I pretend to clone HDD before first boot. Any advice?

[Sargas]

Dear fellows,

I've bought a Thinkpad L580 for my nephew.
Ordering the L580 with an SSD was way much pricier (+270€) so I decided to configure it with a 500 GB HDD instead. When I receive the laptop I pretend to change its HDD for either a Crucial MX500 or a Samsung 860 Evo, before first boot.
I mean, taking out the HDD from the laptop, pluging it into my desktop and cloning it into the SSD. Then plug the SSD and start the laptop for the first time with it (thus activating Windows, etc).

After a few days, if everything is running nicely, place the HDD in an external 2.5" case for backup purposes.

I've read @USAFRet recommending Macrium free for this purpose.

Any flaw in my plan?

Any advice or information you could provide would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you very much!

 

[Barty1884]

The only flaw I see, is this seems overly complicated. You'd probably be quicker creating a bootable ISO with the later version of Windows to a USB:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Taking the HDD out, installing the SSD and installing Windows to it directly.


Avoids the need to clone, which isn't the best idea to begin with - and gets you onto the latest build/update of Windows.

 

[Sargas]

The only flaw I see, is this seems overly complicated.

Yeah, that sounds like me haha.

Thanks for your prompt response Barty1884. I thought that if I cloned the disk, I would avoid having any protential problem activating Windows 10 or using whatever bloatware Lenovo needed to run in the Thinkpad.
But on a second thought (thanks to you) I can startup the laptop, register the product, activate the OS then replacing the disk and doing a fresh Windows install, right? That's something I've done before.

I've got my anti static wristband ready along with the screwdriver and the opening tools. Everything ready for the laptop to come home.
His current laptop is a HP Pavilion dv6000 with an AMD Turion... I'm sure he'll make a good use of this one.

Again, thank you very much for your help Barty

 

[Barty1884]

You shouldn't have any problems activating Windows provided you install the same version (Home, Pro etc). Might be prudent to run a setup on the HDD and ensure the OS in infact activated though.

As for bloatware, the clean installation would be beneficial here too - you certainly don't 'need' any of Lenovo's bloatware..... Nor is it typically much use to most users. A clean install would give you just that, a true 'clean' OS installation - bloatware free.

No problem - you could even create a bootable USB ahead of time so you're ready to go when the laptop does arrive.

 

[robert600]

"After a few days, if everything is running nicely, place the HDD in an external 2.5" case for backup purposes."

"Any advice or information you could provide would be greatly appreciated!"

Here's my suggestion:
I have very little faith in Windows (restore points do not always work) ... What I tend to do when replacing a hdd with a ssd is ... do the external case thing ... but rather than using it to 'backup' (whatever that means) clone from the ssd to the hdd ... repeat after every windows update (assuming the update worked fine) or major hardware/software change in the laptop (cloning will only take 35 mins or so). That way ... no matter how badly windows screws up (imo ...it's when not if) ... you're covered. It's bailed me out more than once.