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How to clone a SSD?

Navy Chief

Navy Chief

Senior Member
I am considering buying one, possibly two new SSDs. My system is almost 4 years old. Hopefully I am not jinxing myself, but all is working fine right now. But I also realize that could change instantly. So I was wondering how difficult is it to clone one SSD to another? I do NOT want to uninstall/reinstall, if there is a easier way!!! NC

Suggestions for software to do this?
 
Macrium Reflect

I use Macrium reflect - they have a freeware version that lets you make a complete backup/restore.

The full version will allow differential and or incremental backups. You get one year free tech support

with prompt replies; after that, you can use their forum for issues. Some of the Macrium staff will usually

post to the forum as well.

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
 
I may look into adding this type of internal drive to my system, which DOES support M.2. NC

I have a MSI Z370-A PRO -- Gb LAN, USB 3.1 (4 Rear, 4 Front), MSI PRO Series

Now, the internal board I am looking at is this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNKJLT...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

My Motherboard specs mention/show heatsinks, so I guess all I need to do is install in available M.2. slot??

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/z370-a-pro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EXzolf57xE
 
Navy Chief said:
I may look into adding this type of internal drive to my system, which DOES support M.2. NC

I have a MSI Z370-A PRO -- Gb LAN, USB 3.1 (4 Rear, 4 Front), MSI PRO Series

Now, the internal board I am looking at is this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNKJLT...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

My Motherboard specs mention/show heatsinks, so I guess all I need to do is install in available M.2. slot??

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/z370-a-pro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EXzolf57xE
Click to expand...


I have two Mercury elite external HD's and one of them is 4TB - I use one to backup my internal hard drive (has my P3D V4.5) and also to backup contents (P3D V3.4) which is

on a separate external HD. So if anything happen, I can restore what I need. The other Mercury HD is for programs/file archive. So far so good.


https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Mercury-...&keywords=owc+elite+pro&qid=1623615890&sr=8-4
 
I use Acronis TrueImage since I have a license for it. I don't know if they have a free/trial version. I have been very happy with their Clone software, not so much with their newer back-up software.

As for the M.2 SSD, I usually pay a bit more and stick to a list of manufacturers that I can trust. Not all M.2 SSD drives are the same, including SSD's from the same brand (WD Black, WD Blue, etc). I had to upgrade to a new Mobo and it has 2 slots for M.2 drives, One is used as a document drive, I wanted to use it as a Primary drive but 3DS Max R9 won't clone over and (thanks a lot Autodesk) you cannot validate the license with older versions anymore.

The M.2 drive is so much faster than the SATA SSD, but in real life (not gaming) I don't see a lot of difference between them.

If you want, I can see if I can find a link where they have specs and benchmarks for pretty much all SSD Drives.
 
Like gray eagle, I use Macrium reflect. I eliminated HD's in 5 computers, desktops and laptops without issues.

The software is free and the new drives' partitioning and cloning tasks are made easy, and there are YouTube videos that show you how step by step.

I connected the SSD's while the HD's were still active and cloned them directly. Then I simply disconnected the HD's but kept them for backup.

They also have a free analyzer to show you what SSD's to buy.

Go to YouTube and look at the examples of how to do these things; all made simple.
 
Navy Chief said:
I downloaded/installed the free Macrium Reflect, but am having trouble locating any mention of the above mentioned analyzer, Milton! Pete
Click to expand...

NC, just run the analyzer ... it will read your tech specs and tell you which SSD models you need.
 
Milton Shupe said:
NC, just run the analyzer ... it will read your tech specs and tell you which SSD models you need.
Click to expand...

Ok, making progress, Milton, thanks! I ran the analyzer, but am not seeing a option about what models I would need. No errors found though, which I guess is good. NC
 
OOf. I don't trust any windows apps that run in windows itself- the easiest cloner I've ever used was an accidental discovery while running a Gparted live boot cd : run Gparted to note your SSD drive numbers ( source (old drive) and destination (new SSD)), then exit out to to a terminal, then run linux's own DD command.

When you're done you can reboot back into Gparted and grow your newly cloned partitions till you got the sizes adjusted to take up all the new space on the new SSD. It's not for the faint of heart, but if you're careful you can do things most prepackaged apps only dream of, and windows wont even know you cloned it to another drive.
 
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