Question Can I clone my laptops SSD's OS to my Desktops hard drive, then install a new SSD to my desktop and clone the laptops os to the new SSD

[ThatGuyWhomNeedsAid]

I'm planning on buying a new SSD for my Razer laptop since 256 GB turns out to be too little and I want to get a 1 tb SSD. Only problem with that is
A) I don't want to buy a new windows product key and
B) Reinstall all the drivers and Razer applications
So I'm wondering if it is possible to use my desktops hard drive as the intermediate bank for the Razer's SSD data, clone everything from the Razer SSD into the hard drive, remove SSD from the M.2 mount, Install new 1 tb SSD into motherboard, clone the hard drive bank into the 1tb.

Note, I'm already using 1 one the two m.2 slots for windows, so I'm limited to one slot.

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, it's not. You will cause all licenses to lose activation, which is as it should be. The minute you connect Windows to a motherboard that is different than the one it was installed on, it is going to deactivate. If you have the license attached to a Microsoft account, that's not a big deal, as you can move your Windows license to a new machine and reactivate but the minute you install it on another machine and activate it's going to deactivate the other machine. Buy a new license for the other machine. You don't get something for nothing without there being a consequence.

The fact that you don't "want" to reinstall things doesn't matter. That's what you have to do when you want to use Windows on a machine. If you move a Windows installation from one machine to another, especially if they don't have the exact same motherboard chipset, you will almost always have problems of one kind or another until you do a clean install on that machine. Sometimes people get lucky, but usually that is not the case.

There is only ONE way to do this correctly, and that is to have two licenses and install Windows fresh for each machine you wish to use it on. Anything else, CAN work, but usually won't, and is never going to be quite right.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm planning on buying a new SSD for my Razer laptop since 256 GB turns out to be too little and I want to get a 1 tb SSD. Only problem with that is
A) I don't want to buy a new windows product key and
B) Reinstall all the drivers and Razer applications
So I'm wondering if it is possible to use my desktops hard drive as the intermediate bank for the Razer's SSD data, clone everything from the Razer SSD into the hard drive, remove SSD from the M.2 mount, Install new 1 tb SSD into motherboard, clone the hard drive bank into the 1tb.

Note, I'm already using 1 one the two m.2 slots for windows, so I'm limited to one slot.

Your laptop has its own Win 10 install and license. Correct?
Your desktop has its own OS and Windows license?

You're wanting to change from a 256GB SSD to a 1TB SSD, but your laptop only has 1x m.2 port?
Correct?

Assuming the answers to the above are all Yes, this can be done.
But not in the way you're thinking.

Please give us a rundown of whatever drives are in this laptop, and what they are used for.


Reply, and we can continue one way or the other.

 

[ThatGuyWhomNeedsAid]

No, it's not. You will cause all licenses to lose activation, which is as it should be. The minute you connect Windows to a motherboard that is different than the one it was installed on, it is going to deactivate. If you have the license attached to a Microsoft account, that's not a big deal, as you can move your Windows license to a new machine and reactivate but the minute you install it on another machine and activate it's going to deactivate the other machine. Buy a new license for the other machine. You don't get something for nothing without there being a consequence.

The fact that you don't "want" to reinstall things doesn't matter. That's what you have to do when you want to use Windows on a machine. If you move a Windows installation from one machine to another, especially if they don't have the exact same motherboard chipset, you will almost always have problems of one kind or another until you do a clean install on that machine. Sometimes people get lucky, but usually that is not the case.

There is only ONE way to do this correctly, and that is to have two licenses and install Windows fresh for each machine you wish to use it on. Anything else, CAN work, but usually won't, and is never going to be quite right.

Alright my guy, appreciate the time you took to respond. I figured this would be the case but it is what it is. Gracias mi amigo!!

 

[popatim]

You could of just imaged the laptop drive to the desktop and then imaged it back to the laptop when the upgrade is complete. I suspect this is why USAFRET was asking for more info but I suppose it's too late now. I hope things worked out for you.

