Cloning My SSD to a hard drive

[Acarbonbasedlifeform]

Hello,

I am soon sending my laptop for a repair, and for some data protection issues, I have been told that they are going to wipe my SSD clean.
I have just ordered an external hard drive so I can clone my entire SSD to that drive so I can rewrite everything back to it instead of starting a fresh install.

Could anyone give me steps regarding how this is done?
My operating system is Windows 10, 64bit

Thanks in advance

 

[scout_03]

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clone-your-pcs-hard-drive-macrium-reflect

 

[Acarbonbasedlifeform]

Thank you, I'll definitely try this out once my Hard Drive arrives.

So once I receive my empty laptop back, how exactly should I clone everything back to the original drive and have my OS launch?

 

[USAFRet]

A better way to do this is to create an Image, rather than a full clone of the existing drive.

Thusly:
1. Install Macrium Reflect.
2. Create a Macrium Rescue CD or USB
3. Run the allpication, and crate a Image of the full drive, all partition, off to a folder on the external drive.
4. Send the system off
5. When you get it back, boot from the Rescue USB you created in #2.
6. Tell it where the Image is, and what drive to apply that to (the drive in the laptop)

This will work, and does not wipe out anything currently existing on that external. A full clone would wipe out whatever else is on that external.

 

[Acarbonbasedlifeform]

Thank you USAFRet, but I just ordered my external drive so it will be perfectly new when it arrives. I don't care whether it gets wiped or not. All I want is to have my laptop exactly the same as it was before. Will your method fully preserve everything in my original hard drive and restore it accordingly?

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you USAFRet, but I just ordered my external drive so it will be perfectly new when it arrives. I don't care whether it gets wiped or not. All I want is to have my laptop exactly the same as it was before. Will your method fully preserve everything in my original hard drive and restore it accordingly?

Absolutely.
I've done it exactly like that.

I use Macrium Reflect. During the process, be sure you select ALL partitions on the source drive.
"Image this disk..."

THis will save a representation of the entire drive into a single file. something.mrimage

 

[Acarbonbasedlifeform]

Okay, let me see if I got this right.
1) I create a macrium reflect rescue CD, (I assume the software itself offers this option right?)
2) Image the entire hard disk (in my case, SSD) with all partitions into my external drive
3) Once my laptop is ready, use the rescue disk to apply the mrimage file back to the empty SSD

I hope I got this right 😉

 

[USAFRet]

Okay, let me see if I got this right.
1) I create a macrium reflect rescue CD, (I assume the software itself offers this option right?)
2) Image the entire hard disk (in my case, SSD) with all partitions into my external drive
3) Once my laptop is ready, use the rescue disk to apply the mrimage file back to the empty SSD

I hope I got this right 😉

Yes, exactly.
It should prompt you upon initial use to create that Rescue, but if it does not, the function is found under "Other Tasks" on the menu bar.

 

[Acarbonbasedlifeform]

Thank you very much, I will proceed exactly with this method then. Hopefully, it will work out fine 😉