Cloning vs Imaging boot drive upgrade

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  1. Posts : 11
    Windows 10 Pro
       #1

    Cloning vs Imaging boot drive upgrade


    Hi everyone. I just received a Sabrent 1tb Rocket gen 4 nvme to replace my 500gb Samsung EVO ssd boot drive. Now I've done this once already when I replaced my sata hdd with the EVO and I think I cloned the boot drive, but I don't remember which software I used. I think it was Easus partition free, but I think it it has limited uses. Sabrent comes with free Acronis, but I haven't read good reviews of those who used it. My question is, if I create an image of the current drive, can accomplish the same thing using Windows recovery, and do I first need to create a simple volume and format in Windows or can I just install the NVME and let Windows do it from the recovery, then just extend the partition afterwards. Thank you.
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  2. Posts : 2,487
    Windows 10 Home, 64-bit
       #2

    Most here would probably tell you to use third party software rather than Windows stuff.

    Imaging is a bit more trouble-free than cloning, judging by complaints here.

    If all you are doing is replacing one SSD with another, I don't think you need to prepare the new SSD at all. The image restoration process will do the necessary.

    Are you sure that your motherboard supports NVMe booting and Gen 4 specifically?
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  3. Posts : 4,453
    Win 11 Pro 22000.708
       #3

    I've used the paid version of Acronis True Image for years. Sometimes its use can be a little unintuitive, but it has been reliable for me. The most painful thing I ever had to do with it was create a WindowsPE based recovery USB drive. Thankfully, I haven't needed one of those in a few years, as the standard one created by TI ran OK.

    What I would typically do is:

    Create a True Image USB recovery tool.

    Image the existing SSD.

    Swap in the new SSD.

    Use the USB tool to recover the image onto the new SSD.

    Resize the main partition using Disk Manager to use the unallocated space. (There may be a way to make True Image fill the space, but I haven't used it.)

    I haven't used Macrium Free, but I believe that it has the same capabilities.

    The advantage to this approach over cloning is that you have an image of the old drive.
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  4. Posts : 11
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Yes. It's a new system rebuild that I put together in January. ASUS Tuf x570, Ryzen 7. 3800xt 32gb 3600 ram and gtx 1660. I first started my upgrades with the with the ssd drives and gpu. 500gb for the boot and a 2tb crucial for my games. Then decided to go all out and replace the mobo, cpu and ram. Now running out of of backup space for my file history backups, so I have a new 8tb Seagate arriving this weekend and found this 1 Tb Rocket on sale and decided to go with it for my boot and the extra space overhead for the system restore points.

    - - - Updated - - -

    I have a friend who just gave me a 1tb ssd that I intend to use exclusively for image backups. If there is no difference between a clone and an image other than the having to create one or the other and first preparing the simple volume in disk manager, making the clone with a third party software, then extending the partition afterwards. It might be faster to just create an image to spare ssd, install the new nvme and do a windows image restore recovery, no?
    Last edited by Merrlin; 07 May 2021 at 03:54.
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  5. Posts : 2,487
    Windows 10 Home, 64-bit
       #5

    I wouldn't be driven by which is faster.

    I have heard of cloning causing disk ID clashes and therefore failure.

    I never personally clone and cannot speak to cloning speed.

    Imaging does not have the disk ID issue.

    Making an image and then restoring it shouldn't take over an hour unless the occupied space on the current drive is quite large (several hundred GB?). You've got a strong CPU, so it shouldn't break a sweat.

    Just FYI, there's no over-riding reason to devote an SSD or any hard drive to images exclusively. An image can be stored on any drive that is not itself included in the image file.....right along with your prime rib recipes and cat pictures.
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  6. Posts : 4,594
    Windows 10 Pro
       #6

    Imaging is so much easier as long as you have a place to store images. This is a practice that you should already be doing. Macrium is the King and it`s free

    Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

    1 thing I have noticed, and this was from using a image of a 850 Pro to a 860 Pro. The 860 Pro still thought it was a 850 Pro. So what I do is open Disk Management and right click on the small box all the way to the left of the newly imaged 860 Pro and bring up the Properties box. Once I have that opened I go to the Driver tab and choose Uninstall Device. Then I reboot the PC and now windows shows the 860 as a 860 and not a 850.

    You may never have to do this but it`s something that should be checked, especially if you use a totally new manufacturer for your SSD, M.2 etc.

    Just throwing it out there
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Cloning vs Imaging boot drive upgrade-capture.jpg  
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  7. Posts : 11
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Thanks for the information about the disk ID problem and you're right on the other points. The 1tb is a bit of overkill for a 380 Gb image. I happen to have a blank, new 512 Gb 3.0 USB drive that I considered using for the erd image, before my co-worker gave me the 960 Kingston ssd, but when I ran benchmarks on both, of course the Kingston was much faster.

    All the same, going forward, I'll use the USB to make my next image as an emergency disk and find some other use for the Kingston. I have plenty of other drives I could also use for a scheduled image backup. After 30+ years of personal computer experience, I believe in redundancy.

    The Kingston already has a new image that I created before I left for work last night and the Nvme was delivered after I left. Looking forward to getting home in the next 2 hours to do the restore and see what kind of performance gain I will get with the new drive. Not going to mention the cat pictures to my dog though 😉

    Thanks also to AddRAM for the Macrium software recommendation, but I think I read something about third-party imaging that needs that software for the restoration of the images it creates, whereas I think I would rather stick with the actual Windows imaging for the sake of simplicity and reliability.

    As I seem to recall now, I may have used TODO Back-up workstation for the last drive change, but since the mobo and CPU upgrades, it seems have deactivated the license. I keep getting an already activated pop-up when I try to use it.
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  8. Posts : 4,594
    Windows 10 Pro
       #8

    Yes you will have to create Rescue Media on a CD or a USB stick. It`s no big deal at all. After that you can make a windows boot screen with Macrium, should you ever have to reimage. It`s super easy
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Cloning vs Imaging boot drive upgrade-macrium.jpg   Cloning vs Imaging boot drive upgrade-capture.jpg  
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  9. Posts : 4,767
    Windows 10 preview 64-bit Home
       #9

    AddRAM said:
    Yes you will have to create Rescue Media on a CD or a USB stick. It`s no big deal at all. After that you can make a windows boot screen with Macrium, should you ever have to reimage. It`s super easy
    +1 here.

    Cloning vs Imaging boot drive upgrade-screenshot_2.png

    From Windows 10 features we’re no longer developing - Windows Deployment | Microsoft Docs
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  10. Posts : 2,487
    Windows 10 Home, 64-bit
       #10

    Merrlin said:
    I think I would rather stick with the actual Windows imaging for the sake of simplicity and reliability.
    ??

    I assume you refer to the built in Windows tool?

    It's no longer under development and MS advises users to use a 3rd party tool...Easeus, Macrium, Aomei, whatever.
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