[SOLVED] Best free or cheap software to clone a drive

[getochkn]

I currently have a laptop with a small NVME and a SSD drive in it. I have a new faster, bigger NVME drive coming today. I want to clone my current NVME drive to a image file on my SSD, take it out, put in the new NVME, boot up via USB or something and then clone that image from the SSD to the NVME. What is the best cheap or free software to do this?

 

[jay32267]

I use Aomei Backupper. Lots of people use Macrium Reflect.

 

[USAFRet]

I currently have a laptop with a small NVME and a SSD drive in it. I have a new faster, bigger NVME drive coming today. I want to clone my current NVME drive to a image file on my SSD, take it out, put in the new NVME, boot up via USB or something and then clone that image from the SSD to the NVME. What is the best cheap or free software to do this?

NVMe OS drive, and secondary SSD?
Does the SSD have sufficient free space to hold the full contents of the existing C drive?

If so, we can do this easily.

 

[USAFRet]

Assuming your SSD has sufficient free space:
(you'll also need a blank small flash drive to boot from)

Macrium Reflect does this easily.

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive, the other SSD. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 NVMe drives.
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

 

[getochkn]

Assuming your SSD has sufficient free space:
(you'll also need a blank small flash drive to boot from)

Macrium Reflect does this easily.

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive, the other SSD. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 NVMe drives.
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

Thanks, yes, the SSD has enough space to hold the image.

 

[getochkn]

Assuming your SSD has sufficient free space:
(you'll also need a blank small flash drive to boot from)

Macrium Reflect does this easily.

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive, the other SSD. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 NVMe drives.
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

I keep getting an error, can't mount WIM when trying to make the rescue disk.

 

[USAFRet]

Possibly this: https://forum.macrium.com/28148/RE-Failed-to-generate-WinPE-WIM-The-WIM-could-not-be-mounted

which leads to:
https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/d...t+held+by+the+client+when+building+Windows+PE

 

[USAFRet]

ALso, this:
https://forum.macrium.com/PrintTopic26831.aspx

 

[geofelt]

Many ssd makers will have a proprietary free clone utility.
I am familiar with the samsung app.
Here is a link to the app and the use manual:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

The process would be to use a usb to m.2 adapter cable and clone your old ssd to the new. When done, just replace the original and boot.

 

[getochkn]

Many ssd makers will have a proprietary free clone utility.
I am familiar with the samsung app.
Here is a link to the app and the use manual:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

The process would be to use a usb to m.2 adapter cable and clone your old ssd to the new. When done, just replace the original and boot.

Ya i'm having a hard time getting anything to boot USB with several different softwares. I didn't grab a USB to NVME encolsure but now wish I did. lol. Would have made this easier. The drive comes with a copy of Acros to copy over to a new drive, but only works if a Sabrent drive is connected which it's not because I need to swap it first.

 

[getochkn]

Okay, different USB stick, 4 hours later, got it all working. Some reason it didn't want to boot off my one stick. Damn UEFI and secure boot and all that crap. Macrium worked np after that.