If you want simple....
Buy a Samsung SSD and use their software to clone your old storage to your new SSD.
If you want simple....
Buy a Samsung SSD and use their software to clone your old storage to your new SSD.
Loli Pop Carbon
Posts: 103 +120
Every year?? No way I'm reinstalling clean windows every year. I have many softwares with particular settings set on them. Redownloading all games will be a pain as well (dont have fast internet). It will take me few days to be able to use my PC like usual.
I just back up my personal data and saved a system image on external drive. Clean installing every year is too much for me.
p51d007
Posts: 3,932 +3,883
I've used Macrium Reflect for years. NEVER had an issue.
takaozo
Posts: 944 +1,479
Steam and Epic have ways to add games into library without re-download, check forums.
I have 1.8TB of installed games and never download after win re-install.
As for other programs I do another "Program Files" on different disk and save a copy of Win registry for each. Plus c:\users\your_user\appdata\
This way only some dot.net and MS Visual C++ runtime must be installed, those also I have offline.
So I only download Windows updates.
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godrilla
Posts: 1,365 +893
AIC1Drew
Posts: 80 +66
In step #2, it should be noted that you can resize the C: partition within Macrium Reflect without having to use another program. You begin by dragging/dropping all partitions from the old drive EXCEPT the C: partition (make the C: partition the last one you drag/drop down). At this point you can resize the new C: partition all the way to the end before beginning the cloning process. HOWEVER, if you have a windows recovery partition, you'll need to allot enough space at the end of the drive after the C: partition for it.
wiyosaya
Posts: 9,763 +9,647
IMO, the best cloning software out there is this - https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-linux/
Don't let the name throw you. It works for any OS/file system and also handles UEFI/BIOS boot drives.
You can save an image to a USB drive or other drive, and then restore that clone to a new drive. With the proper option selected for the restore, it will automatically resize the partitions to use all the space on the new drive - no extra work required.
It also has a 30-day trial, and if you decide to buy a license, it is good for up to 5 PCs (in a Home use scenario).
Don't let the name throw you. It works for any OS/file system and also handles UEFI/BIOS boot drives.
You can save an image to a USB drive or other drive, and then restore that clone to a new drive. With the proper option selected for the restore, it will automatically resize the partitions to use all the space on the new drive - no extra work required.
It also has a 30-day trial, and if you decide to buy a license, it is good for up to 5 PCs (in a Home use scenario).
Ben Myers
Posts: 323 +124
Disable BitLocker first. Un-BitLocker the drive, using its 64-digit hex key. After that, Macrium or another drive cloning program should be able to handle cloning easily.
takaozo
Posts: 944 +1,479
Only decrypting the drive takes forever in case of drives >1TB and the amount of data stored.
Yes it can be done, but it hurts.
StrikerRocket
Posts: 226 +186
Bought a "second hand" (only 439 GB written) Seagate Firecuda 530 1 TB for €77 on Amazon in France, made an image of the previous 512 GB ssd with Terabyte Image for Linux, installed the Seagate, restored image with "scale to fit" option, and voila. 7000+ MB/s of sequential read spead and more than 5000 MB of write speed. What more do I want?
You don't need to have you new drive in the system or in an external case at the same time, as hinted previously. Use a cloning/backup software that allows to restore your system to a different drive. I use Terabyte imaging software, which I bought way back and have been using since. It's arguably the best I have ever used. It allows to make a backup of any drive, but the trick is you can restore to a different drive, a larger one, using an option to "scale to fit" or something like that. This way, it restores your system using all the space available on the drive by resizing the partition automatically. That's what I did a couple of weeks ago when MS kinda forced me to "upgrade" to Windows 11 via windows update.
The thing is that this tool runs on a minimalist linux system, so it avoids all the problems induced by the process of cloning a running system, and that's a big plus. Burn it on a USB stick and you're good to go. It also has some useful tools on it, like a tool to mount NAS shared folders to backup/restore directly to/from it via high speed LAN connectiton, and that's just great! You can run Veracrypt, midnight commander and quite a few other useful ones. All this in an ISO image that's just around 100 MB.
I find it much simpler than cloning by inserting the drive in the computer along the source one.
You don't need to have you new drive in the system or in an external case at the same time, as hinted previously. Use a cloning/backup software that allows to restore your system to a different drive. I use Terabyte imaging software, which I bought way back and have been using since. It's arguably the best I have ever used. It allows to make a backup of any drive, but the trick is you can restore to a different drive, a larger one, using an option to "scale to fit" or something like that. This way, it restores your system using all the space available on the drive by resizing the partition automatically. That's what I did a couple of weeks ago when MS kinda forced me to "upgrade" to Windows 11 via windows update.
The thing is that this tool runs on a minimalist linux system, so it avoids all the problems induced by the process of cloning a running system, and that's a big plus. Burn it on a USB stick and you're good to go. It also has some useful tools on it, like a tool to mount NAS shared folders to backup/restore directly to/from it via high speed LAN connectiton, and that's just great! You can run Veracrypt, midnight commander and quite a few other useful ones. All this in an ISO image that's just around 100 MB.
I find it much simpler than cloning by inserting the drive in the computer along the source one.
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StrikerRocket
Posts: 226 +186
Wrote my commentary before reading yours! I have been using it for, really, more than 10 years and yes, I think it's the best. I mount a shared folder on my NAS and backup/restore directly to/from it, and that's the easiest way to do it! It even restores to a different drive and resizes partitions on the go. Much less hassle than "traditional" ways!
wiyosaya
Posts: 9,763 +9,647
Agreed. I'm not sure how long I've been using it. I think I started with version 2.X something, then upgraded when they went to 3.X. I backup to USB drives, then copy the image to the raid on my server. When I backup the boot drive on the server, I just write directly to its raid.
Their "Boot-It" partition management software is great, too. It will come in handy when I finally retire one system which is a BIOS boot (Windows 10) that I plan on cloning to a new drive, and then converting that drive to GPT/UEFI boot and installing it in a new system. I did the same conversion on another system a few years back - relatively painless.
Its great to see someone else using their software. I have contacted their support in the past, and it is excellent, IMO. Not that the software is anything less than stable.
StrikerRocket
Posts: 226 +186
Yes, I used Boot-it too a long time ago, but don't need it any more. If I need such a tool again, I will certainly buy the new version. I bought IFL in 2006 I think, never stopped using it since. The internet is ripe with lots of great software that are unknown to most people. There are so many options that you have to do some thorough research to find the right tool for the task.
It's the first time in 15+ years that I've heard of someone using their software too!
wiyosaya
Posts: 9,763 +9,647
IMO, Terabyte Unlimited is a great company - very deserving of the title "hidden gem". Looking back at my records, it was 2010 when I originally started using it. I did quite a bit of research before buying it. I was using Norton Ghost before that. I forget the exact reason I switched, but I never regretted it, and I cannot imagine going back to Ghost.
It's the first time that I have heard of someone else using it, too. I have, however, posted several other TS posts over the years recommending it.
StrikerRocket
Posts: 226 +186
I think it's known among professionnal IT technicians and the like more than to the general public. It easily surpasses ghost, IMHO, but has a steeper learning curve, of course, though for someone who knows a few things about computers, it's really not that difficult.
Depends. I bet all the people who have data worth more than gold would be glad toNever ever use bitlocker, it brings up more problems than its worth.
BTW this article came a couple of months too late
Had to use clonezilla which isn't really user friendly.
avoid all the nightmares associated with security but still use everything they can to secure their stuff.
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