The answer to life, the universe and how to move an OS!


POLL: How do you "move" an OS?

  • System Image

    Votes: 15 51.7%
  • Clone

    Votes: 8 27.6%
  • Clean Install

    Votes: 6 20.7%

  • Total voters
    29

Wisewiz

Speaks Ancient Geek
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Ontario, Canada
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OS
11 Pro 22H2 (22621.1265)
I image the old Disk 0 (which contains both System C:\ and Programs and data D:\, then boot from my Macrium rescue USB drive and Restore the recent image to the new Disk (in my case, an M2 NVMe). Then shut down, boot into the BIOS, move the new Disk to position 1, save and boot, and then, running from C:\ on the new drive, use Disk Management to wipe (and maybe partition) the old Disk 0, as it's now a data drive. I'm not sure that covers everything, but you get the gist.

Oh, it occurs to me that I've forgotten how I make the new Disk Disk 0, and the old Disk 0 Disk 2. Help would be appreciated on this. :giggle:

(If they were both just standard SSDs, I'd just physically switch them around in the case, but the new System Disk is M2, so they can't be just switched.)
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Pro 22H2 (22621.1265)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkCentre M920S SFF
    CPU
    i5-8400 @ 2.80MHz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 630 Graphics onboard
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG E2442
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x Samsung 870 EVO SSD
    Case
    Lenovo SFF
    Keyboard
    Cherry Stream TKL JK-8600US-2 Wired
    Mouse
    LogiTech M510 wireless
    Internet Speed
    Fast (for satellite!)
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes Premium & Defender (working together beautifully!)
  • Operating System
    11 Pro 22H2 1344
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkCentre M910S SFF
    CPU
    i7-7700 @ 3.60MHz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16GB DDR4 @ 2400MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel HD 630 Graphics onboard
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG FULL HD (1920x1080@59Hz)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x Samsung 870 EVO SSD
    Mouse
    LogiTech M510 wireless
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600 wired
    Internet Speed
    Fast (for satellite!)
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes Premium and MS Defender

neves

Active member
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Local time
9:09 AM
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144
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OS
Windows 11 Pro ( v10.00 Build 22621, 22H2)
If i change the hardware - I prefer a Clean OS install - while backing-up only the personal data/settings of given apps where that's necessary (like browser and such). Works/worked 100% all the time. As for cloning, well... 9/10 times might work just fine - while the 1 time it doesn't - it can really foodle your day-up ... like one this guys - just do a google search for:

"cloning OS gone wrong reddit"

If it's the same hardware - sure, even an OS migration is acceptable.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro ( v10.00 Build 22621, 22H2)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    MSI GP65 Leopard 9SEX
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-9750H Mobile 2592 MHz
    Motherboard
    MSI MS-16U1 Rev 1.0 / Intel® HM370 Rev.10
    Memory
    SO-DIMM SK Hynix 15.8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4-2666 (2 x 8 GB) 1329MHz (19-19-19-43)
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia RTX 2060 6GB Mobile GPU (TU106M)
    Sound Card
    Onbord Realtek ALC1220
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AU Optronics K055G B156HAN08.0 (AUO80ED)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1x Samsung PM981 NVMe PCIe M.2 512GB / 1x Seagate Expansion ST1000LM035 1TB
    Keyboard
    Redragon K512 SHIVA
    Mouse
    HyperX Pulsefire Haste
    Internet Speed
    Download 482.2 Mbps Upload 453.0 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox

hdmi

Well-known member
Power User
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8:09 AM
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1,085
Location
Belgium
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OS
11 Home
When I moved from M.2 SATA to NVMe, I used a separately powered portable USB3 HDD (3.5 inch 7200rpm) to store an image. I do not use BitLocker. The method that I use (and that I will describe next) fails if BitLocker is enabled.

Disabled Secure Boot option in the UEFI settings, changed the boot order to boot from USB flash drive. This flash drive had already been formatted with Ventoy, and also had a copy of the official Windows 11 installation ISO file from Microsoft already stored on it (that is, a copy of the actual ISO file itself, not the unpacked contents of the ISO file). No Rufus or anything like that. But nowadays I also keep a copy of my WinRE.wim file stored on it, so that I can just use this addon to boot straight into that, because it boots a wee bit faster than the Windows 11 installation ISO does. This is just so I can still open an elevated command prompt (by pressing Shift + F10) and run diskpart, bcdedit, etc. whenever I need to. On this same flash drive, this file:
When I create an image of my Windows partition, if there's enough free space on the SSD, normally I just pick a destination folder that is located on the same SSD as my Windows partition─the 'OS drive'. The image creation goes a lot faster this way (compared to using the portable HDD anway). Unlike with Macrium Reflect, it really doesn't even matter if this destination folder is located on the actual C: partition itself.

And no futzing around with moving the user profile and/or all personal files to a separate partition. Instead, I just pick the files/folders to be excluded from image. Those had already been backed up on external storage with FastCopy. It takes literally five seconds to choose the exclusions. It's so much easier than cake.

While the image of my Windows partition is being created, I tick the Verify image checkbox. Once the image file of my Windows partition has been created (and verification went successful), normally I change the UEFI settings back, and I boot back into Windows before I copy the image file onto external storage with FastCopy. But my laptop only has a single M.2 socket so, because the goal was to replace the old 512GB M.2 SATA SSD with a new NVMe SSD, I used an external storage device to transfer my image this time.

