Question Boot Disc

[SilverFox10]

Hi,
I'm after some advice. I run Windows 10. I have a boot disk a SSD 250Gb. This I have found soon fills up
and leaves very little space. I now have a SSD 1 Tb and wish to ask if it is possible to swap data to the big
drive and use the smaller for storage. Would copying retain all details of operation such as desktop and
running, or is this not possible? Thanks in anticipation, and any advice appreciated.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi,
I'm after some advice. I run Windows 10. I have a boot disk a SSD 250Gb. This I have found soon fills up
and leaves very little space. I now have a SSD 1 Tb and wish to ask if it is possible to swap data to the big
drive and use the smaller for storage. Would copying retain all details of operation such as desktop and
running, or is this not possible? Thanks in anticipation, and any advice appreciated.

You can almost certainly clone the entire contents of the 250GB to the new 1TB.
NOT simply 'copy'.

We can talk you through the entire process.

But....
What drives are involved here?
Make/model please.

Also, please post a screencap of your Disk Management window.
(upload the pic to imgur.com, post the link here)

 

[SilverFox10]

Many thanks for your reply. I have uploaded a screen shot to 'imgur.com'. My 'Q' drive is a Crucial BX500 1Tb, and 'C' drive is the same make but 250Gb.

 

[USAFRet]

Many thanks for your reply. I have uploaded a screen shot to 'imgur.com'. My 'Q' drive is a Crucial BX500 1Tb, and 'C' drive is the same make but 250Gb.

Can't see your screencap.

Link please?

 

[SilverFox10]

https://imgur.com/a/igtq8Ow

View: https://imgur.com/a/igtq8Ow

 

[USAFRet]

OK, we're seeing only some of this.

Disk 1, which contains the G partition...what is that?

Power off
Physically disconnect ALL drives except the 250GB drive, Disk 0.
Power up

Does it boot correctly?

 

[SilverFox10]

'G' by the way is a HDD I use for storage.

 

[SilverFox10]

https://imgur.com/Cofu8sU

View: https://imgur.com/Cofu8sU

 

[USAFRet]

OK....disconnect Disk 1 and Disk 2.

Boot up.
Does it boot correctly?

If so, we can than go into actual cloning steps.
But we need to verify functionality first.

 

[SilverFox10]

Many thanks 'Titan' for your replies. If I disconnect disk 1 and 2 it will start as disk '0' is my 'C' drive.
In the UK here and I do apologise but getting late here and bedtime. (old).
Hope I can pick up again tomorrow.
Best Wishes,
SilverFox10

 

[USAFRet]

Many thanks 'Titan' for your replies. If I disconnect disk 1 and 2 it will start as disk '0' is my 'C' drive.
In the UK here and I do apologise but getting late here and bedtime. (old).
Hope I can pick up again tomorrow.
Best Wishes,
SilverFox10

Assuming it boots correctly from only Disk 0, clone...

Thusly:

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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 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 all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------