How do I clone from an uninstalled ssd to a new laptop

Hi
So here's the problem. My previous laptop running windows 10 finally gave up the ghost and died on me. Not a hard drive issue but power problems (in trying to fix it I broke some of the solder joints), any way it was 5 years old and was due to be replaced, however the hard drive was absolutely fine. So I bought a new laptop with a shiny new 1tb hard drive with windows 10 pre-installed. My question is, can I clone the original hard drive and transfer it to my new laptop so I don't have to reinstall all my apps again?
Many thanks

Hi
So having used Macrium before (when I installed a 256gb SSD) I decided to leave the new laptop as a clean install and reinstall any programs that I still needed. Guess what, it seems that there was an awful lot of stuff that I had accumulated that I just didn't need any more. After copying some documents over for work and installing a couple of essentials total space used including OS is less than 75gb. Thanks for the advise!

Hello zing123 Welcome to the Ten Forums!

"ILL ADVISED"! is the immediate answer most will give you about cloning one laptop's copy of 10 onto a brand new laptop's preinstalled OS drive unless you want to void the warranty from the start as well as that not going to work out. The preinstalled 10 is all set to go on the new laptop where all you need to do is install those programs fresh on an activated copy of 10 rather then replace the matched up and activated 10 with a definite driver mismatch(different brand and/or model?) and instantly deactivated clone of 10 or restoration of image made from the previous laptop's drive.

You are far better to simply back everything up you want from the first laptop's own drive and wipe that clean to have available as a spare drive. If you install that on the new laptop it would still need to see a fresh 10 install go on in order to 1) activate to the new laptop and 2)see the correct drivers downloaded and installed during the fresh install of 10.

Look at the new laptop in the way you would if you had simply reformatted the old laptop's drive and had to put everything back on fresh. 10 is already on and working! All you need to see is the same programs go not trash the new laptop's working copy of 10 and still under factory/dealer warranty as I would imagine.

Back in the Vista/7 days you would have simply used the Windows Easy Transfer tool in order to make a custom backup of user and program files while the new registry entries would be seen to later by the program installers. Unfortunately MS did away with what would work for seeing the user and program files and folders restored on the new laptop.

With multiple 10 installs here what I did was see the program folders not the entire Program Files and Program Files(x86) folders backed up on another drive and once the clean install was on simply copy and paste those back into the correct locations. The installer for each program would then simply use the original folder rather then create a new one where all files would be found intact. That works well if you had a number of gaming folders with game saves.

If you manually back up certain not every program folder for example and see them pasted onto the target drive the installer will then often pick up on the previous install's configuration if those files are contained in the main folder itself. You first have to know where each program places things since you will find items under the user account as well as being found in the Program Files and (x86) folders.

Now for paid for apps you may have to uninstall the original first to see a new install take place on the new laptop being an item of interest where certain software companies will require activation usually the one time only activation where you would otherwise be stuck unless their servers record an uninstall which unfortunately wouldn't be possible since the first laptop is down for the count! That's one area where you would be stuck buying the same program twice.

As far as activation that goes by the firmware coding that cannot be changed even if one laptop was replaced by the exact same make and model the code would be different so simply plugging in the old hard drive to try and run the old laptop's 10 install is out there! You forget that first 10 install on the SSD is already bonded to the first laptop hardware wise and would need to be replaced for a fresh 10 install to work out if installed onto the new laptop.

Bad suggestion to begin with there! spapakons The new laptop already has a working copy of 10 on it and doesn't require any call into MS since that is also presently covered under dealer/manufacturer warranty. Don't mess around with what isn't already broken! The hardware change between the two laptops is likely too large to simply mask over which is what you are suggesting there. I've been through moving drives from one desktop to another for reuse and still had to see fresh clean installs of which ever Windows version was being run in order to work out. Simply swapping out brands of the memory installed on the present build when first put together resulted in the need to call into MS! since that one small change was too soon! since MS allows for small changes over a six month wait to allow for the eventual hardware upgrades.

I think zing123 realizes his best option will simply be seeing those programs installed fresh on the new laptop while other files should be backed up from the first laptop's own drive.

The Windows Easy Transfer tool did allow for folders as well as simply grabbing the user account files which are also in sub folders by the way under the user account main folder as well as the various Windows settings. That's where the settings part comes in while installing over existing program folders allows for each individual program to pick up where it left off. You see that when folders are left behind when any software has to be uninstalled for the next newer version to go on and the newer version then picks up where the previous version left off.

If you don't back things up and you need to wipe the drive clean to Windows go on fresh how do you recover files then? If you are able to run the previous Windows installation where you will then back the files upto?

That's a Catch 22 since the first laptop's upgrade to 10 will likely Blue Screen if the hardware change is too vast to begin with as well as simply end up with a lock on the OS. The security measures have improved quite a bit from when 7 was first out and you saw the "This is a counterfeit copy of Windows" watermark. 10 will likely lock itself up if it doesn't crash to begin with.

The best option has already been suggested for seeing the old drive connected by way of a usb enclosure or as some have mentioned an external cable harness that connects power as well as to a usb port while having the drive enclosed does offer a bit more practicality for long term use as a new storage/backup drive to have onhand if not substituting the SSD for the mechanical when planning the necessary clean install of 10 from scratch. That would leave the new laptop own drive untouched.

The end result will be the need to see all programs installed fresh regardless of which drive is put to use on the new laptop. The first 10 install on the old laptop's drive will need to be replaced. That doesn't necessarily imply the need for a full reformat while often especially on any new desktop or laptop that is the preferred option once all files are backed up. Here for any new build the entire drive was wiped clean to see a brand new primary created when moved into the next build.