[SOLVED] LAPTOP** How to upgrade my m.2 SATA SSD to a larger one without any data loss? Have both HDD and m.2SSD installed

[Aagorath]

Gist notes:
-Using laptop, has internal space for 1 m.2 ssd (NOT nvme) &1 hdd
-Need to upgrade tiny ssd to bigger ssd
-How do I upgrade (including transferring windows to bigger ssd) without losing any data on tiny ssd/hdd?

Hello! Hopefully I'm in the right place. My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15 7559. I currently have a 120gb ssd with windows 10 installed + some files on it.

When I first put windows 10 on the ssd, I had no problem because the ssd was fresh so I could just use that EaseUS Todo Backup Tool for my windows transfer.

But now I need to upgrade the SSD, so I need all my current ssd files to go back to the HDD, including windows, so I could take out the old ssd, put in the new one, and then put windows on the new ssd.

When I went to use the EaseUS tool, it told me cloning my ssd to my hdd would wipe the hdd files, which I don't want.
Is there a way to do this? Is there an EASIER way to upgrade without having to do this back and forth of transferring windows?

I know it's a bit confusing, considering I'm a novice and have no clue what i'm saying, but thank you for your help!

 

[USAFRet]

This can be done.
Disregard the term "clone" for now.

Do you have, or can borrow, an external USB drive of sufficient size to hold the entirety of your current C drive? Doesn't matter if other stuff is already on this drive, just needs the actual free space.
What OS is this?

 

[Aagorath]

This can be done.
Disregard the term "clone" for now.

Do you have, or can borrow, an external USB drive of sufficient size to hold the entirety of your current C drive? Doesn't matter if other stuff is already on this drive, just needs the actual free space.
What OS is this?

My C drive (the ssd) is almost full (120gb capacity) and I don't have a flash drive that can handle it. I'm running Windows 10.

I got a suggestion that I should get some sort of "m2 sata to usb" adaptor and just have the 2nd ssd connected to my laptop externally, and then do the clone within the EaseUS Todo Tool, from C-drive source to new-ssd destination. Would that work?

If it can, I would just have to purchase said adaptor.

 

[USAFRet]

How much free space do you have on the internal HDD?

Again, don't be focused on the word "clone". There may be better ways to do this.

 

[Aagorath]

How much free space do you have on the internal HDD?

Again, don't be focused on the word "clone". There may be better ways to do this.

670gb or so free on the 1tb HDD! Sorry I should have added this info earlier

 

[USAFRet]

OK.
Do you have an extra small USB stick? Anything 4GB or larger.

 

[Aagorath]

OK.
Do you have an extra small USB stick? Anything 4GB or larger.

Yes I do

 

[USAFRet]

OK then.
$0
We do this with an Image, rather than a 'clone'.


Just like this:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue USB on your flash stick (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image on the HDD. Select all partitions of the current small SSD. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage, saved on the HDD. Remember where this is.
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 drives
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

 

[Hawkeye18]

I just did this on my laptop. I just bought a new m.2 drive and a 2.5" SSD to replace the hdd. First I transferred all the data that was on the hdd to a flashdrive. Thankfully there wasn't that much so I didn't have to buy a massive flashdrive. Next I cloned the factory m.2 (which has the os) to the hdd. I removed the factory m.2 and booted from the hdd to make sure the clone worked. Then I installed the new m.2 and cloned the os and everything from the hdd to the new m.2. then I removed the hdd and booted from the new m.2 to make sure the clone worked. Thankfully it did. Then I installed the new 2.5" SSD and transferred all the data from the flashdrive to the 2.5" SSD and viola. All the data but now faster!

 

[Aagorath]

OK then.
$0
We do this with an Image, rather than a 'clone'.


Just like this:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue USB on your flash stick (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image on the HDD. Select all partitions of the current small SSD. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage, saved on the HDD. Remember where this is.
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 drives
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

Just got around to trying this. When I finished I had to go into "Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions" in order to make the 360gb of unallocated space on the new SSD usable (which took 5 seconds hahah). But other than that, it worked PERFECTLY even though my 4gb usb stick is from like 2009.

Thank you so much!
-Ed