Question Upgrading to larger SSD

[DavidF29]

Is it difficult to upgrade an internal SSD? I wanna upgrade my 970 Evo from a 500GB to a 2 TB 970 Evo. I have seen that you can clone your drive, is this possible with internal SSDs? Biggest concern is copying my Windows partition over to the new SSD.

 

[danderson3333]

Clonezilla Live is your friend

 

[USAFRet]

Is it difficult to upgrade an internal SSD? I wanna upgrade my 970 Evo from a 500GB to a 2 TB 970 Evo. I have seen that you can clone your drive, is this possible with internal SSDs? Biggest concern is copying my Windows partition over to the new SSD.

Absolutely possible.

CloneZilla used to be a good tool, but there are better.

Just like this:
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Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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.
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[USAFRet]

Is it difficult to upgrade an internal SSD? I wanna upgrade my 970 Evo from a 500GB to a 2 TB 970 Evo. I have seen that you can clone your drive, is this possible with internal SSDs? Biggest concern is copying my Windows partition over to the new SSD.

What motherboard?
Does it have 2x M.2 NVMe ports?

 

[Lafong]

Is it difficult to upgrade an internal SSD? I wanna upgrade my 970 Evo from a 500GB to a 2 TB 970 Evo. I have seen that you can clone your drive, is this possible with internal SSDs? Biggest concern is copying my Windows partition over to the new SSD.

Possible with either of 2 methods:

Cloning or imaging

Either can in effect "copy" everything to a new drive.

Either can work or fail.

Cloning usually used when moving to a larger drive like you are doing.

Imaging can be used when moving to a larger drive or to recover from a failed drive.

Cloning typically used for entire drives, not just certain partitions.

Imaging can be used for certain or all partitions.

 

[DavidF29]

What motherboard?
Does it have 2x M.2 NVMe ports?

My motherboard is an MPG2390

 

[USAFRet]

My motherboard is an MPG2390

MPG Z390?
This - https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-Z390-GAMING-PLUS/Specification

Assuming that is your board, it has 2x applicable M.2 ports.

The above steps should work.

Note: At the end of the clone process, you MUST power off, physically disconnect the old drive, and allow the system to try to boot from just the new drive.
This is not an option.

 

[DavidF29]

MPG Z390?
This - https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-Z390-GAMING-PLUS/Specification

Assuming that is your board, it has 2x applicable M.2 ports.

The above steps should work.

Note: At the end of the clone process, you MUST power off, physically disconnect the old drive, and allow the system to try to boot from just the new drive.
This is not an option.

Here is a link to a photo of my Motherboard

https://imgur.com/a/NEo6Ajv

View: https://imgur.com/a/NEo6Ajv

 

[USAFRet]

Here is a link to a photo of my Motherboard

Right. The Z390.