[SOLVED] Cloning Windows 10 from a dying Drive

burntbagle198

Reputable
Nov 27, 2017
12
0
4,510
So as the title States I have a Windows 10 installation on a dying Drive and I'd like to clone it without having to boot into said installation. It's currently on a 1TB spinner and I'd be moving it to a 256GB SSD

I was wondering if anyone knows of something I could put on a USB like possibly a linux-based bootable that could do the job?
 
Solution
It should be only like one or two hundred GB
"should only be"
You need to know. If over 200GB, this will not work.

But.....
Install Macrium Reflect on some other working PC.
Then, you create a RescueUSB (Other Tasks - Create Rescue Media...)
Boot from that and it should allow you to clone across from one drive to the other. Assuming, of course, the old drive is actually readable.

Mostly like this, except you'll be booting from the Rescue USB you made...

-----------------------------
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...

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
So as the title States I have a Windows 10 installation on a dying Drive and I'd like to clone it without having to boot into said installation. It's currently on a 1TB spinner and I'd be moving it to a 256GB SSD

I was wondering if anyone knows of something I could put on a USB like possibly a linux-based bootable that could do the job?
Yes.
Macrium Reflect can be booted and run from a USB.

How much space is consumed on the current 1TB HDD?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
It should be only like one or two hundred GB
"should only be"
You need to know. If over 200GB, this will not work.

But.....
Install Macrium Reflect on some other working PC.
Then, you create a RescueUSB (Other Tasks - Create Rescue Media...)
Boot from that and it should allow you to clone across from one drive to the other. Assuming, of course, the old drive is actually readable.

Mostly like this, except you'll be booting from the Rescue USB you made...

-----------------------------
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)
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

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

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 all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------
 
Solution