time to replace components in wife's computer for dreaded Win10 to Win11

In case of a disaster, I want to immediately return my system to a working state, so I prefer to clone it (1:1 copy) to a spare disk than backup it (copy data to a disk image) and have to restore it. So if I am in a hurry, I can just swap the Windows SSD with the clone and work or play. I can then clone the other disk to the original disk some other time later.

When I first did my new build, I used a 512gig NVME drive for the OS. About a month later I cloned that drive to a 1TB NVME drive. Zero issues there. In fact I cloned all my SATA SSDs (3) from my previous build to NVME drives on the new build using Acronis True Image. Super easy and fast.

I've been fortunate to not have any issues with cloning drives. The first time I cloned an SSD drive was with the help of a member at seven forums

spapakons said:

In case of a disaster, I want to immediately return my system to a working state, so I prefer to clone it (1:1 copy) to a spare disk than backup it (copy data to a disk image) and have to restore it. So if I am in a hurry, I can just swap the Windows SSD with the clone and work or play. I can then clone the other disk to the original disk some other time later.

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But I can restore a disk image faster than you can shut down, swap SSD's and reboot! And how often do you clone your disk? With disk imaging using incremeatals, you can update your backup while using your computer and it takes a few seconds.

I understand you have a good system that works for you, but there are better ways to do it.

spapakons said:

I would not buy a used part if I could find a refurbished alternative or a new one at reasonable price.

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Myself, I have nothing against buying used when it is done right. I couldn't get a WS SAGE X299 unused so I got one used with the CPU installed for under $600 CA. Brand new there would be no way I could afford to buy this hardware now as I'm retired and on a fixed income and trying to support a family. The irony is that so much of what I purchase "used" checks out okay whereas I've had many bad experiences with refurbished and new hardware. Yes, buying used is a gamble but there are also some things to consider about buying used that lean to plus side:

1. Buying used can fit the budget. You don't have to pay through the nose for hardware that has the specifications you are looking for.

2. Buying used gives you the assurance that you are already in possession of hardware that has been tried and tested and has passed the test of time.

3. Bying used helps to keep the environment safer by keeping this material out of the landfills where it eventually goes.

When done correctly you have a window of time to test the product and if it is not functioning correctly you can return it. The key to this is to test every bit of functionality you can within that time frame. I was very fortunate with my latest X299 purchase and the 'open box' RTX 3070 I bought proved to be just that. This really surprised me. I got a graphics card that cost on third what it would have cost me msrp when it was released in immaculate condition.

Recently I purchased some used RAM from Amazon that failed MemTest86. I returned the RAM and purchased the same RAM brand new. I also had two sets of the same RAM (purchased new) that passed so I know it wasn't user error or just incompatible RAM. The replacement RAM I purchased brand new also failed the MemTest. I had to return it. Eventually I managed to get all 128GB working and showing in the BIOS. So even when you purchase new there is no guarantee that the hardware will be up to par. You pays your munny and takes your chances.

Check out these insane prices:

ASUS WS SAGE X299

Intel i9 7960X (see top of page)

There's just no way I could afford those prices on my current budget. I built my X99 Workstation all with brand new parts and I can truthfully say that it cost me several thousand dollars to put together only to discover that 8 years later it was no longer legitimately compliant with Windows. Now that I'm retired I can't afford to do that all over again. Twice the system board for that build had to be RMA'd (the replacement board had a solder blob or something rolling around inside it and I didn't want to risk putting power to the board). The original brand new board had a bad capacitor and the voltage drain was obvious. The third board was good. So "brand new" is no guarantee. The board with the CPU cost me well over $2000 US. No, I don't think I'll be making that mistake again. For me, buying used is better. That way if Windows tells me my hardware isn't up to snuff the next time the roll out an operating system it won't be that big a deal.

kelper said:

But I can restore a disk image faster than you can shut down, swap SSD's and reboot! And how often do you clone your disk? With disk imaging using incremeatals, you can update your backup while using your computer and it takes a few seconds.

I understand you have a good system that works for you, but there are better ways to do it.

