[SOLVED] Clone whole and entire drive to another

[PrimalReign]

Hi, I know that there are quite similar questions to mine on here but I just had to make sure that it works for my specific lineup so please excuse me on that.

So I recently got a whole new computer and the only thing that I kept was my GPU. I'm facing the problem that I want to clone my whole entire drive which is currently a sata sad and I want to clone every single file and partition over to a new one basically so that when I turn on the PC I get my exact same desktop and all of the startup programs run at...well startup. I have my HDD accounted for because I just connected it to my new PC and dragged all of my files over to my new and bigger HDD but the problem with the whole cloning of my old boot SSD to my new boot nvme is that I'm not sure that I'll get every single file and setting for every program and windows and for that I wanted to open a new post on here so that someone of you beautiful fellas could help me with my specific problem and that I could ask them specific questions to my problem if needed.

Again sorry for my selfishness and thanks very very much in advance, guys. <3

 

[DSzymborski]

Hi, I know that there are quite similar questions to mine on here but I just had to make sure that it works for my specific lineup so please excuse me on that.

So I recently got a whole new computer and the only thing that I kept was my GPU. I'm facing the problem that I want to clone my whole entire drive which is currently a sata sad and I want to clone every single file and partition over to a new one basically so that when I turn on the PC I get my exact same desktop and all of the startup programs run at...well startup. I have my HDD accounted for because I just connected it to my new PC and dragged all of my files over to my new and bigger HDD but the problem with the whole cloning of my old boot SSD to my new boot nvme is that I'm not sure that I'll get every single file and setting for every program and windows and for that I wanted to open a new post on here so that someone of you beautiful fellas could help me with my specific problem and that I could ask them specific questions to my problem if needed.

Again sorry for my selfishness and thanks very very much in advance, guys. <3

New platform means a new Windows install. While you can simply try and stuff the old Windows install into your new PC, Windows is not designed to be a modular OS in this manner unless you have a very specific Windows-to-Go install that's designed for this purpose. Sometimes it won't work, sometimes it will, and sometimes it will and you'll be chasing annoying like bugs for months and end up having to reinstall anyway.

Go with best practice and install Windows 10 properly once rather than cut corners. Note that you don't have to reinstall Steam games; you can install Steam and then simply point it to the existing directory with the files.

 

[USAFRet]

"a whole new computer "

This is an issue.
A clone is no different than moving the actual physical drive.
There is NO guarantee it might work.

Basically, 3 possibilities:

1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you're chasing issues for weeks/months.

I've seen all 3.

Likely you'll end up in #2 or 3.

Give us a full list of ALL parts involved, both old and new.

 

[USAFRet]

"currently a sata sad " ('ssd', correct?)
"old boot SSD to my new boot nvme "

This is a whole other level of complexity. SATA to NVMe often fails, even in the same system. Much less a whole new PC.

As stated above, best practice is a clean install in the new system on the desired drive.
Do it right, do it once.

 

[PrimalReign]

"currently a sata sad " ('ssd', correct?)
"old boot SSD to my new boot nvme "

This is a whole other level of complexity. SATA to NVMe often fails, even in the same system. Much less a whole new PC.

As stated above, best practice is a clean install in the new system on the desired drive.
Do it right, do it once.

Yeah well my old PC is quite old which is why I have had a normal Sata SSD and had to upgrade to an Nvme M2 SSD. So if I just install windows as intended and then boot over that aforementioned Drive and then go ahead and connect my old SSD over Sata, which folders would I have to copy over without facing any problems whilst experiencing an at least somewhat seem less transfer?
Would copying the Users\, ProgramData\, Program Files\ and Program Files (x86)\ over achieve that? Would that be too much or could I get away with copying over any more from my boot drive? I'm guessing it would be too much if anything and that there is not much more I could copy over without facing any problems but again, I just want to make sure.

 

[PrimalReign]

"a whole new computer "

This is an issue.
A clone is no different than moving the actual physical drive.
There is NO guarantee it might work.

Basically, 3 possibilities:

1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you're chasing issues for weeks/months.

I've seen all 3.

Likely you'll end up in #2 or 3.

Give us a full list of ALL parts involved, both old and new.

Old:
AsRock H97 Pro4
I7 4790 non k
16GB DDR3 1666 MHz
120GB SSD
1TB HDD
New:
Gigabyte Aorus Elite X570
R7 3800X
32GB DDR3 3200MHz
500GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe
4TB HDD
1TB HDD
Hope I didn't forget anything

 

[USAFRet]

That level of change requires a fresh start. Whole new OS install, along with everything else.

And no, you absolutely cannot copy "the Users\, ProgramData\, Program Files\ and Program Files (x86)\ "
Doesn't work like that.


The only things you can carry over to this new PC are your personal files (Doc/Music/Video/CAD/whatever) and Steam games.
No applications, no /User/ folders...


When an application is installed, it creates dozens, sometimes thousands of entries in the Registry and elsewhere.
The new OS in the new system will know nothing about those.

 

[PrimalReign]

That level of change requires a fresh start. Whole new OS install, along with everything else.

And no, you absolutely cannot copy "the Users\, ProgramData\, Program Files\ and Program Files (x86)\ "
Doesn't work like that.


The only things you can carry over to this new PC are your personal files (Doc/Music/Video/CAD/whatever) and Steam games.
No applications, no /User/ folders...


When an application is installed, it creates dozens, sometimes thousands of entries in the Registry and elsewhere.
The new OS in the new system will know nothing about those.

Well okay then thanks for your help guys. Highly appreciated.