Transfer MBR HDD to GPT SSD

The week after next, I am going to buy a NEW laptop. This is the first new computer I have ever had believe it or NOT and it comes with an SSD.

OPTION 1:

The FIRST thing I will do as always, it to perform a Win 10 Clean Install. I will use diskpart via a Batch Script and an ISO as usual. I have ALL my customisations [ .bat, .cmd, .reg, .ps1, .vbs ] in a folder which I run via Batch Scripts. I also have ALL my Portable Programs in a single folder and referenced via a ToolBar. My Data and System Images [ + External ] are on different Partitions.

With the above Clean Install, I get a nice clean and fast OS [ NO leftovers or any bits and pieces ].

OPTION 2:

My question are:

How easy is it to Clone [ FREE ] my MBR HDD to the new GPT SSD with NO loss of data and with regard to the problems that can be experienced doing it this way ?

Do I need to Clone as MBR and then convert to GPT on the SSD ?

Is it best to convert the HDD MBR to GPT FIRST, and the Clone to the SSD ?

SUMMARY:

I am leaning towards OPTION 1 for ease and completeness.

Thanks in advance.

Option 1 is the least problematic.

However you need to consider
- what data you need to transfer (e.g. browser-related, perhaps email client-related, and any other settings or data related to particular programs).
- what licenses may be at risk (you would lose giveaway licenses e.g.)

You can see some of the issues arising with MBR2GPT from various threads; I note 33 pages of comments follow
Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss

Thanks for the reply @dalchina, it is appreciated,

dalchina said:

Option 1 is the least problematic.

I totally agree.

dalchina said:

However you need to consider
- what data you need to transfer (e.g. browser-related, perhaps email client-related, and any other settings or data related to particular programs).
- what licenses may be at risk (you would lose giveaway licenses e.g.)

I usually remove ALL Browsers and install a Standalone version of Google Chrome.

I could just backup my existing Google Chrome Settings from the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default folder. But, as it will probably be a Clean Install, and I have ALL the existing applied Settings in Notepad++, I will probably freshly install it. This will also allow me to review them and amend/change them if required.

I have very few programs installed, and those that I do, I have the updated .exe files for, so again I will probably freshly install them and reference my Notepad++ for the existing applied Settings and amend/change them if required.

dalchina said:

You can see some of the issues arising with MBR2GPT from various threads; I note 33 pages of comments follow
Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss

I will spend some time going through that thread in the next few days as it has been a while since I looked at that.

Thanks again.

@Paul Black


IF... for some reason you decide to go with OPTION 2... then I would do the conversion to GPT first, and THEN clone to the SSD.

Ghot said:

@Paul Black

IF... for some reason you decide to go with OPTION 2... then I would do the conversion to GPT first, and THEN clone to the SSD.

Thanks @Ghot, pretty much my thinking too