Cloning/copying your system disk, moving to larger SSD with Win10

[diminished]

Since 1TB SSDs are currently only around 100 bucks, I thought of moving my whole system over to a bigger drive.

Have you any experience and/or comprehensive tutorials for migrating to a bigger drive, so that everything will be exactly the same after? What could go wrong?

I could use some support. Even if it's psychological haha:)

[MrFigg]

Since 1TB SSDs are currently only around 100 bucks, I thought of moving my whole system over to a bigger drive.

Have you any experience and/or comprehensive tutorials for migrating to a bigger drive, so that everything will be exactly the same after? What could go wrong?

I could use some support. Even if it's psychological haha:)

If it was me if I’d make sure to deauthorize Reason on my PC as well as all my VSTs and other programs with license codes. Transfer all the other stuff over and then reauthorize everything again. To be perfectly honest I’d deauthorize everything and do a clean install of Windows 10 and everything else then transfer over all my files from the old to the new hard drive.

Yep. Fresh install.

[diminished]

I'd usually prefer a fresh install too but I simply don't have have time and nerves right now. I just want more space.

There is so much I'll forget that I have but need from time to time, from Notepad++ with unsaved documents and FileZilla login data over to obscure open source batch renaming tools, to the software I use for my job... too many little things I don't want to touch right now.

Is Windows 10 able to migrate to another drive with on-board tools or is it recommended to use third party software?

[MarkTarlton]

I've done this a lot on macs, not on pc's, and the only snag I ran into was forgetting to unauthorize my computer with propellerheads, that was a bit of a pain dealing with support, but it all worked out with no issues on the computer working side of things. It was flawless, I encourage everyone to clone their systems in case of a hard drive failure, you save yourself the hassle of a clean install saving hours if not days.

[MrFigg]

I've done this a lot on macs, not on pc's, and the only snag I ran into was forgetting to unauthorize my computer with propellerheads, that was a bit of a pain dealing with support, but it all worked out with no issues on the computer working side of things. It was flawless, I encourage everyone to clone their systems in case of a hard drive failure, you save yourself the hassle of a clean install saving hours if not days.

Yeah. Exactly that. That’s why I was saying deauthorize Reason and all the other crap you’ve got. I seem to remember someone else in the forum cloned their drive without deauthorizing and Reason saw it as new hardware and the pc had to be marked as lost before he could authorize again even though it was just a new HD.

[diminished]

I've done this a lot on macs, not on pc's, and the only snag I ran into was forgetting to unauthorize my computer with propellerheads, that was a bit of a pain dealing with support, but it all worked out with no issues on the computer working side of things. It was flawless, I encourage everyone to clone their systems in case of a hard drive failure, you save yourself the hassle of a clean install saving hours if not days.

Yeah. Exactly that. That’s why I was saying deauthorize Reason and all the other crap you’ve got. I seem to remember someone else in the forum cloned their drive without deauthorizing and Reason saw it as new hardware and the pc had to be marked as lost before he could authorize again even though it was just a new HD.

That was the reason I switched to online auth (and I have the now no longer available USB authorizer in case the Prop's servers are down).
So, no issues on that front. But yes, before migrating I'll definitely unauthorize all the things I have!

[MrFigg]

Yeah. Exactly that. That’s why I was saying deauthorize Reason and all the other crap you’ve got. I seem to remember someone else in the forum cloned their drive without deauthorizing and Reason saw it as new hardware and the pc had to be marked as lost before he could authorize again even though it was just a new HD.

That was the reason I switched to online auth (and I have the now no longer available USB authorizer in case the Prop's servers are down).
So, no issues on that front. But yes, before migrating I'll definitely unauthorize all the things I have!

Oj!!! I didn’t know they’d stopped with them. I actually accidentally found an ignition key on Amazon today. £35. I’ve got an Ignition Key which I got with Record and also Balance so I don’t bother with pc authorization.

[boingy]

Absolutely the best way is with a dedicated disk cloner like this:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07415KV63

You take your SSD or HD out of your PC and plug it and the new one into the unit then press a button and leave it for a few hours (depends on stuff) It will copy the hardware "ID" across too so Windows 10 will not demand to be reauthorized.

Then you install the new drive in your PC, boot up and check everything is OK. If not you always have the option of swapping back to the old one.

I've cloned disks with all sorts of tools in the past, True Image, EaseUs, Macrium, Clonezilla etc but you can't beat a one-button, no fuss box.

[MrFigg]

Absolutely the best way is with a dedicated disk cloner like this:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07415KV63

You take your SSD or HD out of your PC and plug it and the new one into the unit then press a button and leave it for a few hours (depends on stuff) It will copy the hardware "ID" across too so Windows 10 will not demand to be reauthorized.

Then you install the new drive in your PC, boot up and check everything is OK. If not you always have the option of swapping back to the old one.

I've cloned disks with all sorts of tools in the past, True Image, EaseUs, Macrium, Clonezilla etc but you can't beat a one-button, no fuss box.

