[SOLVED] About cloning my hdd to m.2 ssd

[funchal99]

So, I have the following setup on my PC: a 240gb kingston ssd (which has Win 10 installed and is SATA) and a 1tb hdd for general storage.

I'm about to buy a m.2 1tb ssd, which I intend to use as a replacement for the HDD (due to a few reasons, I don't want to keep the HDD).

So, I found out there's some freeware that would allow me to clone the data from the hdd to the ssd, so far so good.
My question here is if I can just clone my hdd to the m.2 ssd, take out the hdd and call it a day, or if there's a catch? Because all of the programs and data would be installed in the D: drive, correct? If I were to remove the hdd after cloning and boot up the PC, would there be some sort of conflict in that regard? If so, what am I supposed to do so that this procedure is as easy and hassle free aa possible?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CountMike]

So, I have the following setup on my PC: a 240gb kingston ssd (which has Win 10 installed and is SATA) and a 1tb hdd for general storage.

I'm about to buy a m.2 1tb ssd, which I intend to use as a replacement for the HDD (due to a few reasons, I don't want to keep the HDD).

So, I found out there's some freeware that would allow me to clone the data from the hdd to the ssd, so far so good.
My question here is if I can just clone my hdd to the m.2 ssd, take out the hdd and call it a day, or if there's a catch? Because all of the programs and data would be installed in the D: drive, correct? If I were to remove the hdd after cloning and boot up the PC, would there be some sort of conflict in that regard? If so, what am I supposed to do so that this procedure is as easy and hassle free aa possible?

Thanks in advance!

No "catch" but when you clone smaller drive to larger one it will clone all partitions with same sizes as they are now and leave the rest empty. You can activate that part manually (Disk management is enough) and/or merge it with C:. Old drive you can repartition and reformat and use as you please.

 

[funchal99]

Just to check if I got it (forgive me, bit of a noob). What I'll be doing is cloning my 1tb hdd (D: ) to my new m.2 1tb ssd. The 1tb hdd is not full (about only 500gb so far), would that partition issue happen? And since my HDD is listed as the D: drive, if I clone it to the new m.2 1tb ssd, will the m.2 one be listed under a different letter and thus provoke some sort of conflict in file paths once I remove the hdd?

The C: drive is a Kingston 250gb sata ssd that I don't intend to mess around with at the moment. Yes, I know it would be more beneficial to have the OS installed on the m.2 ssd, but I just want to do one step at a time with this one.

 

[USAFRet]

You simply want to replace the 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD?
The HDD is a secondary drive?

No cloning needed, unless you really want to.
You can simply copy/paste from the HDD to the new SSD, and swap drive letters around so the new drive has the same drive letter as the HDD did.

The OS on the 240GB Kingston will not know the difference.

 

[funchal99]

You simply want to replace the 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD?
The HDD is a secondary drive?

No cloning needed, unless you really want to.
You can simply copy/paste from the HDD to the new SSD, and swap drive letters around so the new drive has the same drive letter as the HDD did.

The OS on the 240GB Kingston will not know the difference.

Yes, the HDD is a secondary drive and the m.2 ssd would still be as such (at least until I feel like going through the hassle of cloning windows to it).
I was under the impression that cloning was needed because there's a few games and programs installed in the hdd, and just copying and pasting wouldn't do the trick, as I don't want to reinstall everything.
And as for the swapping drive letters around, how do I do that? I'm sorry if this is coming out as way too clueless of me.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, the HDD is a secondary drive and the m.2 ssd would still be as such (at least until I feel like going through the hassle of cloning windows to it).
I was under the impression that cloning was needed because there's a few games and programs installed in the hdd, and just copying and pasting wouldn't do the trick.
And as for the swapping drive letters around, how do I do that? I'm sorry if this is coming out as way too clueless of me.

For a secondary drive, no...cloning is not really needed.
Cloning is only needed for the OS drive.

Copy/paste from old to new.
Do it in parts, not the whole thing at once.

After, swap drive letters in Disk Management
Assume 3 drives:
C (OS which you're not touching)
D, old HDD
E, new SSD

Right click on the D drive, the old HDD.
Change Drive letter or path
Change it to X
Right click on the new SSD, the displayed E
Change it to D
Then, change the visible X (the old HDD) to whatever you wish.

 

[funchal99]

I see. Thank you!