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I do both. Now that I know you're referring to making System Images I concur with your statement. Options are generally a good thing. I realize File History isn't always reliable but it has worked for me on occasion. Once a week I move or copy my personal files onto a storage drive marked "Archives". This way I lose very little data should my system fail to restore. I also stay in the habit of making restore points. Doing this in addition to making backups gives me the best approach to keeping my data intact while granting me a number of options to choose from. And yes, if worse comes to worse, I can still pop in a clone, boot it up, and 90% of the time drag and drop personal data from the original to the clone. Once this is done I can reformat the original and make it my next clone.

Scannerman said:

Yes. I realized my misunderstanding later. Perhaps it is due to my old school experience. For me, a drive image means a precise, bit-by-bit copy of the entire drive. More specifically, a System Image is a copy of the OS and it requires a restoration to get back the apps, programs, and personal files. I don't know that I've had issues with cloned drives before when they are done correctly. R Drive Image seemed to do a pretty good job when I used it right but I haven't used it since the 8.1 days. To the best of my knowledge all my drive images (aka "clones") have turned out okay since I started using Mini Tool Pro Ultimate. Admittedly it takes a while to make a clone but SSDs have really speeded up the process.

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I have tried to clone my old drives to larger drives using Macrium. Most of cloned drives wouldn't boot and I had to use Macrium to fix the boot partition. With Images the only problem I've had is with the time it takes to make the image and then restore it to the new drive.

Acronis True Image 2025 restored my Windows partition a couple weeks ago when I shot myself in the foot with an install, it took seven minutes from start to booting back up into the restored Windows. I'd be hard pressed to take the machine apart, remove the NVMe drive, copy a clone to it, and then replace the drive in that time. Even taking the first drive out and replacing it with another NVMe drive would easily take close to that amount of time.

A true clone of a 2TB drive, even at NVMe speeds is going to take a little time.

kelper said:

But I can restore a disk image faster than you can shut down, swap SSD's and reboot! And how often do you clone your disk? With disk imaging using incremeatals, you can update your backup while using your computer and it takes a few seconds.

I understand you have a good system that works for you, but there are better ways to do it.

Click to expand...

My SSD is a 2.5" SATA III drive connected to a SATA II port, so it's not running at maximum speed. Last time I cloned about 450GB data, it took two hours, so it's not something I want to do very often.

gunrunnerjohn said:

Acronis True Image 2025 restored my Windows partition a couple weeks ago when I shot myself in the foot with an install, it took seven minutes from start to booting back up into the restored Windows. I'd be hard pressed to take the machine apart, remove the NVMe drive, copy a clone to it, and then replace the drive in that time. Even taking the first drive out and replacing it with another NVMe drive would easily take close to that amount of time.

A true clone of a 2TB drive, even at NVMe speeds is going to take a little time.

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Good point. NVMe is a pain in this respect. I suppose this is also why it's an advantage to have access to multiple PCs. Making a clone doesn't take that long for me. Perhaps I'm taking too much for granted.

A SATA drive is about ten times as painful as the NVMe drives, so that would be ugly.

My spare machine that's right next to my main machine is my hardware backup. Flick a few switches to move the display and keyboard over and I'm back up and running. At that point I can restore the latest data at my leisure.

Scannerman said:

...
Fortunately one of them will be heading off to university this year and won't have need of a gaming PC. ...

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I don't want to burst your hope-balloon, but a lot of college kids use gaming as stress relief these days. So, she might need the gaming computer...

My issued with buying used is warranty time. The pawnshops around here give you 24 hours. You don't know if a computer is reliable in 24 hours. I suppose you could run some hardcore exercises and if it survives them, you're good. But that little test time doesn't make me comfortable that it's stable.

After all, taking that computer that crashes due to hardware issues after extended time and selling it to the pawn shop person who only sees it run for a short time them sticks it on the "for sale" shelf (because they don't really care) is a time-honored sleazy tradition on both ends.

Private purchase is likely 0 hours warranty and seller honesty is a grab-bag.

There are "factory refurbs" that will get you a good discount at times and at least have a reasonable warranty.

spapakons said:

In case of a disaster, I want to immediately return my system to a working state, so I prefer to clone it (1:1 copy) to a spare disk than backup it (copy data to a disk image) and have to restore it. So if I am in a hurry, I can just swap the Windows SSD with the clone and work or play. I can then clone the other disk to the original disk some other time later.

