[SOLVED] Disk Cloning was cancelled, how do I fix its impact on my PC?

[amneedhelp]

The story is that I got a new m.2 ssd this morning, cloned my current ssd to it and left for work. Came back home to my brother playing games on my computer and saying that he cancelled the cloning process. I've heard that this could significantly corrupt the files and OS in the computer.

I suspect that most of the impact is on the OS as things are running a bit slower now after I've restarted the computer.
For example:

• pop-up widgets when clocking/hovering over icons in apps are very slow to respond (ex. opening settings in Discord or opening the google apps widget in Chrome)
• after unlocking the pc, auto-starting apps like discord, spotify, and Opera (previously opened tabs before restarting) were very slow to open and greyed out in the start. moving the windows around and resizing it is very buggy
• a full-screen game i opened would crash immediately
• typing on any app feels very wonky and slow
• hovering over the taskbar to reveal it makes its 'popping up' animation have like 5 fps

My current thoughts are:

1. to reinstall the windows 10 OS while keeping the files
2. copying important files onto a USB, doing a factory reset on my PC, and just reinstalling games/software that I had previously with important files backed up

Am I just overreacting and that there is no issue?
Are these proper solutions or should I be doing something else?
If I choose option 2, how would I go about doing it so that after the factory reset, the m.2 ssd would be the default with the OS and booting, while keeping the other ssd as an extra?

 

[Lafong]

Cloning supposedly doesn't alter the source drive, but who knows what might happen if interrupted.

I think there are 2 types of "resets":

Resetting reinstalls Windows 10, but lets you choose whether to keep your files (refresh) or remove them (reset), and then reinstalls Windows 10.

Trying to reset to the M.2 might be a complication. I'd probably restore to the original and then clone or image that reset installation to the NVMe when your brother is out of state.

I've never done a reset, but I think it is at:

Settings > Update & Security > Recovery

 

[amneedhelp]

Would it be safe to keep my files, or do a full reset as some of the corrupted files might mess with me in the future? If I have to reset I could spend the extra hour manually backing up some important ones.

 

[Lafong]

I'm not very familiar with a reset or refresh of any type.

A "refresh" supposedly reinstalls the OS, while preserving the user data, user accounts, and important settings.

If in doubt, I'd instead do a clean install.....

But you might want to roll the dice on a refresh if a clean install would be a major ordeal.