How to backup data & OS when swapping HDD with SSD

[desidude]

Hello friends,

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone is doing well. I want to swap my HDD in my laptop, with a SSD.

My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 5547, it has a 1TB, S3, 5.4, 512E, STRAIGHT, M8BP2, 16D.

I recently purchased a Crucial MX300 2.5" 525GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive and want to swap out the HD with it.

This is my first time doing it, so can someone please help me:

1) How do I transfer the data from the HD to the SSD? Do I backit up on an external drive and then transfer it, or use a program like Macrium Reflect (Free version)

2) How about the O/S, I currently run Windows 10. I presume the O/S will dissapear when I install thenew SSD?

I know that Dell has a recovery option partioned in the current HD, so is there some way I can use that?

3) Any other tips for doing this smoothly?

Thank you,
Much appreciated

desidude

 

[UsandThem]

1. The MX300 will come with a key for Acronis True Image, so you can download that and use it. If you just want to save your files and do a clean install over a simple clone, just put your files onto a DVD or USB drive and put them back into the PC after installing the operating system.

2. If you clone it, there is nothing left to do. I simply clone the hard drive to a SSD with my laptops, and I've never had an issue doing so. You should have the option to clone all partitions new your new drive if you want to keep them. However, I don't on Dell laptops because they offer your OS image as a download with your service tag / express service code. If ever needed, you could download and install it to reset it to factory new condition. It can be accessed about a day after your register your PC with Dell, and you can get to it from the installed Support Assist program - Tools and Info - Drivers and Downloads - Find it mystelf - Operating System.

3. You're going to need a USB SATA cable to hook up to your system to do the cloning with your existing hard drive:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84

Or you could download the Windows image file from Dell and put it on USB drive or DVD, and do a clean install from it to your new SSD.

 

[sinisterDei]

I recommend the full reinstall method, then get the USB SATA cable like UsandThem linked and use it to copy over data.

There can be weird side-effects from cloning over Windows installations, particularly if the software doesn't properly preserve the hidden system reserved partition. If that partition isn't preserved, you can run into difficulties applying certain Windows updates and other things down the line.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

There should be nothing to it, nor do I have the reservations of sinsterDei.

Actually, I was almost surprised how easily it worked out for me. The laptop is maybe 8 years old, retrofitted with a WD Blue 500GB 2.5" when I got it. I just fitted the SSD into an older model of Thermaltake docking device for 3.5" and 2.5". The device offered the choice of USB or eSATA; the laptop had no eSATA but did have USB.

I was using Disk Director 11 Update 2 on a bootable CD, which I used to boot the laptop and make the clone.

It was as easy as making buttered toast for breakfast. You just need to plot a feasible connection strategy to the laptop. After that, you'd just pop open the laptop and swap in the SSD.

I'm trying to remember how many different software programs I've used for cloning and similar tasks. Acronis Disk Director 11 was acquired in 2011. I've got Acronis True Image 2014 which provides the same features. EaseUS Partition Manager is another one.

They all provide ability to burn a self-booting CD with a crude but functional GUI. Never had a problem with clones, nor with clones of clones. It's only important that the cloning software aligns the SSD properly when the partition is created. Acronis, EaseUS, probably Macrium all do that properly.

To make your life a little more hassle-free, just remember that the software allows choice to automatically shut down the computer once the clone is made. This would be necessary if you duplicated the disk signature from the source to the target disk. In that case, trying to boot or use the system with both disks attached will render the Windows system volume and disk unable to boot, but easily repairable with the Windows Install disc. You would prefer to avoid that sort of mistake.

If you choose the option to create the clone with a different disk signature, there's no problem with that, either.

As for "clean installations" of Windows -- unless it's a matter of a new system and initial OS installation, I try to avoid doing that for the same computer, and my Windows installations are well-maintained, Event logs all in the blue. I have one system here for which the OS was initially installed in mid-2011, cloned from HDD to SSD, sometime thereafter the server backup of the OS was restored to the SSD.

