Replacing an SSD NVME "C drive"
Ron Knights
Posts: 1,785
My DAZ Studio computer has a failing SSD drive for the C drive. I can easily replace the drive myself. I've just never replaced a "C" drive in decades.
Should I be able to copy the entire contents of the "C" drive to a new SSD drive? Can I use Windows backup (or whatever they call it now)? This computer is a pre-built HP Envy computer. Does anyone know if HP would somehow interfere with the operation?
I feel a bit embarassed by my confusion. I have another PC (for multimedia and mass storage) that I built from scratch.
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Comments
I would just copy all my stuff from the current drive to a USB thumb stick(cheap option) or onto a portable USB drive like a Western Digital "My Book" then after I logged into my browser accounts and synced them I would just install the new drive and reinstall the OS. That would be the fastest and easiest way to do it.
Moving an OS from drive to drive can get technical pretty fast if the drives aren't the same size and partitioned the same way.
Yes it can be done, no it's not the easiest way to do it and can take hours, or even days, if one doesn't have much experience with it. And you might end up getting to reinstall the OS anyway.
Moving GB's of data from drive to drive is very slow compareed to a fresh install of Windows.
You can get the install media from Microsoft
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download
Pick the one you need. If you have a microsoft account it will activate automaticly for you during install.
Firefox and Chrome both have user accounts now that save everything for you. Just write down the usernames and passwords for them and you just need to login to them once you get them reinstalled on the new drive and sync them. Then all your login and bookmarks will be downloaded to your new installs.
Would it be better to use Clonezilla instead of copying? Clonezilla will copy a drive without having to reinstall anything. It comes in a bootable disk or USB.
Yes, you can clone the drive to a new ssd, it's the same process as swapping a HD for an SSD. I'm assuming you have a SATA drive and not a new fangled NVME type?
You'll need software like Acronis True Image which is a free download with many drives and has a clone option. Last time I did it I used something from Easeus which used to have a free tier but now has a trial.
As mentioned above this could be an opportunity for a clean install and clear some clutter out, whatever you do back up anything important beforehand.
You can use a cheap $5 ish usb to sata external cable to connect the new drive and swap it with the original later if you don't have a spare ssd slot, just be aware that it won't be quick, the new drive may need to be higher capacity than the old one to allow for overhead when copying and I've run into issues with faster USB 3.0 ports when copying and cloning with my cheap cable but older ones work fine. I've used the same cable to initialize drives and move data about with the cable plugged into the front of my desktop and a sata ssd swinging happily from the end.
No idea if HP laptops have any weird quirks but I've done my two old Dell laptops without issue.
oddbob, my "C" drive is NVME.
Edit to add - noticed nvme in the tread title, in which case you'll either have to put the new drive in a second slot in the laptop or use an external adaptor or case.
oddbob I'm a bit confused by your last post. Were you quoting yourself?!
I will be using this device to handle the new NVME drive.
https://www.amazon.com/Enclosure-Tool-Free-Portable-Docking-Station/dp/B084ZKLQR8/ref=sr_1_6?crid=19N2YDRZH3U7Z&keywords=ssd+docking+station&qid=1695563443&sprefix=SSD+dock,aps,107&sr=8-6
Sorry about that, I hadn't noticed that you were using an nvme drive so I added to the post and left the original in case someone else found the info useful. That dock looks fine but if you're only using it once there are cheaper options. The pry tools that come in ifixit tool kits are useful for getting the clips undone on laptop casings.
oddbob, I don't worry about little mistakes or memory lapses. I'm a senior citizen and am surrounded by other seniors We are used to memory lapses, etc. We like to laugh at ourselves.
My HP Envy is a desktop computer. I would never try running DAZ Studio on a laptop computer. Thank you so much for your input.
You're welcome, I'm about the youngest person at work at a sprightly 50 something, it takes us a while in the morning to work out what we're doing, why we're doing it and who that guy in the corner is.
I assumed laptop because more and more nvme slots is becoming the thing in desktops, though I do have a PC here with only one.
So the computer probably has a factory reset option which will restore the software to how it was in the beginning. But that would be saved on a separate partition on the hard drive. There might be an option in the computer to create a recovery disk or recovery thumb drive or whatever. I would definitely try to do that before anything else, since it would be the best way to reinstall. It would have all of the drivers that came with the computer. That would also be a good reason to try to clone the boot drive, in my opinion. Last time I did it, I think the drive I bought came with the "trueimage" software that was mentioned earlier, and it worked even though the old and new drives didn't match. But definitely the new drive shouldn't be smaller than the old one. And you know, there is a slight chance that factory reset option just fixes everything by itself.
I'm not sure if you already did this, but just felt like giving a little more info just in case you haven't. I recommend using Macrium Reflect, it's pretty intuitive and has been rock solid for the years that I've been using it. They just got rif of the free version and now it's a 30 day trial, but that's fine if you're only using it once. But in the end it's a simple task that you will be able to accomplish with any of the main programs (Acronis, Aomei, Easus, etc.).
Whatever software you use just make sure to use the Clone option, and when it asks which partitions to include just keep all of them selected so you copy everything and not just the C: partition.