Question Cloning a boot drive to new larger drive.

treefrogannr

Prominent
Feb 18, 2022
42
3
535
My brother has allot game saves on his old pc. It has a 512GB 2.5" SSD boot drive.

From my experience sometimes moving a old boot drive to a new system it will still work and sometimes does not.

I just want to try it and see if it works because It will be great if it works.

But before trying, I need to clone the old boot drive to my new 2TB nvme drive.

I have clone same size drive before and they boot fine but never migrated a boot drive to a larger drive.
I clone it using the software that came with the hard drive.
I don't know if Samsung drive come with such software. If not, what software do I need?

please help.

thank you
 

treefrogannr

Prominent
Feb 18, 2022
42
3
535
If the target drive is large enough, it should work fine.

If it does not work, it's likely because of improper cloning procedure, not because the target drive was "too large".

Imaging should also work.
Thanks.

I am worried that the 2TB drive will be formatted to 512GB during the cloning process. It happened to me long time ago but I don't remember what software I used.

Anybody know of a software I can use?
 
I am worried that the 2TB drive will be formatted to 512GB during the cloning process. It happened to me long time ago but I don't remember what software I used.

Even if that happens, you should be able to easily expand the partitions on the target drive to include all of that "wasted and unused" space.....the extra 1.5 TB.

Macrium is a good tool. I think the current version is 8. Available for free download at Macrium.com.

Lower left choice here:

"Reflect 8 Free"

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Specifically, this:
(the middle part specifically speaks to cloning smaller to larger)

-----------------------------
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 SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, 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
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

For cloning a smaller drive to a larger...
[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 specifiy 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
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.
-----------------------------
 

treefrogannr

Prominent
Feb 18, 2022
42
3
535
Specifically, this:
(the middle part specifically speaks to cloning smaller to larger)

-----------------------------
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 SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, 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
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

For cloning a smaller drive to a larger...
[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 specifiy 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
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.
-----------------------------


Thank you so much USAFRet

I will follow this to the letter.

Will report back with the result on the 19th or 20th. my last pc part arrives on the 19th.