[SOLVED] Question about storage upgrade

512-Bit

Reputable
Apr 17, 2019
313
33
4,740
I'm planning to get a 240 Gig Kingston A400, and if I were to upgrade it in the future (Say a M.2 drive) if I copy everything from the old drive then set the new drive as the boot drive in my mobo bios, will it work, or will I still have to re-install windows? Is it just not worth it?
 
Solution
If you just copy (drag and drop, or other copy) then you don't get the necessary system information to make the new disk bootable.
Cloning your disk with software like Macrium you get all the necessary stuff to make it bootable

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
-----------------------------
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 all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------


Read this for going from a SATA drive to an NVMe drive:
https://forum.macrium.com/Topic21731-1.aspx