Cloning Old SSD To New SSD

sixx24

Honorable
Apr 6, 2013
8
0
10,510
I have an old Samsung 256GB SATA II 3gb/s (C:) that has my OS on it (Windows 10 Pro - free upgrade from Win 7 Ultimate) and all my apps/programs. It also has a 100MB System Reserved on it. And I have a 1TB HDD (G:) that I use for storage that has a 385Mb System Reserved on it.

What I want to do and have never done is to clone my old SSD to a Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SATA III and make the new SSD bootable. I want all my data/programs/apps to be on the new SSD and I will then take the 256GB SSD out of my case and put it in a safe place.

My question is are there any "special steps" I should do first and will the software clone everything I need to make the new SSD bootable. Will the software also clone the system reserved? I'm thinking of using EaseUS Todo either paid version or free. No problems in paying for the software, I just want one that is easy to use and won't muck something up as I have never cloned an SSD before.

Case is a Corsair 800D w/ 4 Hot swap bays.
Sorry for the wall of text, just want to be clear in what I am asking.
Thank you..
 

notlim981

Distinguished
I successfully attempted to clone an HDD at work to save a PC that controlled factory robots by using CloneZilla, it was pretty simple back then but it was roughly 5 years ago, I don't know if CloneZilla is still around. If so you might give it a try.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


No problem.

Download and install Macrium Reflect
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just as like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
 

sixx24

Honorable
Apr 6, 2013
8
0
10,510


Thank you for the advice. A couple more questions. You said once everything is done disconnect the SATA cables and switch them so the new SSD is connected to the same SATA port as was the old SSD. With the four hot-swap bays my case has can't I just take out the drive caddy that has the old SSD attached to it and slide in the caddy with the new SSD on it into the bay where the old SSD was?
Will the new SSD assume the drive letter C or will I have to assign it that letter?
Also in Disk Management I am now seeing that the old SSD has 449MB Unallocated. Not sure where that came from. Can I delete this in Disk Management and if so how, or should I just leave it alone? If I leave it alone is that something I should select as All partitions in the cloning software?

I have ACHI enabled in my Bios. You think there will be any conflicts using such a relatively new SSD on this Asus Rampage III Extreme Mobo?

On a side note, I'm not going to wipe the old SSD. Just going to remove from case and set aside so I have a fully working SSD w/ all my data and OS on it.
Thanks so much for all the help so far.


 

sixx24

Honorable
Apr 6, 2013
8
0
10,510


I think when I first installed Windows 7 over 5 years ago that I had both the SSD and the HDD connected. These are the same two drives that I had in my case then as well as now. There is no Unallocated on the HDD. On the SSD when I right click on the Unallocated area in Disk Management > Properties > Volumes > it shows this:

Disk 0
Type Basic
Status Online
Partition style Master Boot Record ( MBR)
Capacity 244197 MB
Unallocated space 450 MB
Reserved space 0 MB

Not concerned about 450 MB of space, but will the cloning software clone this also? Looks like it contains the boot partition. So I'd need to select that "partition" also before I start to clone the old SSD in order to make the new SSD bootable... right?

Thanks a lot for the help.