Question about cloning a drive

Hi,
I am wanting to do a fresh install of Windows 10 pro, i have a ton of Music related applications that i would rather not go through the process of reinstalling and activating etc etc
Could i clone my C drive (that's my OS drive) and then do a fresh install of Windows 10 and then put that cloned copy back on and everything would just work ?

If not how would you approach doing this with the least amount of hassle?

And also any recommendations for cloning software to use, hopefully i can put the cloned copy onto one of the my other drives while i do the fresh install and then drag it back onto my OS drive

Thanks for reading

Dan

Version 10.0.18363 Build 18363

danbottomburp said:

Hi,
I am wanting to do a fresh install of Windows 10 pro, i have a ton of Music related applications that i would rather not go through the process of reinstalling and activating etc etc
Could i clone my C drive (that's my OS drive) and then do a fresh install of Windows 10 and then put that cloned copy back on and everything would just work ?

Short answer, no. The clean install won't recognize the software installed on the old drive.

danbottomburp said:

If not how would you approach doing this with the least amount of hassle?

And also any recommendations for cloning software to use, hopefully i can put the cloned copy onto one of the my other drives while i do the fresh install and then drag it back onto my OS drive

Thanks for reading

Dan

Version 10.0.18363 Build 18363

I thought there'd be a tutorial, but I don't spot one.

My recommendation:

Get backup software than can create an image of your C: drive on one of your other drives. It also needs to be able to create a USB bootable rescue drive. I believe that the free version of Macrium Reflect can do that. Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free I use Acronis True Image (not free). Some drive makers have a downloadable version of backup/cloning software that will only work if the target drive is one of theirs.

Create the USB rescue drive.

Use the Windows version of the software to make the C: image.

Power down the PC.

Swap drives.

Boot using the USB rescue drive.

Restore the image to the new drive.

Shut down.

Boot into the new drive. (Prayer optional.)

It can get a bit more complex if the new drive is smaller than the old (say, going from a spinner to an SSD). As long as the new drive is large enough to contain the actual contents of the old drive, it should be OK.

Just to complicate matters, it's also possible to directly clone one drive to another. That requires that both drives be connected to the PC at the same time. That works as well, but the procedure I recommended leaves you with an image of C:, which you should already have anyway.

Ahh ok,

So lets see if i am understanding this correctly, i make an image of my C drive (that's my OS drive and contains all my important stuff) and then it gets saved to my USB drive, i remove the USB drive once complete and then do the fresh install on the C drive, and then i plug the USB drive back in and can just copy stuff from there to the new install on C ?

Sounds ideal, is the Macrium limited or can it do all that on the free edition?

Many thanks for your replies

Edit* i installed it, can you explain the correct option i need to create the image ?

Dan

danbottomburp said:

Ahh ok,

So lets see if i am understanding this correctly, i make an image of my C drive (that's my OS drive and contains all my important stuff) and then it gets saved to my USB drive, i remove the USB drive once complete and then do the fresh install on the C drive, and then i plug the USB drive back in and can just copy stuff from there to the new install on C ?

(snip)

You could do that for data, but not for installed programs.

(Some programs are "portable", and don't require installation, but that is slightly unusual.)

Folks are right in that you can not copy or reinstall the Apps from the clone image -- there are simply too many pieces for each App that must be migrated to just the right folder.

But, I would like to suggest you look into EaseUS ToDo PC Transfer. I used this a while back and found it to be awful -- it failed to migrate lots of stuff. But then, I bought a fresh copy a few days ago and used it to migrate a Win7 install to a new Win10 PC -- and it was great! It found and migrated everything I selected, without any issues at all. Plus, the new interface is very easy to use and allows for lots of customization.

And the best part was that they were offering it for a reduced price for the new year -- so that makes it even a better bargain.