Question Upgrading from W10 to W11

[ingeborgdot]

I have a system that is new, but won't upgrade to W11 because my NVME when cloned did not clone GPT but MBR. I will have to do the settings change to convert my OS to GPT from the MBR. I'm a little scared about doing this since I have SO many programs installed on my drive. I have done it to another PC and that went well and was pretty easy to do.
Many say it is best to just do a clean install of W11, but that would mean I would have to reinstall and setup all of my programs on my PC. That would actually mean at LEAST 24 hours of install and setup of these programs. I'm not exaggerating on this either. I have worked with PC's for many, many years, but have never had to do anything like this.
What would everyone recommend? Clone my W10 drive to a new drive, convert my W10 drive to GPT, and then upgrade to W11? I have searched Google for this, and found many answers, but want advice from experts on here of what they would do.
Thanks so much.

 

[Tech Junky]

Since you cloned you have a backup.

Just convert the new drive to gpt. It's a quick process and doesn't impact the data. IIRC it's a one liner and a reboot. Or do it the easy way with a Linux USB boot and then go into disks and click the gpt flag to set it.

 

[ingeborgdot]

But that clone is over a year or 2 old. I just decided now that it is about time to upgrade since W10 is not being supported after sometime in 2025. Kind of stupid on my part, but I've done stupid stuff before. Just don't tell me I'm stupid. It'll make me feel bad.
What do you recommend to switch from MBR to GPT?

 

[pcgeek11]

Make a new backup image of the drive as is.
Verify the backup is good.
Convert the drive to GPT.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Make a new backup image of the drive as is.
Verify the backup is good.
Convert the drive to GPT.

Where would be the best place in your opinion to make the new backup image? And what software do you recommend for the image? Thanks.

 

[Tech Junky]

What do you recommend to switch from MBR to GPT?

Just Google it. It's a simple command from the terminal.

 

[pcgeek11]

Where would be the best place in your opinion to make the new backup image? And what software do you recommend for the image? Thanks.

I use an external hard disk and use Macrium Reflect Software, they no longer have a free version however, but there are free alternatives available if you look.

Someone else may chime in with what they use.

Here are good alternatives, I have used Rescuezilla before and it worked fine.

https://alternativeto.net/software/macrium-reflect/

 

[ingeborgdot]

Just Google it. It's a simple command from the terminal.

I've got what I'm going to use to convert from MBR to GPT. I just want to know where people think I should save my image and what do most use to make an image? Thanks

 

[ingeborgdot]

I use an external hard disk and use Macrium Reflect Software, they no longer have a free version however, but there are free alternatives available if you look.

Someone else may chime in with what they use.

Here are good alternatives, I have used Rescuezilla before and it worked fine.

https://alternativeto.net/software/macrium-reflect/

So Macrium is no longer free. Shoot.
I have several internal HDD, one is a 6TB that has hardly anything on it. Do you think that would work, or is external safer in your eyes?

 

[pcgeek11]

So Macrium is no longer free. Shoot.
I have several internal HDD, one is a 6TB that has hardly anything on it. Do you think that would work, or is external safer in your eyes?

Internal or external are both fine to save the image too.

Try Rescuezilla it works well and is free.

 

[Tech Junky]

Do you think that would work, or is external safer in your eyes?

I run dual drives in my laptop with everything saved to the non-OS drive by default and DL's saved to my server/NAS by default. Occasionally I'll sync the files between the laptop/server just for good measure.

 

[Jimminy]

So Macrium is no longer free. Shoot.
I have several internal HDD, one is a 6TB that has hardly anything on it. Do you think that would work, or is external safer in your eyes?

Still available, but not easy to find.
See if one of these links work for you. I have notes where I saved these direct links to macrium reflect free version.

For a specific version (example for v8.0.7783) Change link for other versions

64-bit:

https://download.macrium.com/reflect/v8/v8.0.7783/reflect_setup_free_x64.exe

32-bit:

https://download.macrium.com/reflect/v8/v8.0.7783/reflect_setup_free_x86.exe

************************************

For Latest Version

64-bit:

https://updates.macrium.com/Reflect/v8/getmsi.asp?edition=0&type=99&arch=1&redirect=Y

32-bit:

https://updates.macrium.com/Reflect/v8/getmsi.asp?edition=0&type=99&arch=0&redirect=Y

 

[Jimminy]

So Macrium is no longer free. Shoot.
I have several internal HDD, one is a 6TB that has hardly anything on it. Do you think that would work, or is external safer in your eyes?

Sure you can use any internal drive except obviously not those that contain the operating system or drives that you will be backing up.