Moving Win10 to a new ssd in same computer?

[_dawn_chorus_]

If I make a system image backup can I put it on a new m.2 ssd in the same build without much of an issue?

Currently I have OS and applications on a 500gb ssd which is filling up, another 500gb ssd for games, and a 1 tb for storage.

If I install the M.2 is there an easy reliable way to transfer the OS/Application to it? I have made system image back ups but never done a reinstall from one and am not sure how they work.

 

[coozie7]

As long as the new M2 SSD is as large or larger than the current OS drive it's not too much of an issue, you can clone the drive, Samsung, I know bundle software with their drives for just this purpose and it's quite painless ( done it myself ). AFAIK Sandisk also bundle a cloning program, not sure about others.
Do be aware, the target SSD must have enough space!

One question: Why bother? Why not just use the new drive as a new drive and leave your OS drive alone? Moving from a SATA to even the top line PCI-e NVMe M2 drives isn't a massive improvement unless you're shifting masses of data regularly.

 

[_dawn_chorus_]

As long as the new M2 SSD is as large or larger than the current OS drive it's not too much of an issue, you can clone the drive, Samsung, I know bundle software with their drives for just this purpose and it's quite painless ( done it myself ). AFAIK Sandisk also bundle a cloning program, not sure about others.
Do be aware, the target SSD must have enough space!

One question: Why bother? Why not just use the new drive as a new drive and leave your OS drive alone? Moving from a SATA to even the top line PCI-e NVMe M2 drives isn't a massive improvement unless you're shifting masses of data regularly.

Nice! They are all Samsung except the HDD, and the M.2 is 1TB

Mainly I just want the headroom. On the OS drive I have all of my music software and the virtual instruments and sample libraries are pretty massive, for many projects I have to wait 30-40 seconds for it to load and often am looking through 20 saves for a particular version or something. I really only NEED about another 100gb to be comfortable but the next step up is 1Tb.

Also any small increase of speed is welcomed, and this is the first part of a no compromise build I want to have done by the spring. As a bonus I wanted to put an ssd in my 2013 laptop that is fairly slow, so this will free up one for that.

 

[coozie7]

Don't think you'll have any issue transferring, not to a 1Tb SSD.
Enjoy!

 

[USAFRet]

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
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
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
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
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 as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[_dawn_chorus_]

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:

Thanks USAFRet ! That was my next question.

 

[_dawn_chorus_]

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
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
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
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
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 as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

One potential issue I believe you helped me with a while back when I installed a SATA ssd was this: when I first built the computer I unknowingly had my boot drive and storage drive plugged into port 5&6 on the motherboard, so when I installed a third drive it ended up in 4, no issues as of yet with that.
However,
on my mobo (msi B250m Mortar) if I plug in an M.2 it disables ports 1&2, so if I clone my current boot drive to the M.2 it will switch from port 5 to I guess port 1 & or 2? Will this be an issue?

 

[USAFRet]

One potential issue I believe you helped me with a while back when I installed a SATA ssd was this: when I first built the computer I unknowingly had my boot drive and storage drive plugged into port 5&6 on the motherboard, so when I installed a third drive it ended up in 4, no issues as of yet with that.
However,
on my mobo (msi B250m Mortar) if I plug in an M.2 it disables ports 1&2, so if I clone my current boot drive to the M.2 it will switch from port 5 to I guess port 1 & or 2? Will this be an issue?

The port numbers are the physical locations on the motherboard.
After the clone operation, you disconnect the source drive.
After it is up and running from the m.2 drive, then you plug the other drives into the physical ports that are not disabled due to the m.2 drive.

 

[_dawn_chorus_]

The port numbers are the physical locations on the motherboard.
After the clone operation, you disconnect the source drive.
After it is up and running from the m.2 drive, then you plug the other drives into the physical ports that are not disabled due to the m.2 drive.[/quotemsg]

Thanks USAFRet!