Cloning OS drive

DanzPC · 04 Dec 2020

I'm running 10 on a refurb'd Dell which came with 10 on an SSD. I would like to make a bootable clone of the OS on a 2nd SSD of the same size (128 gig). I've used Macrium in the past to clone a 7 OS disk, worked fine, but I have read a few threads online where a user has tried Macrium on 10, and ended up not only with the destination disk being unbootable, but the original OS source disk was also unbootable afterwards, which I can't risk, as the refurb'd PC came with no software to restore the OS, let alone all the arcane Dell drivers. What is the best way for me to SAFELY make a bootable, identical clone of this OS disk?
Thanks!

ignatzatsonic · 04 Dec 2020

You could try Macrium imaging; make the image and restore it to the new drive. Then test the new drive to confirm it boots the PC.

Same result as cloning.

I can't recall a case where making an image resulted in hurting the source drive like you refer to for cloning. If you can't successfully restore to the new drive, trouble shoot that or retry.

All you'd need is a destination drive, maybe external, that's large enough to temporarily hold the image of all partitions on the current boot drive.

I'd also think you could separately save all current drivers, arcane Dell or otherwise.

cereberus · 05 Dec 2020

DanzPC said:

I'm running 10 on a refurb'd Dell which came with 10 on an SSD. I would like to make a bootable clone of the OS on a 2nd SSD of the same size (128 gig). I've used Macrium in the past to clone a 7 OS disk, worked fine, but I have read a few threads online where a user has tried Macrium on 10, and ended up not only with the destination disk being unbootable, but the original OS source disk was also unbootable afterwards, which I can't risk, as the refurb'd PC came with no software to restore the OS, let alone all the arcane Dell drivers. What is the best way for me to SAFELY make a bootable, identical clone of this OS disk?
Thanks!

Ignore those online posts. They are always down to (stupid) human error, and could be done with any cloning tool.

The only way you can scew up cloning is if you mix up source and target drives i.e. you try and clone the empty drive to the full drive which is pretty difficult to do as the source drive is first, and you have to unselect it, select the target drive as source drive, then select full OS as target drive i.e. a very deliberate set of (stupid) actions.

Macrium Reflect is a very reliable cloning tool and obvious what to do.

DanzPC · 05 Dec 2020

Thanks for the replies. This is the thread I referred to: After Cloning SSD to another SSD, Win10 is not bootable. I suspect it was user error, but my options if this trashes the original OS are slim to none, so I want to be sure before I proceed. Thanks again, I'll probably proceed (again, had success with Macrium on 7), but let me know if anyone has any comments on that Macrium forum post.

NavyLCDR · 06 Dec 2020

DanzPC said:

the refurb'd PC came with no software to restore the OS, let alone all the arcane Dell drivers. What is the best way for me to SAFELY make a bootable, identical clone of this OS disk?
Thanks!

1. You can make a recovery drive:
Create Recovery Drive in Windows 10

2. You can make a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive:
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10

3. You can export the drivers for a backup of the drivers only:
Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 10

You have a lot more options rather than just cloning the drive.