installing a new nvme ssd drive help

corvairbob · 2026-10-14T14:58:55-0400

ok my pc now has a 500gb nvme ssd and i just got a kingfast 1tb nvme ssd drive. i also have a crucial 1tb nvme ssd drive. i did the diskmark64 tests and the kingfast was a bit faster however it may not be a solid drive to install over the crucial disk. so what is the general consensus for these 2 drives? the disk i do not install will be the backup disk using the m.2 ssd enclosure in the usb for doing backups.

also i want to know how i can clone the drive i pick to install so all i need to do is take the pc apart and change out the nvme ssd drive and start it up and be good to go. if that possible? i have the aomei partiton app on the pc and i did see a section that mentioned clone the disk but before i do that i'm asking if that will work or is there a better way? thanks

Fishmill · 2026-10-14T15:21:25-0400

corvairbob said:
also i want to know how i can clone the drive i pick to install so all i need to do is take the pc apart and change out the nvme ssd drive and start it up and be good to go. if that possible?

You could do that.

But I'd guess the consensus opinion here would be to use imaging rather than cloning.

Primary problem with a clone is that the cloned drive would become out of date as time passes, by weeks or months. You'd have to make new clones repeatedly to keep the clone reasonably current. And you'd have the cloned drive sitting idle in a drawer and maybe never actually get any use out of it.

With imaging, you'd make an image file of all partitions on your boot drive and save that image file on some other drive. That might take 10 or 20 minutes. You could make a new image file ever week or month to keep it fairly up to date. If you have a boot drive failure, you would "restore" that previously made image file to a replacement NVME and be back up and running within minutes or maybe an hour. If your 1 TB boot drive had say 300 GB occupied, the image file of it might be 200 GB and you'd need to have enough space on some other drive to store it.

neemobeer · 2026-10-14T15:25:10-0400

You shouldn't have any issue just doing a full disk clone. If bitlocker or 'device encryption(bitlocker lite)' are enabled you will want to suspend bitlocker before cloning.

After the disk is cloned, you would only need to extend the main partition to take advantage of the full disk.
Caveat: If you have more than 1 partition you can only extend the right most partition with native Windows tooling and will need a 3rd party tool to move and resize a partition that's in the middle of the disk.

corvairbob · 2026-10-14T15:27:14-0400

i think you misunderstand i want to clone the drive and install that clone into the pc. so would cloning it make the drive up to date for installing it and then that drive will be getting use inside the pc. or is there a better way to do that. i hate to just format it and install if and then go thoru all that work to get all my files installed and the desktop etc. it would be great to find a way to make this new drive usable and then install it and i would not know any difference but for the drive size.

Asus272 · 2026-10-14T15:29:46-0400

I would pick the SSD that you think is the most reliable for your boot drive. I have 2 NVME SSD's in my laptop and tried using an NVME as an external backup. The good part is it's very fast. The bad part is the external drive gets really hot as it doesn't have a fan to keep it cool. It might not last to long.

corvairbob · 2026-10-14T15:31:46-0400

neemobeer said:
You shouldn't have any issue just doing a full disk clone. If bitlocker or 'device encryption(bitlocker lite)' are enabled you will want to suspend bitlocker before cloning.

After the disk is cloned, you would only need to extend the main partition to take advantage of the full disk.
Caveat: If you have more than 1 partition you can only extend the right most partition with native Windows tooling and will need a 3rd party tool to move and resize a partition that's in the middle of the disk.

thanks the new drive is partitioned to the full extend. so doing a clone would create the partions i now have on the smaller drive correct? also what program would i use? does win11 have that built in or would i use amoei to do that and then just exchange the drives and be good to go like nothing happened but for disk size now? also what would be the better dive to use the crucial of the kingfast? the drive i do not use will become the backup drive in the usb holder that is how i do backup now. thanks

corvairbob · 2026-10-14T15:34:25-0400

Asus272 said:
I would pick the SSD that you think is the most reliable for your boot drive. I have 2 NVME SSD's in my laptop and tried using an NVME as an external backup. The good part is it's very fast. The bad part is the external drive gets really hot as it doesn't have a fan to keep it cool. It might not last to long.

yes i see that but i do not keep it in the usb port. about every week or 2 i do a fast karans backup and that take a few minutes and then i take it out. also i have a 2.5" 1tb hard drive in a holder and i do backups to that one as well for a redundant backup.

Fishmill · 2026-10-14T15:35:04-0400

The cloned drive would become stale regardless of whether you have it sitting inside the PC or in a drawer. It would never be "used" until and unless your boot drive failed. You'd have to repeatedly make new clones to keep it updated. Imaging is a simpler process and has 2 steps: make the image file and then restore it when needed. Your method can work, but I'm not sure I've heard of someone who actually does what you propose.

neemobeer · 2026-10-14T15:35:48-0400

The clone would wipe out everything on the destination drive and mirror exactly what is on the smaller drive, so you would still need to extend it after.

corvairbob · 2026-10-14T15:44:22-0400

Fishmill said:
The cloned drive would become stale regardless of whether you have it sitting inside the PC or in a drawer. It would never be "used" until and unless your boot drive failed. You'd have to repeatedly make new clones to keep it updated. Imaging is a simpler process and has 2 steps: make the image file and then restore it when needed. Your method can work, but I'm not sure I've heard of someone who actually does what you propose.

what i want to do is make the new 1tb drive the boot drive. i have 1 nvme drive in the laptop that drive is a 500 gb drive. i just got this 1tb nvme drive. so let me ask this another way how can i take this new 1tb nvme drive and put it in a m.2 ssd enclosure and plug it into the usb port and make it a bootable drive with all the data i have on the pc that is now in the laptop and being used. and then replace the drives and have the laptop boot up and run with the new 1tb drive in it? is that possible is that a better way of asking?

Fishmill · 2026-10-14T16:04:33-0400

OK; you are not looking for a way to recover from a drive failure, but instead just want to move your existing installation to a new drive. Cloning will work. Imaging will work. I use imaging. I know nothing about Aomei. I think Macrium and Hasleo are the most commonly used applications around here. Regardless of what you do, you ought to work up a procedure to enable you to recover from a drive failure after you get this new drive up and running.

corvairbob · 2026-10-14T16:06:41-0400

thanks for the most part that is why i do backups at least for data. thanks

SIW2 · 2026-10-14T16:14:24-0400

corvairbob said:
thanks the new drive is partitioned to the full extend. so doing a clone would create the partions i now have on the smaller drive correct? also what program would i use? does win11 have that built in or would i use amoei to do that and then just exchange the drives and be good to go like nothing happened but for disk size now? also what would be the better dive to use the crucial of the kingfast? the drive i do not use will become the backup drive in the usb holder that is how i do backup now. thanks

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MachineLanguage · 2026-10-14T16:18:00-0400

"backups at least for data ALONE" will not restore a failed drive.

HTA · 2026-10-14T16:21:34-0400

Here's what I'd do:

1 Make a Macrium image to an external drive of some kind.

2 Replace the Drive.

3 Boot with a Macrium recovery flash drive.

4 Restore the image you made to the new drive.

5 Boot and make sure everything is working.

6 Use Partition Wizard to extend the C: partition into the unused space.

Good luck.

installing a new nvme ssd drive help

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