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Nice! Don't forget to also use Apps in Portable Mode (Don't confuse with PortableApps.com, I prefer to get them from the official websites, instead of a launcher). The only disadvantage is that some apps won't make good File Associations when are Portable, and if a user force to associate file format to the Portable App, the icons of many files will look the same as the icon of the Main App (for example Media Players or Document Viewers).

gunrunnerjohn said:

A SATA drive is about ten times as painful as the NVMe drives, so that would be ugly.

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Oh, now imagine how long would it take in a Mechanical Drive (HDD), I still use it a lot. Fortunately I don't use Cloning Software.

I can tell you, a mechanical drive is much slower to clone. 500GB would take 4-5 hours, imagine a full 2TB drive or larger. I would have to start it in the evening and MAYBE it would be ready in the following morning or lunch time. I would clone it once every 6 months and hope I will never need it. And the most annoying thing when cloning or taking a backup of your drive is that your computer is unavailable until it is over. I could use my laptop, but I have some data I would like to use on my main computer and even some applications that work faster there than my laptop, so it is not convenient to keep it occupied for too many hours.

I only recently retired the mechanical drives, all my internal drives are SSD now, each system has two 2TB NVMe drives and one 2TB SATA SSD. My off-line backups are two 4TB NVMe drives in USB enclosures.

I admit, my NAS still has two 8TB mechanical drives, since all it's access is over the network, that's more than sufficient, and they were really cheap, I think I paid around $250 for the pair. The USB 5TB backup drive hanging off the NAS is also a rotating disk.

kelper said:

But I can restore a disk image faster than you can shut down, swap SSD's and reboot! And how often do you clone your disk? With disk imaging using incremeatals, you can update your backup while using your computer and it takes a few seconds.

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I'm not going to fall apart cause something took 10 minutes, when something else might take 5. My attitude is a long as I'm waiting hours, I'm good.

kelper said:

I understand you have a good system that works for you, but there are better ways to do it.

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The better way to do something is to do what's best for your situation; Not what others say is best for them.

We can agree to disagree, but that's why there's choice

kelper said:

But I can restore a disk image faster than you can shut down, swap SSD's and reboot! And how often do you clone your disk? With disk imaging using incremeatals, you can update your backup while using your computer and it takes a few seconds.

I understand you have a good system that works for you, but there are better ways to do it.

Click to expand...

I'll point out one issue with incremental backups. If you have a bunch of incremental files, it does take longer to restore, not to mention the possibility of a glitch with one of the files. Since all of this is automated and I just check the emailed logs, the time it takes for the backup is not a factor for me.

For my boot drive image, I do one weekly and I take a full image every time. I keep eight of them, on hand, and occasionally an image where everything is working well is archived more permanently.

How easy is to screw a system: I read yesterday how you can install Mac OS in VMware (for testing, not serious use). One of the steps was to enable Virtual Machine Hypervisor from Windows Features. Once I enabled it and restarted, my system wouldn't boot and got stuck at the boot logo. Thankfully after a couple of resets using the reset button on the tower I loaded the troubleshooting screen and restarted in Safe Mode to disable the Hypervisor. Now it works properly again. I don't want to think what it would happen if I couldn't restore it and I didn't have a backup. So, yes it is important to take a backup as frequently as possible. However I can't dedicate 4-5 hours too often.

gunrunnerjohn said:

A true clone of a 2TB drive, even at NVMe speeds is going to take a little time.

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I don't know what your system is doing but I just cloned a few NVME and SSD drives a couple of months back on my new build and I can assure you my clones didn't take "a little time" whatever that means cause that can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 hours so....

I cloned a 4TB SSD to a 4TB NVME, and it took less then 20 minutes from start (opening the software, choosing the drives, cloning) to finish. A 2TB drive took even less time. In fact, I've cloned a few NVME to NVME drives, using an external NVME enclosure and it never took more than 15-20 minutes. Or a SATA SSD to an internal NVME drive using a SATA to USB adapter cable.

All that said, my drives are never more than 70 percent full. Some drives (Photos) have files as big as a gig; my master tiff files 270 meg each, and I have hundreds of those.