 

[Darkbreeze]

For sure. I guess I must have been misunderstanding what it was they wanted to do. For sure you could clone the drive to an image file and then image that clone back onto the new SSD. I guess I thought they were asking something else altogether.

 

[ThatGuyWhomNeedsAid]

You could of just imaged the laptop drive to the desktop and then imaged it back to the laptop when the upgrade is complete. I suspect this is why USAFRET was asking for more info but I suppose it's too late now. I hope things worked out for you.

No, I've yet to take any action. Still considering my options and doing more research when I can. But with your suggestion, How would I go about doing that? The imaging stuff

 

[USAFRet]

Per my statement above, yes, this can be done.
An Image is (probably) what you want, rather than a clone back and forth.

If this is how you want to proceed, specific steps will follow.

Just to clarify...
This is one laptop
You currently have a 256GB NVMe drive.
You wish to move everything from the 256GB to a 1TB NVMe drive.

Correct so far?

Do you have an external USB drive, with sufficient space to hold the entirety of your current 256GB drive?

 

[ThatGuyWhomNeedsAid]

Per my statement above, yes, this can be done.
An Image is (probably) what you want, rather than a clone back and forth.

If this is how you want to proceed, specific steps will follow.

Just to clarify...
This is one laptop
You currently have a 256GB NVMe drive.
You wish to move everything from the 256GB to a 1TB NVMe drive.

Correct so far?
Do you have an external USB drive, with sufficient space to hold the entirety of your current 256GB drive?

Yes it is one laptop
Yes I have a 256 GB drive (Coming from the laptop)
and Yes, I wish to move everything from the 256GB to a 1TB drive, both NVME.

And no, I do not have a USB drive that can hold the space that the laptop drive (256GB, I've only used half) has but I can get one soon. Regardless of that, How would I go about it once I do get the drive?

 

[USAFRet]

Obtain a USB drive large enough to hold the entirety of your current drive.
Obtain a small USB flash drive, 8GB or larger.

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. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 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.

Questions?

 

[Darkbreeze]

^^^^That.

 

[mdd1963]

You can image existing drive to an external USB drive with Clonezilla or Macrium, then restore to the new SSD....

(Clonezilla is not pretty, being 4 color text based menus, but...it works! Macrium will work as well, just make some boot media so you have something to boot from to be able to restore to the new SSD)

Last time I used it, Clonezilla requires the image destination to be at least as large as the source, regardless of how much data is used, although it only copies used data in the imaging process

 

[ThatGuyWhomNeedsAid]

Obtain a USB drive large enough to hold the entirety of your current drive.
Obtain a small USB flash drive, 8GB or larger.

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. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 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.

Questions?

Interesting, seems simple enough but I guess I'll find out if thats the case soon enough XD. Anyways, when I do get the drive and begin the process, I will come back here for questions. I relly appreciate your help man!

 

[USAFRet]

Interesting, seems simple enough but I guess I'll find out if thats the case soon enough XD. Anyways, when I do get the drive and begin the process, I will come back here for questions. I relly appreciate your help man!

It is actually that simple.
I've personally done it multiple times, exactly like that.

The "Image" you create is a representation of your entire drive.
Macrium Rescue then can apply that Image to a whole new drive.

Exactly as if you were trying to recover from a dead drive, or nasty virus infestation..

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

I used a m.2 to usb adapter.
1 like this will work.
I used mini partition tool wizard and it also worked with the crucial acronis.
https://www.newegg.com/riitop-nvm2c-sl-enclosure/p/0VN-006F-00033

 

[popatim]

There's no need to buy a USB drive if both are on the same network.
Macrium can write directly to a pc on the network provided the source pc/user has permission to do so on the destination pc. I image PC's to and from my server directly. It's not as fast as direct attached since gigabit lan has a max speed of 125MB/s. I get ~108MB/s max at my place.