[SOLVED] Switching startup drives

[russiannick29]

Hi all,

I use Windows 7 and my current startup drive is a 60 gigabyte SSD which is almost always full, so I constantly run into issues. I don't know how I would go about switching over all of that data to another drive and possibly using this one for just a few games or something. I picked up a Samsung 970 EVO NVME M.2 drive and a PCI adapter, but have read online that my motherboard (ASRock Z77 Extreme4) does not natively support NVME drives. If there is no way for me to use the NVME as a bootup drive, I do have another larger SSD that I would want to use as my bootup drive, but again don't know how I would switch over Windows 7 and everything else.

TL;DR unsure how to switch bootup drives, unsure how to use NVME M.2 drive with Windows7 and ASRock Z77 Extreme4

Thanks!

 

[rgd1101]

return it and get a 2.5" ssd?

 

[russiannick29]

return it and get a 2.5" ssd?

lol. I do have another 2.5" SSD but I'm not sure how to go about switching everything over, and I would only want to use that as my startup drive if I really can't do anything else. Also I'm gonna upgrade sometime within the next 5 years so may as well keep the m.2 for a new mobo

 

[USAFRet]

Don't try to use the 970 EVO on a Z77 board as the boot drive.

If you have another larger SATA SSD, you can transfer that.

Assuming this is a desktop system:

-----------------------------
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.
-----------------------------

 

[russiannick29]

Don't try to use the 970 EVO on a Z77 board as the boot drive.

If you have another larger SATA SSD, you can transfer that.

Assuming this is a desktop system:

-----------------------------
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.
-----------------------------

Thanks a ton. So can I still use the 970 EVO but not as a boot drive?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks a ton. So can I still use the 970 EVO but not as a boot drive?

Probably, yes.

 

[russiannick29]

Probably, yes.

Thanks I'll give it a go and see how it turns out