That’s brilliant. Technology is brilliant. Excellent. Thanks.

[future-bit]

[diminished]

Absolutely the best way is with a dedicated disk cloner like this:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07415KV63

You take your SSD or HD out of your PC and plug it and the new one into the unit then press a button and leave it for a few hours (depends on stuff) It will copy the hardware "ID" across too so Windows 10 will not demand to be reauthorized.

Then you install the new drive in your PC, boot up and check everything is OK. If not you always have the option of swapping back to the old one.

I've cloned disks with all sorts of tools in the past, True Image, EaseUs, Macrium, Clonezilla etc but you can't beat a one-button, no fuss box.

That's just amazing. THANK YOU.

Any thoughts on SanDisk vs. Samsung, or doesn't it really matter for everyday use? I don't care if I have to wait 9 or 10 seconds for my large projects to load..

[full-of-life]

Live transfer your systems and data

Want to change an old HDD/SSD to a new SSD? With Paragon Hard Disk Manager, you simply choose where you want your Windows and clone your disk. Continue working on your system while Windows is being relocated. No manual operations or reboots necessary – just switch over when it’s ready. New Drive Copy functionality creates an exact, uncompressed replica of your system’s hard drive onto another drive.

...256GB NVMe M.2 2150/1260 upgraded to 512GB 3500/2100 (960Pro)

[diminished]

Okay, thanks all, I went the route boingy suggested, the device will arrive tomorrow along with a new SSD. I'll report back.

Is it advised to de-auth all software, although the original SSD will remain intact and be reverted back to in case of failure?

[diminished]

Currently cloning. Felt adventurous and didn't care about deauthorising any plugins. U-He is cool and for all things with iLok I have at least one spare activation.
If anything is making trouble I'll just switch back to my old SSD.
Drumroll, please!

[diminished]

I succeeded!

Before I write down what I learned and what very little trouble I encountered, I want to ask a question.
If 1:1 cloning is possible (it seems it is!) - what good are iLok etc? Exactly zero of my plugins (iZotope, UVI, Rob Papen, U-He, Sonivox, NI..) even noticed they're on a different drive now. I can't speak for Reason because I use online authentication and the dongle for emergencies. But I guess there wouldn't have been any problems either. Maybe someone can test it with a free Lite license.. Anyway just think about what this means for the so called copy protection and the nuisance it is to paying customers.

Back on topic!

Now here's what I did, if anyone wants to do the same in the future:

* I cloned my Samsung SSD to a larger Samsung SSD using a "Fideco USB 3.0 Dual Bay HDD Docking Station" in offline mode. It worked like a charm, took less than an hour. +++ IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE YOU COPY YOUR OLD DRIVE TO YOUR NEW ONE AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! +++

* In the BIOS, I had to put this new drive in the primary boot position.

* My old partitioning was of course transferred over to the larger SSD too. This meant I had to expand my system partition and allocate the unused space too. Easy, right? No, because in my case there was the system recovery partition at the end of my old drive, which you can't delete from Window's partition manager. So I made another recovery partition on a pendrive, just to be safe, and deleted the old one with the command line tool "diskpart" following this tutorial: https://www.lifewire.com/delete-windows ... on-4128723

[boingy]

I succeeded!

Before I write down what I learned and what very little trouble I encountered, I want to ask a question.
If 1:1 cloning is possible (it seems it is!) - what good are iLok etc? Exactly zero of my plugins (iZotope, UVI, Rob Papen, U-He, Sonivox, NI..) even noticed they're on a different drive now. I can't speak for Reason because I use online authentication and the dongle for emergencies. But I guess there wouldn't have been any problems either. Maybe someone can test it with a free Lite license.. Anyway just think about what this means for the so called copy protection and the nuisance it is to paying customers.

Back on topic!

Now here's what I did, if anyone wants to do the same in the future:

* I cloned my Samsung SSD to a larger Samsung SSD using a "Fideco USB 3.0 Dual Bay HDD Docking Station" in offline mode. It worked like a charm, took less than an hour. +++ IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE YOU COPY YOUR OLD DRIVE TO YOUR NEW ONE AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! +++

* In the BIOS, I had to put this new drive in the primary boot position.

* My old partitioning was of course transferred over to the larger SSD too. This meant I had to expand my system partition and allocate the unused space too. Easy, right? No, because in my case there was the system recovery partition at the end of my old drive, which you can't delete from Window's partition manager. So I made another recovery partition on a pendrive, just to be safe, and deleted the old one with the command line tool "diskpart" following this tutorial: https://www.lifewire.com/delete-windows ... on-4128723

Hehe. I'm glad it worked for you.
I would have had to change my username and deny everything if it didn't. (It wasn't me. I wasn't even there.)

[MrFigg]

I succeeded!


* In the BIOS, I had to put this new drive in the primary boot position

Hahahahaha. Even though I know that I have to do this, nearly ever time I change out a HD I sit swearing for 10 minutes trying to work out why Windows won’t boot up...and then I remember. Hahaha.