[SOLVED] Cloning a PCIe NVMe SSD ?

[dan99t]

Hi,

Currently I am using a regular 500 GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD as a boot drive.
I clone that HDD using Acronis software so that I always have an exact copy of that drive in case boot drive runs into a problem.

But I am getting a new PC with 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD as a boot drive.

My question is can I clone this new HDD on a regular 500 GB SATA drive ? They have different volumes. One is 512 GB & other is 500 GB.

If yes, then if new 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD crashes, can I use the 500 GB SATA HDD to clone it back on to 512 GB NVMe drive ?

If not what other choices do I have ?

Reinstalling Windows & settings & programs takes a lot of time so I have been using clonning HDDs as a very easy solution.

Thank You

 

[Bob.B]

Hi,

Currently I am using a regular 500 GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD as a boot drive.
I clone that HDD using Acronis software so that I always have an exact copy of that drive in case boot drive runs into a problem.

But I am getting a new PC with 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD as a boot drive.

My question is can I clone this new HDD on a regular 500 GB SATA drive ? They have different volumes. One is 512 GB & other is 500 GB.

If yes, then if new 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD crashes, can I use the 500 GB SATA HDD to clone it back on to 512 GB NVMe drive ?

If not what other choices do I have ?

Reinstalling Windows & settings & programs takes a lot of time so I have been using clonning HDDs as a very easy solution.

Thank You
Post Reply

You want to clone a 512GB disk to a 500GB disk?.........try it.
See if the clone util carps about the size of the output disk.
When I clone I only clone the data so as long as that fits on the output disk it seems to work.
If it does work make sure you can boot from the disk you cloned to just to make sure things did not get twisted.

 

[Jacozeelie]

Full System specs? Is the nvme slot on mobo or add on card?

 

[dan99t]

I have not bought the new system yet so I can't give it a try.

That is why I asked if anyone on the forum has tried or have a knowledge.

 

[Jacozeelie]

Is it a new pc or second hand? If it is a add on, you cant boot from it

 

[USAFRet]

I clone that HDD using Acronis software so that I always have an exact copy of that drive in case boot drive runs into a problem.

Cloning is not what you want.
Cloning is for changing the drive right now.

For storing a copy of the drive, you want an Image. Not a direct clone.
And that Image can be stored on any type drive.

I use Macrium Reflect for this.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[SkyNetRising]

I have not bought the new system yet so I can't give it a try.

It's a different pc - different motherboard, probably different everything - chipset, lan, audio. All the drivers are different.
It is not recommended to use OS drive from a different computer. Windows needs to be installed on this particular hardware (not transplanted from other pc).

If you try to move OS drive from other pc results can be:

system doesn't boot (boot mode incompatibility);​

crashes, bsods, bad performance (drivers incompatibility);​

windows activation problems.​

 

[dan99t]

Thank you all.

I am buying a New Dell 5820 Workstation.

To have as many HDDs as possible I am choosing the NVMe installed on Motherborad.

So I will have 4 more HDD slots available where I am going to install regular SATA 7200 rpm drives.

So I am wondering if I can clone 512 GB NVMe on a SATA 500GB HDD & then if something goes wrong with NVMe, I can wipe it & use SATA 500 GB to clone the NVMe.

I have never used an image to recover OS. I am very comfortable with clonning. Takes 90 Minutes & Very easy with Acronis software.

Please suggest what would be best before I order the new PC.

Thank You.

 

[USAFRet]

Please suggest what would be best before I order the new PC.

Images rather than clone.

It works very much the same. But you can store multiple Images on a single drive or folder tree. Instead of a single "clone".
The Image function in Macrium Reflect is the whole basis of my backup routine.

Recovery is pretty much the same.
Fire up the software, tell it where the Image is, and where the target drive is...Go.
It applies that Image to the specified drive.

I've had to use it after the death of a 1TB SSD. 605GB data on it.
My nightly images are stored on my NAS box.
Recovering that 605GB to a new 1TB SSD took a little under 2 hours, across the LAN. If it were on another internal drive on that same PC, it would have been much faster.

