[SOLVED] m.2 2280 to m.2 2280 OS migration on a desktop PC

[mletalis]

Hi, I am a few days from getting a new SSD by mail and am a bit unsure about installing these things.

I am replacing a Samsung EVO 256GB SSD with a Corsair MP600 1TB SSD. My motherboard only has 1 slot for this...that I see. I do also have a 1 TB HDD and can easily make some room on.

As I am sure you can already guess from the title, Windows 10 is on my Samsung SSD.

So, having never replaced an HDD, much less a SSD, I am a bit weary and would love some help.

question 1: How would I get windows 10 over to my HDD?
question 2: How would I get windows 10 back to my new SSD?
question 3: Is there anything I need to do differently with SSDs upon a fresh installation like this? I hear about setting up partitions to avoid filling the drive up to much, but don't understand much about this. Are there drivers or similar? Stuff like that.
question 4: Is it possible to use my Samsung SSD as an external drive or maybe as an internal drive through a different port? It's still pretty decent, just not much storage for today's standards, so not looking to get rid of it.

Thanks ahead, having a hard time finding these answers.

 

[USAFRet]

1. Does your external drive have sufficient free space to hold the entirety of the contents of the current Samsung?
2. That will follow after the answer for #1
3. No partitions. Just one single space.
4. Is your Samsung a M.2 or 2.5" drive? It appears M.2? There are PCIe adapters for that.

 

[mletalis]

1. Does your external drive have sufficient free space to hold the entirety of the contents of the current Samsung?
2. That will follow after the answer for #1
3. No partitions. Just one single space.
4. Is your Samsung a M.2 or 2.5" drive? It appears M.2? There are PCIe adapters for that.

My HDD is internal, but yes it does have enough space.

The Samsung is M.2.

 

[USAFRet]

What motherboard do you have?
Is it NVMe capable?

 

[USAFRet]

You'll also need a small blank flash drive.

This should do the trick:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
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.

 

[mletalis]

What motherboard do you have?
Is it NVMe capable?

The motherboard is here: HP Edoras 84FD. I've been assuming it's NVme compatible, but not 100% sure.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/produc...es/23302709/model/23574497/document/c06125965

 

[mletalis]

You'll also need a small blank flash drive.

This should do the trick:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
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.

Fantastic, that's not half as bad as I thought it would be. Appreciate the info!