KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Looking at the possibility of replacing my Boot drive (spinning platter drive) with an SSD, but I have never cloned a drive so there are a lot of unknowns. Can any of you contribute to resolving any of my unknowns or assumptions?

Present system is a 8 year old Desktop Windows 10/64-bit PC. This system is not capable of installing Windows 11 (I ran the Microsoft check and it placed a "you can not upgrade" message on the "Windows Update" page). I MAY get/build a new system in 2025 when Windows 10 is no longer supported (to keep security updates current)... and predict that will be my last desktop PC. My current boot drive is showing its age and may go out so I am going to replace it anyway (and YES I have multiple backups of data/files both on and off site... and I have a laptop that is speedier than this desktop to substitute during the change process)... so I thought I would gain some speed with a SSD.

1. Present drive is 4 TB so I assume I will need a 4 TB SSD to successfully clone... is that true (and I know they are expensive) also I prefer all of the same programs and data/files that I currently have on hard drive and a 2 TB would be too near full to start with?

2. Considering a SSD that provides Acronis to perform the clone... is that a good/workable clone solution?

3. THE BIG ISSUE: Is it wrong of me to presume that, after cloning, Windows AND all of my other software will run as it did before... without needing to renew licenses for purchased software because it is on a new drive? ... noting that if I have to pay for all new software I might as well get a new PC now instead of the SSD upgrade and clone.

4. Are there any steps that may be not be obvious in doing the clone... and should I remove files/data from the old hard disk to speed up the clone process (3 TB of total space taken on old HD... and I can put it back after the clone is done)?

EDIT: Adding 5. If I choose to go to another spinning HDD I may want to go to a larger drive, maybe 6 to 8 TB... I assume that I would just partition to clone to a 4 TB section of the new drive... is that a correct assumption?

Laramie Loc: Tempe

Sorry, but why bother? If you are noticing a slowdown, try doubling your RAM. I know SSDs are "hot" now, and provide fast read access, but if one fails everything is gone. Forever.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Thanks for the reply. Well if I don't go to an SSD I am going to need to clone to a new spinning hard drive, so I have to do it anyway. Recognize the issue with SSD but my experience in the past is a hard drive failure is likely to loose everything forever as well.

kubota king Loc: NW , Pa.

as a computer tech I use Acronis to clone all the time . I have used it many times . A 4 tb ssd will cost you a pretty penny , but for all the older computers I have switched from the standard spinning drive to a ssd drive all were faster . I also agree that you should have at least 8gb of memory , more if using some certain programs that demand more memory . If the clone is successful everything should work as before . No need to redo licenses

BebuLamar

I upgraded my computer from 12GB to 48GB and the speed gain is slight. I replaced the HHD with the SSD the speed gain is significant.
It's better to have the SSD as big or bigger than the original HHD. However, I have successfully clone a larger HHD to a smaller SSD using Macrium Reflex (of course all the data on the HHD must be less than the capacity of the SSD).
After cloning everything work as it was. No need for reinstalling or relicensing anything.
But I run into problem often enough. Sometimes the cloning process failed. Sometimes it went thru but the drive won't boot. But in the case of failure the original HDD still work you do not lose everything.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've done quite a few cones of C drives to SSDs. If you buy a Samsung SSD, you will get software to do the cloning. It will not work with other brands, though. Sneaky!

You might recall reading how much trouble I had cloning a 500GB M.2 to a 1TB M.2. I eventually got it to work, though. The problem was that it duplicated the 500GB drive, although the target capacity was 1TB. After the cloning, the computers worked fine - and fast.

A 4TB SSD is going to be expensive. A 1TB SSD would be fine for the OS and programs. Use a 4TB drive for data. I find that very convenient since the programs and the data are separate.

BebuLamar

I have a number of software licenses on my laptop and the cloning went fine. I have near $30,000 worth of software on my laptop.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I use Acronis Clone tool. I just cloned my 2 TB Samsung SSD to a new Samsung 4 TB drive. It stores my images. No issues, very fast.
In the past, I've cloned my SSD OS drive to a larger capacity one. No issues.
Mark

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

I will speak on in generalities as I do not use Windows. My suggestion is to clone to an external HD/SSD and then see if you can boot from the cloned drive and if all programs run as "normal".

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear that Acronis is a workable solution. I guess I didn't mention memory... I already have 16 MB.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear that a success on keeping my software. I will be prepared for some glitches and working them out.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Thanks for the reply. Don't think I have that big of investment in software... but it is enough that it is a big part of the consideration.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear another opinion that Acronis is a workable solution. I am feeling better about this whole process.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Thanks for the feedback. Hadn't thought about starting external, but that will require some extra hardware to adapt the SSD card... will look into it.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

You can clone to an HDD and test, replace the internal HDD with SSD, and then reclone to the internal SSD.