Images gives you the ability to save multiple versions on a single drive.
I can recover any individual drive in my system to its condition on any day in the last 30 days. Or all of them.
A Full Image, followed by a series of Incremental or Differential.

You can save these images to any storage space of sufficient size. External HDD, internal SSD, NAS box across the LAN, etc, etc.



But to your question - Yes, you can probably do that. As long as the actual consumed space is below 400GB.
I still maintain that it is the wrong function for what you want to do, but it will probably work.

 

[USAFRet]

Also, 1/2 the key to any backup function is to test it before you need it.

Build your system.
Try it the way you propose.

If it does NOT work, then there are other options.

 

[RyzenNoob]

Hi,

Currently I am using a regular 500 GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD as a boot drive.
I clone that HDD using Acronis software so that I always have an exact copy of that drive in case boot drive runs into a problem.

But I am getting a new PC with 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD as a boot drive.

My question is can I clone this new HDD on a regular 500 GB SATA drive ? They have different volumes. One is 512 GB & other is 500 GB.

If yes, then if new 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD crashes, can I use the 500 GB SATA HDD to clone it back on to 512 GB NVMe drive ?

If not what other choices do I have ?

Reinstalling Windows & settings & programs takes a lot of time so I have been using clonning HDDs as a very easy solution.

Thank You

Are you getting a new PC with an operating system on it? Or is it just a blank hard drive? You'd need to find a slot in your current pc to put the nvme drive in first, and clone the current OS to the new drive all you need to do after that is put the nvme drive to the new pc

 

[dan99t]

Moderator, I totally get what you are proposing & really appreciate it & will try it in my current PC.

But there seems to be lot of confusion about old pc & new pc. So let me clear up that.

Forget old pc.

I am getting a new PC with 512 GB NVMe with Win 10 installed on it & that NVMe is plugged in on a slot on motherboard. I want to make a clone of it on a regular SATA HDD of 500 GB size on the same PC.

Is it possible to clone with the fact that source drive is 512 GB NVMe & destination drive is only 500 GB SATA -3, 7200 rpm HDD ?

And if yes, can I use the SATA-3 500GB HDD to clone it on a 512 GB NVMe HDD ?

Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

Is it possible to clone with the fact that source drive is 512 GB NVMe & destination drive is only 500 GB SATA -3, 7200 rpm HDD ?

And if yes, can I use the SATA-3 500GB HDD to clone it on a 512 GB NVMe HDD ?

A conditional 'yes'.

Sector size might be an issue. 4k vs 512.

How often will you do this?

 

[dan99t]

Since this is the boot drive, clonning will be necessary only when I run into OS problems or viruses etc.

Does sector size matter in this case when re cloning back from SATA to NVMe ?

 

[geofelt]

Clone is a bit for bit copy.
Most of the time, that works well so long as the device capacities are the same.
I am a big fan of the samsung ssd migration app.
It is a C drive logical mover.
If you have a sata 2.5" samsung ssd installed, you can move a copy of your m.2 C drive to it.
Switching the boot order will let you test things out.
Should the nvme drive fail, you will have an immediately usable copy you can boot from.
And, you probably will not notice any performance difference.

For security, remove the backup from the system.
Or, backup using a usb adapter cable.

The reverse is not possible unless the m.2 is a samsung ssd.
But, if your concern is failure of the m.2, that is a moot point.
If you want to replace the m.2 with a larger capacity samsung m.2, the migration aid will do that.

 

[USAFRet]

Does sector size matter in this case when re cloning back from SATA to NVMe ?

Yes.
But if it clones to the SATA drive correctly, then it "should" clone back to the NVMe correctly.

 

[USAFRet]

And has been said above, the "clone", or the source, needs to be removed or physically disconnected at the end of the clone process.
Having 2 identical bootable OS's in the same system is rarely a good idea.