M2 NVMe upgrade

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EviLClouD

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#304028 30-Mar-2023 09:20

Hi there,

I’ve purchased a new M2 NVMe drive to replace the existing one in my system as the boot drive.
Just after some advice on how to best do this please.
I have 2 m2 slots on my motherboard.
The old drive is the os drive and installed in slot 1 (basically under the cpu heatsink)

Can i simply move the old drive into slot 2, install the new drive into slot 1. Then boot from the old drive in slot 2?

Also what would be the best way to copy over the os from the old drive to the new?

Thanks in advance!

Dynamic

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#3056419 30-Mar-2023 09:26

If it were me, I'd put the new SSD into the second slot, then use Macrium Reflect to clone from the old drive to the new one (while Windows is running). Then shut down and remove the old and swap the new one into the first slot. Leave the old one out while testing.

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#3056420 30-Mar-2023 09:27

First part... yes in theory, might have to tell BIOS which to use as primary.

Second part - Don't copy the OS over. Just reinstall. Takes 10mins to install Windows these days.

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gehenna

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#3056422 30-Mar-2023 09:28

I'd suggest you'll find it less complicated to just remove the old M.2. Insert the new one. Install a fresh OS and apps. Install the 2nd drive, move your personal content over to the new one, then format the 2nd drive for storage. Sure you can try cloning and migrating etc but often it's just faster with less weird issues to do the reinstall.