Question Concern about NVMe SSD and my setup

[crobeinthehouse]

Hello world,

I am in the following predicament and need some advice/suggestions. I just purchased the Intel 660p 1 TB NVMe M.2 SSD for a good price since my current Samsung EVO M.2 NVMe SSD (currently my boot and ONLY drive in this system as I bought it this way) is completely full and I need more storage. Currently the MOBO I have (ASUS Z170M-E D3) only supports 1 x M.2 interface (SATA or PCIe) so my concern is how I am going to clone the existing Samsung drive to my new Intel drive when it arrives. I also want to make sure I didn't overlook something that will allow me to use both drives at the same time, as I am new to this NVMe storage technology. Thank you all for your input.

Link to MOBO: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z170M-E-D3/specifications/

 

[CountMike]

Samsung has utility for cloning https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/ or you could use Macrium Reflect free https://www.macrium.com/products/home

 

[crobeinthehouse]

Thanks for the response but how would I clone it if I only have the capacity on my MOBO for one NVMe SSD at a time? I imagine I would have to get both drives installed at the same time in order to do this clone, no?

 

[karenjoly]

Can you obtain an USB external drive//WD "My Drive" ? Install Macrium Reflect Free version and "image the disk" storing the image on the usb external. Then install the new drive and "recover" the image to the new drive.

Macrium Reflect KnowledgeBase - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

 

[das_stig]

Why don't you just put the new NVME on a PCIE card, use that as mass storage and keep the old m2 for booting and running apps?

 

[crobeinthehouse]

Why don't you just put the new NVME on a PCIE card, use that as mass storage and keep the old m2 for booting and running apps?

This is something I didn't know was plausible (as im a noob in this realm), I would like to use both if possible. Since it is an M.2 drive that I purchased, what would I need to buy exactly to mount the SSD in a PCIe card? Then I would still get the full capability of the speed of the drive too. Can you tell me what I need to buy to do this?

 

[das_stig]

Just a PCIE 4x adapter that you mount m2, fairly cheap and performance is no worse.

Something like, this, other are available just search.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EZDIY-FAB-...M8TWWTMTBAD&psc=1&refRID=TY7KJ3DQKM8TWWTMTBAD