[SOLVED] HDD to SATA SSD cloning without USB

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TopHatterCT

TopHatterCT

Commendable
Dec 11, 2021
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So I just got a new 500gb crucial to replace my old 1TB hdd. But most of cloning tutorials I watched on youtube used a usb to sata adapter which I don't have, nor have the time to get one online since I need to upgrade asap. So is it also possible to clone my hdd by plugging in my new disk to another sata slot in my motherboard instead?
 
Solution
USAFRet
TopHatterCT said:
It's a desktop and I have the MX500. The HDD has just around 300GB, will be less when I empty my temp and recycle bin before I start cloning.
Click to expand...
No problem. Just connect the MX500 to an empty SATA port on the motherboard.
Cloning, exactly like this....

-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
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...
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TopHatterCT said:
So I just got a new 500gb crucial to replace my old 1TB hdd. But most of cloning tutorials I watched on youtube used a usb to sata adapter which I don't have, nor have the time to get one online since I need to upgrade asap. So is it also possible to clone my hdd by plugging in my new disk to another sata slot in my motherboard instead?
Click to expand...
Desktop or laptop?
How much space is consumed on your current 1TB drive?
What specific 500GB Crucial?
 
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Is the sytem a desktop? And is the Crucial SSD a SATA one? If it is, yes you can. That's how you do it. Connect new drive to another SATA port in the system. Use software like Macrium Refrect from here to clone.

Although your source drive is bigger (1TB) than destination drive (500GB). If the data you need to carry over with the clone (after you uninstall unnecessary applications and/or backup personal files to another media) is not larger than 500GB then you can actually shrink the partition afterwards and clone to new drive.
 
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TopHatterCT said:
It's a desktop and I have the MX500. The HDD has just around 300GB, will be less when I empty my temp and recycle bin before I start cloning.
Click to expand...
No problem. Just connect the MX500 to an empty SATA port on the motherboard.
Cloning, exactly like this....

-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
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

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
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
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
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.
-----------------------------
 
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Solution
Satan-IR said:
Is the sytem a desktop? And is the Crucial SSD a SATA one? If it is, yes you can. That's how you do it. Connect new drive to another SATA port in the system. Use software like Macrium Refrect from here to clone.

Although your source drive is bigger (1TB) than destination drive (500GB). If the data you need to carry over with the clone (after you uninstall unnecessary applications and/or backup personal files to another media) is not larger than 500GB then you can actually shrink the partition afterwards and clone to new drive.
Click to expand...
Yes I only have around 300GB of contents in my hdd and will be even less when I wipe my temp and recycle bin before I clone. Idk how partitioning works when cloning, would it be ok if I clone just the boot partition first then just copy the other partition over after I finished and switched boot drives?
 
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TopHatterCT said:
Yes I only have around 300GB of contents in my hdd and will be even less when I wipe my temp and recycle bin before I clone. Idk how partitioning works when cloning, would it be ok if I clone just the boot partition first then just copy the other partition over after I finished and switched boot drives?
Click to expand...
By following the instructions provided above you'd have no problem.
 
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USAFRet said:
No problem. Just connect the MX500 to an empty SATA port on the motherboard.
Cloning, exactly like this....

-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
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

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
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
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
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.
-----------------------------
Click to expand...
I'm having trouble with downloading macrium, it went way over 100% download progress and then hit a MD5 check failure (error code 2), but the installer did download successfully. Do I still need those appropriate PE components tho? I have windows 10 20H2
 
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USAFRet said:
No problem. Just connect the MX500 to an empty SATA port on the motherboard.
Cloning, exactly like this....

-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
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

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
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
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
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.
-----------------------------
Click to expand...

Can you pls help again? I forgot to mention that my hdd is partitioned in two as shown in this setup of Macrium, but I do not need those partitions anymore. Will it still divide the ssd into two if I inserted all my partitions in there?
https://imgur.com/a/VCDC82P
View: https://imgur.com/a/VCDC82P
 
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TopHatterCT said:
I mean I still want the contents of D to be cloned also, but I don't want to end up dividing the ssd into two partitions again if possible. It only contains videos btw.
Click to expand...
A clone will result in a full copy of the source.
In this case, a C and D partition.

You can't merge the contents of the D into the C, in the context of a clone operation.

Either fix it before, or after.
 
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USAFRet said:
A clone will result in a full copy of the source.
In this case, a C and D partition.

You can't merge the contents of the D into the C, in the context of a clone operation.

Either fix it before, or after.
Click to expand...
I see, thank you I guess I'll just find a way to merge them after cloning. Before I proceed, can I do so even if the disk is not yet initialized? Edit: the ssd I mean.
 
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