 

[desidude]

Thank you for your replies.

So if I wanted to opt for the SATA option, then I just turn off and unpower my computer, swap the HDD with the SSD and then copy over the data I want from the HDD to the SSD using the SATA cable?

Does this mean, I also need to make a windows image on a disk and then install the Windows image on the SSD?

What will happen when I turn on the SSD the first time with nothing else connected, i.e. no SATA HDD? Will I just get a blank screen?

I am planning to use the steps shown on the Windows 10 website, to create a USB to install Windows 10 on a different PC

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

So, once I install the SSD, do I just plug in the Windows 10 installation USB to load windows, and then do the data transfer?

Thank you!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thank you for your replies.

So if I wanted to opt for the SATA option, then I just turn off and unpower my computer, swap the HDD with the SSD and then copy over the data I want from the HDD to the SSD using the SATA cable?

Does this mean, I also need to make a windows image on a disk and then install the Windows image on the SSD?

What will happen when I turn on the SSD the first time with nothing else connected, i.e. no SATA HDD? Will I just get a blank screen?

I am planning to use the steps shown on the Windows 10 website, to create a USB to install Windows 10 on a different PC

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

So, once I install the SSD, do I just plug in the Windows 10 installation USB to load windows, and then do the data transfer?

Thank you!

I hope I remember correctly that you're making a clone of a laptop's Boot-OS-System drive, which is currently an HDD. This is how I would do it, and partly just from habit of choosing some promising path.

You would fit the SSD to the external box or docking station.

You would also create the bootable CD (or possibly USB flash) of the Acronis, EaseUS, Macrium or preferred utility.

You would -- if necessary -- use the Boot Menu at post-time, or enter the BIOS to assure that the system will attempt to boot first from the optical drive.

Then, let the system boot to the CD or USB flash. The utility will begin various stages of running until you get some sort of GUI presented with the options.

THEN -- you clone the existing HDD (which will appear in the GUI list of drives) to the USB or SATA-connected SSD. [And -- by the way -- I might also have had misgivings, but USB seems to work fine with Acronis -- so why wouldn't it with the other software choices?]

If you choose to make the clone with the same disk signature, then also select the feature to shut down the computer as soon as the clone has completed.

At that time, disconnect the laptop from its power-brick, remove the battery according to your laptop instructions if necessary, and swap the HDD out and swap the SDD in.

You now have an HDD backup of your existing OS state, which you can put away. Or you can choose to erase the HDD connected to some other computer, and redeploy it to another system, or maybe to an external box kit with its own power brick.

 

[desidude]

Hi friends,

How is everyone? I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

I am still to swap the SSD with the HDD.

I saw a deal for a Mediasonic HUR2-SU3 2 3.5" USB 3.0 UASP ProBox dualbay docking station 2.5"/3.5" HDD / clone function for about $15 after rebate.

I can post the link if I am allowed to.

Is this a good option?

Your help is much appreciated

Thanks!

 

[Elixer]

Mediasonic? Nope, stay away, terrible build quality.
The 'clone' function is also really, really slow, we are talking days to clone a 1TB HD.

You can buy that cable like UsandThem says, or buy a enclosure, stick the SSD in that, then clone it with Acronis that came with the SSD, then power off system, take out HD, stick in new SSD, and that should be it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I think the Egg threw me a promotion the other day for a USB3-to-SATA cable that would power an SSD on its own. It was chump-change, and I really should've ordered one myself.

I'd also look at Startech docking stations or any of good manufacture that will run the attached disk at SATA-III speed. The one I used to clone an 8-year-old laptop to an MX100 was USB 2.0. Worked without a hitch, but it could be much faster, and especially when you're talking of a 1TB clone with half or more of the drive filled.

 

[sinisterDei]

Keep an eye on the cheap USB 3 SATA enclosures, a lot of them have internals that won't actually run at SATA 3. So they'll be USB 3 with SATA 2, which mind you is still pretty quick, but limiting for a SSD.