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cloning windows to my new ssd which should I choose MBR or GPT?

Aug 15, 2018
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I just bought ssd 250gb yesterday and decided to make the ssd for my windows 10. I watch some of video on the internet on how to cloning windows from my current hdd to ssd. When I open up disk management, it said that I has to Initialize disk to MBR or GPT in order logical disk manager can access it. I'm still new in computer hardware and software, so I have no idea what should I do or what should I choose.

I hope someone could help me.
Sorry for my bad english.
 
Solution
GPT.

And read this instead of a video on cloning:

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...
GPT.

And read this instead of a video on cloning:

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
-----------------------------
 
Solution


thank you so much, really helpful 😀
 
When you say "Disconnect ALL drives..." does that include Optical drives?

Edit: Also, would this process be the same if I were cloning from one HDD to a newer, better one?

Oh, and does it matter that the old drive is MBR?
 
No, it does not matter unless you were trying to move to a 3TB drive or larger.

I just want to move from an old MBR drive to a new GPT drive, partially just in case I want to upgrade again later, even though the (current) new drive is 2TB, and not larger.

Old drive is a 1TB that was originally in an HP desktop I bought in 2010, and have since replaced all but the DVD and Hard drives. Bought a 2TB WD Black drive and a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO. New HDD is in, but not set up; SSD is not in because I needed to order a set screw. Just trying to figure out how to get things switched over, and what kind of setup I want at the end.

Maybe this should be its own thread, but the forum rules encouraged me to try to find an existing topic, and this seemed tentatively close enough to what I was looking for.
 
I just want to move from an old MBR drive to a new GPT drive, partially just in case I want to upgrade again later, even though the (current) new drive is 2TB, and not larger.

Old drive is a 1TB that was originally in an HP desktop I bought in 2010, and have since replaced all but the DVD and Hard drives. Bought a 2TB WD Black drive and a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO. New HDD is in, but not set up; SSD is not in because I needed to order a set screw. Just trying to figure out how to get things switched over, and what kind of setup I want at the end.

Maybe this should be its own thread, but the forum rules encouraged me to try to find an existing topic, and this seemed tentatively close enough to what I was looking for.

Yes, you should start up a new one.
Every situation is a little bit different. And a thread that is already "Solved" won't get many people looking.