How To Replace A Hard Drive or SSD Without Losing Data

Today I'm going to show you how to replace a hard drive or SSD without loosing all your data. I will show you several ways to clone a hard drive or SSD. One way is fast and works in most cases and the other is very slow and works in all cases.

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Links from Video

SABRENT USB 3.0 to SSD / 2.5 Inch SATA I/II/III Hard Drive Adapter

SABRENT USB 3.2 10Gbps Type C Tool Free Enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs

Hiren's Boot CD Video

#HardDrive #SSD #Tech

[CyberCPU]

I'm aware that the program in this video got paywalled. Sorry about that. I'm working on a new video right as another free way to do this. I'll post the link here when it's released. Should be a few weeks.

Edit: here's the new video.

[davinp]

It may be surprising to hear that old PCs are left to recycle (Ewaste) with the hard drives still in them which means their personal data is available for anyone to access. Never leave your personal data available

[andrewmcallister]

This is exactly how I clone drives, works well. The only problem with cloning is you clone all of the issues with Windows with it. Most people just have Chrome, Office, Adobe Reader, and their data. In this case a reload of Windows is cleaner and faster. Cloning might be good for complex systems with a 100 apps on it but would challenge that a reload would generally be faster

[Spacedog]

I use Macrium Reflect as it lets you manage partition sizes as you do the clone, so no need for a second program. It also properly handles MBR and GPT partition types when you are cloning on a separate system, unlike some programs like Acronis.

[romsch]

The SSD-Alignment has something to do with internal storage. SSD use a page size of 4 / 8 KiB. If you copy from an HDD, that uses a "incompatible" LBS (Logical Block Size), it can happen, that data has to use 2 pages of the SSD instead of just one. This can reduce write performance of small data.
(Just a quick overview why you should use the Alignment option when copying from HDD to SSD)

[roberthunter]

If you keep have to switch between operating systems [win 10 and win 11 in this case] a hot-swap internal disk caddy would be the way to go. One or two bays. That way, you don't need to mess around with BIOS setting for the new system disk, just put the system drive you want in the first [or only] slot and remove and put the other disk aside. BIOS will just look for a system drive, it does not car which one, so long as it has some sort of boot partition, it will boot. You might have to sign in-'register" a Linux or other OS [BSD, etc] drive, but once you have done that, it is all good. This is particularly true of a Ventoy or Rufus portable USB stick/drive. But some BIOSes are fussier than others. Rufus is greater, but Ventoy, is a bit more intelligent, and automatically adds isos to its boot menu, and you can have more than one iso on the stick.
For the paranoid, you can burn an OS onto an SD memory card [preferably the fastest you can afford, and with enough space for the OS/install image], because most of these have a little hard [physical] switch which you can set to read/write or 'read only". The obvious advantage here is that no malware can infect the SD disk if it is set to "read only", so you can use "Hiren's boot CD" [or similar] and run an anti-virus program from it to clean a badly infected host system. Of course, you have to do regular updates on the portable OS, particularly for the anti-virus or anti-malware tools, but you do that with a known clean system.
USB sticks used to have hard switches on them, but I have not seen any lately.
I don't usually waste my time trying to solve malware problems on an infected system, but will run my tools in a change-rooted environment by booting from my CD card.

[sorinankitt]

You can still use the USB to SSD adapter for spin disks with a powered USB hub. That way both drives can be connected to the hub if one of the drives is not the system drive that is being cloned, or the system drive is being cloned using another computer.

[Sparks]

I've used the Sabrent for M.2 NVMe and it's excellent. For 2.5" SATA I've used Vantec NexStar enclosures. They're well made and come in a variety of models with different interface options for connection to a PC. I've used their bigger brothers for 3.5" desktop drives. Great for housing the drive just replaced for external data storage/transport reuse. The bandwidth of an external 1TB drive walking down a hallway is huge.

[TheCrazyFix]

I also use (Macrium Reflect) for backup/restore/cloning and it just works from Windows 10/11

[EricTheGrey]

Aoemi is a great backup tool. I purchased a license so I can have it do automated backups of my system and have used it to restore my laptop more than once (because I tend to swap OSs from Windows to Linux and back again semi-regularly.
My only problem is that when I restored my desktop from a smaller to larger drive, and resized the main partition, I ended up with the windows recovery partition showing as an active drive instead of hidden. I have a fix in the wings, but haven't tried it yet. I'm a little nervous about messing with it.

[johnpedersen]

Aomei Backupper is a fantastic tool. I'have used it for over 10 years. I havn't used the clone funktion, but the backup and recovery function. I have my disc partitioned in 3 partitions. Windows my files and recovery. I make backup files to recovery partition. My c drive is not so big so the image will not be big. I can recover my system that way. But there i a funktion in the program so that you can put the image to another lokation. That could be a new SSD drive. In the box you can set the image that goes to the SSD to be used to the SSD. So I think that the allignment that can be chooed is to set the settings correct so that the drive not will be defracted. You can go from a disk that is a HDD to a SSD and there defrag should not work.

[WayneWatson]

I've used Acronis true image for the last 13 years to clone drives. I always give my customers their hard drives and they ask what to do with it. I tell em to go target practice with it or take a hammer to it.

[jadenhaan]

AOMEI, using it for serveral years, great tool!

[jasonhillone]

Did my boys pc last week, used Macrium Reflect upgraded his 512 m.2to 1 gig.very easy to do

[mibengineers]

1. Is it ok to clone a drive containing the OS while the system is running?
2. What about licensed software (windows, adobe and office etc.) is that still going to work with the cloned drive?

[verpejas]

Can't you just have those 2 ssd's plugged in using a drive toaster and boot off of them? Rufus can create a "windows to go" installation option. perfect for your needs

also, why not just use Macrium reflect? Has automatic resizing, backup, restore, imaging, validation and boot repair builtin

[krkd]

So to install a M2 SSD I want to use a USB adapter, clone my system to it, then install it to the provided slot to boot off of it?

[pctrashtalk]

You can also get something like a Wavlink Dual Bay Docking Station that lets you clone in a standalone device. It is not super fast but you just plug in your SSD drives and press a button.

[EasleyDone.]

I wasted days trying to clone a win11 drive in any usable way, I finally went to the new drive's site and used their free migration software, it took no time at all and everything worked perfectly first try. didn't feel great.😕

[alanvelasquez]

I love your videos and I work in the IT industry and your content has been very helpful. I definitely appreciate your honesty to your viewers... Like you said, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.