Question Can I clone Win10 to a new M2, and then reconnect the M2 to a different NVMe slot?

[tomer fishbein]

Hi guys,
So I just bought and connected a new M2 to a PCIe slot using an NVMe to PCIe adapter (because I only have 1 NVMe slot already used by my older M2).
Now because the PCIe slot doesn't fully utilize the speed of my new M2,
I want to clone Windows from my older M2 to the new one,
than swap slots between the 2 M2s so the new M2 will now be connected to the motherboard's NVMe slot,
and the older one will be connected to the PCIe adapter.
Is that possible? Will it create problems? And how do I even do it?
Thanks in advance 🙂

 

[SkyNetRising]

I want to clone Windows from my older M2 to the new one,
than swap slots between the 2 M2s so the new M2 will now be connected to the motherboard's NVMe slot,
and the older one will be connected to the PCIe adapter.
Is that possible? Will it create problems? And how do I even do it?

If both drives are NVME, then yes. You can do that.
If one of them is SATA M.2 drive, then it might not work anymore after moving it to the other M.2 slot.
What are model names of your M.2 drives?

Do it, like you described.
Note - first boot from new cloned drive has to be done with old drive physically disconnected.
This step is not optional or you'll have to redo cloning.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi guys,
So I just bought and connected a new M2 to a PCIe slot using an NVMe to PCIe adapter (because I only have 1 NVMe slot already used by my older M2).
Now because the PCIe slot doesn't fully utilize the speed of my new M2,
I want to clone Windows from my older M2 to the new one,
than swap slots between the 2 M2s so the new M2 will now be connected to the motherboard's NVMe slot,
and the older one will be connected to the PCIe adapter.
Is that possible? Will it create problems? And how do I even do it?
Thanks in advance 🙂

-----------------------------
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 Magician (which includes 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.
-----------------------------

 

[tomer fishbein]

Massive thanks for your help guys!
But I do need to clarify:
Both the old and the new SSDs are M2 via NVMe.
The older one (currently connected to the motherboard's NVMe slot) is an Intel SSDPEKKW256G7 (256GB)
The new one (currently connected to a PCIe slot via an NVMe to PCIe adapter) is a Hynix 2.0TB Platinum P41.
I also have a 1 TB HDD which is going to die (he's making loud noises and that's the reason I got a new storage - the P41)

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]

I also got confused, I don't know what's an SDM, I really just do have basic knowledge

 

[SkyNetRising]

I don't know what's an SDM,

Samsung Data Migration software.