Solved! Moving Windows 10 from a 3.5 HDD to an SSD

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Jerethi

Member
Aug 20, 2001
90
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I'm considering moving my Windows 10 installation from a 3.5 HDD to an NVMe SSD. I'd like to preserve my current Windows 10 installation and just move it over to the new SSD. Would the following steps do the trick?
  1. Create a Windows 10 system image (using the built-in Windows 7 system image tool)
  2. Restoring the system image on the new SSD
  3. Changing the boot drive in my BIOS settings to direct it to the SSD rather than the 3.5 HDD
It seems deceptively simple...
 
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Ajay

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
15,454
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Jerethi said:
I'm considering moving my Windows 10 installation from a 3.5 HDD to an NVMe SSD. I'd like to preserve my current Windows 10 installation and just move it over to the new SSD. Would the following steps do the trick?
  1. Create a Windows 10 system image (using the built-in Windows 7 system image tool)
  2. Restoring the system image on the new SSD
  3. Changing the boot drive in my BIOS settings to direct it to the SSD rather than the 3.5 HDD
It seems deceptively simple...
Click to expand...
Not sure about Windows backup - have never used it. Many retail SSDs come with complementary download of cloning software.
 
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mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
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I've used EaseUS Todo Backup a few times to do this. Never with an NVMe drive. Once it didn't work for me.

People have said that such migrations can be done with Windows Backup but my experience is of it that the disk in question needs the correct disk ID info from Windows otherwise it won't work. I'm happy to be corrected.
 
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J

Jerethi

Member
Aug 20, 2001
90
7
56
mikeymikec said:
I've used EaseUS Todo Backup a few times to do this. Never with an NVMe drive. Once it didn't work for me.

People have said that such migrations can be done with Windows Backup but my experience is of it that the disk in question needs the correct disk ID info from Windows otherwise it won't work. I'm happy to be corrected.
Click to expand...

Why would an NVMe drive make a difference, do you think? Isn't this the same basic process if a SATA drive fails?
 
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13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
7,461
500
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Jerethi said:
I'm considering moving my Windows 10 installation from a 3.5 HDD to an NVMe SSD. I'd like to preserve my current Windows 10 installation and just move it over to the new SSD. Would the following steps do the trick?
  1. Create a Windows 10 system image (using the built-in Windows 7 system image tool)
  2. Restoring the system image on the new SSD
  3. Changing the boot drive in my BIOS settings to direct it to the SSD rather than the 3.5 HDD
It seems deceptively simple...
Click to expand...

Strongly recommend MiniTool Partition Wizard....it has clone feature that works pretty well. It has worked reliably compared to other cloners.
 
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Y

you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
5,705
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Some nvme drives require drivers that are not provided in all installs. I forget the details of what windows does since i mostly use linux but windows is anal about drivers.

Jerethi said:
Why would an NVMe drive make a difference, do you think? Isn't this the same basic process if a SATA drive fails?
Click to expand...
 
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J

Jerethi

Member
Aug 20, 2001
90
7
56
Reporting back on this. I installed the MVNe drive today, cloned Windows 10 over to it via Macrium Reflect and holy bazinga. It's a night and day difference. It's orders of magnitude faster, and didn't have any problems whatsoever (well, it was initially a little hard to get the screw out of my motherboard). Holy cow, it feels like a whole new world!
 
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