Cloning SSD advice needed, please.

david357

david357

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I have an Alienware 17 R2 laptop with 125GB SDD and 1 TB HDD, and the SDD is giving warnings of being almost full.

I intend to replace the 125GB SDD with a Samsung M2 (Model Samsung 500GB 850 EVO M.2 SSD), to clone the original 125gb to the new drive, then re-use the 125 gb drive in one of the other three slots on the machine. It seems that I can plug the new drive alongside the old drive, clone it, then swap the two over and all will work normally??????? Does anyone have experience of this?

Also with regard to cloning software, I think the Samsung comes with cloning software, but I could also consider Acronis True Image, about £17 from eBuyer, as an alternative - again, anyone used either or both?

The laptop runs Windows 10 and I know some of the older versions of TI do not work with Win 10.

Any advice would be appreciated, Thank you.
 
I updated my old 640GB HDD to a 940GB SSD using Macrium Reflect Free and a USB to SATA connector, worked a treat and the old drive is now #2 in my laptop, having replaced the CD/DVD unit.
 
Thanks Roger, I will take a look at Macrium, though I was looking at using Acronis as a backup programme once the drives are changed.

I am informed that I don't need the SATA to USB cable as the Alienware has 4 x M2 slots, and I can simply plug the new drive alongside the old one for cloning.
 
i bought acronis true image David, very easy to use, and doubles up as snapshot software for backups should you feel that needs covering.

Can be done in many ways either add the new SSD as a slave and image to and from, or make the image slap that on your 1TB disk, then create the bootable USB or CD acronis makes and just boot from it once you removed old disk and added new one, itll do the rest..
 
I used the Samsung provide software and worked fine. I was going from a 3.5 to 2.5" ssd so had to put the ssd in a caddy to do the restore.
 
david357 said:
Thanks Roger, I will take a look at Macrium, though I was looking at using Acronis as a backup programme once the drives are changed.

I am informed that I don't need the SATA to USB cable as the Alienware has 4 x M2 slots, and I can simply plug the new drive alongside the old one for cloning.
Click to expand...

I used to use Acronis and it was very good but then I found Macrium and it does more or less the same job for free.
I schedule a full image backup followed by a series of differential backups.
I didn't have any slots in my laptop hence the need for the lead in my case.
 
david357 said:
I have an Alienware 17 R2 laptop with 125GB SDD and 1 TB HDD, and the SDD is giving warnings of being almost full.

I intend to replace the 125GB SDD with a Samsung M2 (Model Samsung 500GB 850 EVO M.2 SSD), to clone the original 125gb to the new drive, then re-use the 125 gb drive in one of the other three slots on the machine. It seems that I can plug the new drive alongside the old drive, clone it, then swap the two over and all will work normally??????? Does anyone have experience of this?

Also with regard to cloning software, I think the Samsung comes with cloning software, but I could also consider Acronis True Image, about £17 from eBuyer, as an alternative - again, anyone used either or both?

The laptop runs Windows 10 and I know some of the older versions of TI do not work with Win 10.

Any advice would be appreciated, Thank you.
Click to expand...
AS Sampson supply software WHY not use that?
I have ordered a 1Tb EVO myself and see it also has
  • Samsung Magician 4.2 Software for SSD management
  • The Magician SSD management utility is designed to work with all Samsung SSD products including 470 Series, 750 Series, 830 Series, 840 Series, 850 Series, 950 Series and 960 Series.
    This software is not compatible with other manufacturers SSDs.
 
Just copying files won't create the boot sectors and system partition so the new disk won't boot. These are created when the operating system is installed and are invisible to the user but not to cloning software.
 
Chaz Photos said:
AS Sampson supply software WHY not use that?
I have ordered a 1Tb EVO myself and see it also has
  • Samsung Magician 4.2 Software for SSD management
  • The Magician SSD management utility is designed to work with all Samsung SSD products including 470 Series, 750 Series, 830 Series, 840 Series, 850 Series, 950 Series and 960 Series.
    This software is not compatible with other manufacturers SSDs.
Click to expand...
+1 for the Samsung software, migration I think it's called - cloned my 250 to a 500, very straightforward process.
+1 for Macrium Reflect too.
Both free.
 
Thanks everyone, I have ordered the Samsung drive and will use their software to clone the old drive to the new one. Will report back as to how it goes.
 
Does anyone know how to format the old drive for use as a storage ssd after I swap them over?

Apparently it is not recommended to have two boot drives in the system at startup.

Thanks
 
Personally, having decided to use Macrium Reflect for regular image backup, I found that using it to do the initial clone to my new SSD gave me confidence in it and experience in using it ... just a thought :)
 
david357 said:
Does anyone know how to format the old drive for use as a storage ssd after I swap them over?

Apparently it is not recommended to have two boot drives in the system at startup.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Run diskmgmt.msc, delete all the partitions on the old disk then create a new simple volume and format it.
 
Thanks Jonathan, I will now keep the old SSD until I have fully backed up again, then follow your advice to format it.

I am now using the laptop with the newly cloned 500GB SSD, on which I used the Samsung Migration tool provided with the disk.

All went surprisingly easily and took about 45 minutes including swapping the disks over after cloning.

Highly recommended. I also know now that I still have 2 M2 2280 slots into which I can install extra storage!

Thanks to everyone for your input, very much appreciated.
 
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