To make Windows recognize the new NVMe drive and be able to boot from it, I opened the elevated command prompt so that I could then copy the boot files from the Windows folder onto the EFI partition, booted Windows into Safe Mode to let it detect NVMe, and finally my Windows 11 could boot normally again. Installed Sam(e)sung Magician, ran the firmware update. Danced around in circles, and called it a day.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion S15450
    CPU
    i5 1135G7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 200Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF

Wisewiz

Speaks Ancient Geek
Power User
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Local time
3:09 AM
Posts
1,355
Location
Ontario, Canada
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OS
11 Pro 22H2 (22621.1265)
@hdmi

Wow!! Thanks for giving me that food for thought. I’m developing quite a flowchart for what should be a fairly simple project. The help I’ve gotten here has been amazing. I’m facing this hardware-plus-software operation with confidence today.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Pro 22H2 (22621.1265)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkCentre M920S SFF
    CPU
    i5-8400 @ 2.80MHz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 630 Graphics onboard
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG E2442
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x Samsung 870 EVO SSD
    Case
    Lenovo SFF
    Keyboard
    Cherry Stream TKL JK-8600US-2 Wired
    Mouse
    LogiTech M510 wireless
    Internet Speed
    Fast (for satellite!)
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes Premium & Defender (working together beautifully!)
  • Operating System
    11 Pro 22H2 1344
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkCentre M910S SFF
    CPU
    i7-7700 @ 3.60MHz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16GB DDR4 @ 2400MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel HD 630 Graphics onboard
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG FULL HD (1920x1080@59Hz)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x Samsung 870 EVO SSD
    Mouse
    LogiTech M510 wireless
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600 wired
    Internet Speed
    Fast (for satellite!)
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes Premium and MS Defender

IownAmoneyPit

Canadian Loonie X 2
Member
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Local time
1:09 AM
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94
Location
Alberta, Canada
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OS
Windows 11 Pro x 2
I just restored an image that was a clean install 2 months ago and I always just update the programs installed or remove anything no longer needed with Revo Uninstaller Pro then manually delete leftovers from the OS and registry then make a new current image with the changes called "Fresh Install". I then restore this newly created image to the new drive or the current drive as it has no accumulated browsing history or use.

The image was restored to a unformatted Samsung 980 Series - 500GB PCIe Gen3. X4 NVMe 1.4 - M.2 Internal SSD with Macrium Home using a Ventoy USB, The only thing I had to change was to use the "shrink or extend to fill the target disk" option in Macrium to fit the new disk. The new Samsung 980 500 GB replaced a generic 512GB PCIe® 3.0 NVMe™ M.2 SSD that came with the Laptop.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro x 2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    My own abomination, I call it the Money Pit Two
    CPU
    Intel Core i9 12900K @ 4.5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO
    Memory
    2 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (4x16GB Total) DDR5-6200 CL36 Dual Channel Kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 ULTRA GAMING 10GB GDDR6X
    Sound Card
    ROG SupremeFX ALC4082 with ESS® ES9018Q2C DAC for pinpoint positioning and dynamics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung JS7000 50" SUHD TV or Samsung 27" FHD 60Hz 8ms GTG VA LED Smart Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 @ 150 DPI
    Hard Drives
    1 x Samsung 870 EVO 250 GB SSD (Windows 11 Pro), 1 x Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB SSD (Windows 11 Pro)
    PSU
    Corsair AX860 - 860W Modular Power Supply
    Case
    Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black
    Cooling
    CORSAIR iCUE H150i RGB Elite 360mm Liquid CPU Cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech K830 Illuminated Living-Room Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Anywhere 2S Wireless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    1000 Mbps
    Browser
    Latest Version Of Firefox & Microsoft Edge Chromium Stable
    Antivirus
    ESET Internet Security
    Other Info
    LG Electronics 14x Sata Blu-ray Disk Rewriter - WH14NS4O
    6x2 HDMI Switcher (6 inputs, 2 outputs) so I can send the output of my Cable Box, Roku, or any my 4 computers to either my TV or Monitor separately or simultaneously.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Home (Upgraded to Pro)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS TUF Gaming A17 17.3" Gaming Laptop
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics
    Motherboard
    ASUS FA706QM
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 Laptop GPU, 6GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    DTS software AI noise-canceling technology Built-in array microphone 2-speaker system
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3-inch, FHD anti-glare display Refresh Rate:144Hz or Samsung JS7000 50" SUHD TV or Samsung 27" FHD 60Hz 8ms GTG VA LED Smart Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 @ 150 DPI
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Series - 500GB PCIe Gen3. X4 NVMe 1.4 - M.2 Internal SSD
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Anywhere 2S Wireless Mouse
    Keyboard
    Backlit Chiclet Keyboard 1-Zone RGB Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    1000 Mbps
    Browser
    Latest Version Of Firefox & EDGE Chromium Stable
    Antivirus
    ESET Internet Security
    Other Info
    6x2 HDMI Switcher (6 inputs, 2 outputs) so I can send the output of my Cable Box, Roku, or any my 4 computers to either my TV or Monitor separately or simultaneously.

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