cloning, migrating or fresh install?

[1theworstgeneration]

I'm in the process of getting ready to install a second hard drive by replacing a 3.5" 250gb hdd with and icy box dual 2.5" cradle holding a new 2 tb 2.5" hdd and an extra 2.5" 250 gb hdd only ever used for storage(I'll upgrade it to an SSD later on). I have all the parts and hardware mentioned. What is the best way to get everything off this 3.5 drive and onto the 2.5. How long would it take? is it something I can leave the computer doing overnight or would it be better to just wait till I can grab an SSD as well?

 

[USAFRet]

The terms Clone and Migrate are basically interchangeable.

Cloning usually works just fine. Usually.
Clean install always works, but is more work.

Disregarding all the other drives, how much space is consumed on your current C drive?
What size is the new drive?

(we will go into details later)

 

[1theworstgeneration]

The current 250 3.5 drive is 208 GB full. If necessary i could shave about 10-20GB off. The drive I want to move everything to is 297 GB. The secondary drive is 1.8 TB. Both the secondary drive and the target drive are in cases ready to plug in and format, whatever's needed.

 

[USAFRet]

The current 250 3.5 drive is 208 GB full. If necessary i could shave about 10-20GB off. The drive I want to move everything to is 297 GB. The secondary drive is 1.8 TB. Both the secondary drive and the target drive are in cases ready to plug in and format, whatever's needed.

Disregarding any other drives, your space issues would seem to work for a cloning operation.

Just like this:
(written for a new SSD, but works between any two drives)

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
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
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
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
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 as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[Geef]

I recently cloned my 256GB SSD to my new 512GB M.2 drive and it took about an hour to move it all over. I'm positive it will take a LOT longer with normal HDD, especially an old 250GB HDD.

Think of it this way for cloning. If it doesn't work after cloning it then you still didn't lose anything. You can still go back to just having the original drive plugged in while you decide what else to do.