New Computer with SSD - would like to clone this drive

A few answers

If you use the usual method for a new Laptop, it should start up and then ask for a user name and password to use, and probably update it's included bloatware . It should also then check for updates to Windows and update to the latest windows release that is compatible with the hardware, (A normal procedure if the hardware is in anyway suspected of a potential issue). If it does not there are tutorials to manually install the upgrade on the forums

I can see one issue with the clone - you need to have access to both the old and new disk from the main system, Laptops rarely have more than one SATA drive port so you may need to perform the clone using a desktop or use a USB (fastest the laptop can handle) drive adaptor or case. The procedure is normally just a check and click and wait until finished, you may be prompted for size for the new drive (based on existing, and leave rest free or other options), but this depends on the software, which is a personal choice as they are mostly about the same IMHO.

Samsung are as good as any other SSD from those I've used but any decent known manufacturer is fine, especially if they have a price advantage over the others

Art,

Just download the Ver 1909 ISO file and run a Repair install procedure to update the computer to Ver 1909.
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 - TenForumsTutorials - this guides you through downloading the ISO & using it to make an installation USB but, for a Repair install, you can simply mount the ISO & run its setup.exe from within Windows
Repair Install - TenForumsTutorials

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Your other thread explained that the replacement computer already has a 1TB HDD. Moving to an entirely SSD computer will be slightly quicker but, given that you would otherwise be using the HDD for your own files I really do not believe that, in practice, you will notice any difference in speed of operation.

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You can use Acronis to clone a disk.
- Personally, I'd make an image of the entire current disk then restore that image to the new disk and follow up by using Partition wizard / Disk management to use the whole of the new disk up.
- The Acronis cloning procedure is in their manual & descibed on their website. The manual is normally installed with the product but the Knowledge Base should also give you a link to it.
Acronis Knowledge Base
Acronis Forums
- The sequence for using a system image to achieve this is to make the system image & make the Acronis boot USB then swap the disks and boot from the Acronis boot USB to run the image restore.
- If you have a hard drive caddy [they fit both SSDs & HDDs - you need a SATA one and it will remain useful in the future for any other SATA disk you wish to connect] then you can do all the work before physically swapping the disks.

As explained in your other thread, you have options including making the SSD a fantastically large & underused OS drive or a partitioned disk {part OS drive & part data drive}.

Denis

NavyLCDR said:

How do you propose to clone from one NVMe drive to another NVMe drive when you likely have only one NVMe slot available?

I've got one of these:
M2 NVMe SSD Case Enclosure M.2 PCI-e SSD to USB3.0 USB3.1 USB-C External SSD Box | eBay

That was exactly my question. EDIT: sorry, the original post looked like I was shouting and that wasn't my intention. I've edited the original post to try to make it sound more like I intended. I'm very grateful for your help

The link to the ebay item in your post looks very interesting and the only possible way of cloning the internal NVMe SSD drive.

Many thanks. Just have to see if eBay UK have such a thing - it does - link: (mainly for my benefit)

Cheers,

Art

Art,

Posting in your new thread from now on as requested.

Yes.
- I suggest 'cloning' by
- - making a system image,
- - storing it on an external drive,
- - making the Acronis boot USB,
- - swapping the disks,
- - booting from the Acronis booting USB,
- - restoring the image from the external drive.
- - using a partition manager to use up the rest of the disk [the restored image will create a partition the same size as the disk it was made from] - Disk mgmt [C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc] or MiniTool Partition Wizard would both be suitable tools for this. Partition wizard is generally thought of as better.
- I urge you to make a system image straightaway even if you think you might not go ahead with buying the new disk.
- You can always make another one after you have done all your installations & fiddling.
- I make a new system image at least monthly [before Cumulative updates & before any other big changes that might go wrong].

All I know about NVMe is that some disks are SATA and some are NVMe.
- You might find some of these comments useful - Cannot get data from usb attached ssd
- You'd need to check that the drive caddy you bought was NVMe not SATA.
- It would still have a future use so that the smaller one you remove can be used, for example, as another external backup drive. I can see, above, that NavyLtCdr knows about this topic.

If your replacement computer is the same model as before then I suspect it will have a SATA connection that happens to be unused. Your computer manual, the website's statement of computer specs, their support section, their user forums, a visual inspection would tell you. My computer model has a {SATA} M.2 & a SATA connection for a SSD/HDD. Mine are both used but they sell variants that come fitted with only one or the other disk so I think that's what you will find. I think it would be cheaper, if that unused SATA connection exists, to buy an SSD to fill it. It would certainly give you more flexibility in the future.
- If so, your NVMe disk can be used as your OS disk and your SATA SSD as your data disk with all your user folders 'relocated' to it.
- You would then make regular system images of your OS drive.
- You could use whatever backup facility you wanted for conventional backups of your data drive [I use RoboCopy]

Denis