Clone a small SSD to a big SSD

[virtuo]

Back when I built my system, SSDs weren't quite as affordable as they are now and my budget was tighter so I went for a 120GB Samsung EVO - it's been fine but with various apps and caches eating up my free space (and wanting to put some of my heavier games and Adobe scratch on there, I'm going to upgrade to a 500Gb drive - probably another Samsung 850 EVO.

What I'd really like is a simple app that'll do that for me, something along the lines of:

Plug the new SSD in to a spare SATA slot
Software clones EVERYTHING off the current small SSD on to the bigger one - including any hidden or system partitions
Power off, remove old drive (going to be the system drive on another machine)
Power up, change boot device in BIOS to new SSD
Have a cup of tea and enjoy the extra storage space


So my tech headache has 2 questions

1. Should this be a straightforward process with Windows 10?
2. What tools are out there to help me out?

I've seen a suggestion of using Paragon "Migrate OS to SSD", which seems like it'll do the job for a reasonable price - but I'd appreciate if anyones had any experience of it they'd like to share (or cheaper/open source alternatives) to get the job done.

Cheers guys

[shaithis]

I would use either Minitool Partition Wizard or CloneZilla, both free. MPW is a Windows program, CloneZilla is a bootable linux cd.

Choose your poison

[Unique]

it's a simple request and most backup software will do this on the free versions. I personally use the easus stuff. clone disc I think is the name of the thing you are after. it just gets more complicated moving from bigger partition to smaller one on free software

[virtuo]

Cheers both, I'll check those two (minitool and easeus) out as well, both seem to do what I need for free

[DanceswithUnix]

I did exactly this, the CD that came with the Samsung SSD came with software that performed the task just fine.

Well I say that, it did ditch the multi-boot setup I had so when I swapped the new SSD in and removed the old one I could only boot into Windows. That is better than all the free cloning programs I tried which all barfed on the multi boot setup and refused to try and clone the SSD at all.

Once the new SSD was in, I booted from a Linux install disk, went into rescue, and re-installed grub getting things back to normal.

[virtuo]

I did exactly this, the CD that came with the Samsung SSD came with software that performed the task just fine.

Well I say that, it did ditch the multi-boot setup I had so when I swapped the new SSD in and removed the old one I could only boot into Windows. That is better than all the free cloning programs I tried which all barfed on the multi boot setup and refused to try and clone the SSD at all.

Once the new SSD was in, I booted from a Linux install disk, went into rescue, and re-installed grub getting things back to normal.

I'll keep that in mind if I do indeed go Samsung again - I didn't get a utility CD with my last one, but maybe things have changed since.

[DanceswithUnix]

I ordered this, which describes & shows a CD in the package: http://www.ebuyer.com/695893-samsung...sd-mz-75e500bw

Didn't expect to use it, but actually worked out nicely. It also came in a box, perhaps you can save a couple of quid with an OEM version.

Also had a "Samsung Magician" software package on it which upgraded the firmware on my old SSD ready for my old laptop where it now lives

[virtuo]

I ordered this, which describes & shows a CD in the package: http://www.ebuyer.com/695893-samsung...sd-mz-75e500bw

Didn't expect to use it, but actually worked out nicely. It also came in a box, perhaps you can save a couple of quid with an OEM version.

Also had a "Samsung Magician" software package on it which upgraded the firmware on my old SSD ready for my old laptop where it now lives

That's the exact one that had caught my eye, +1 for solving a problem

And -1 for me for not reading the description on scan - I'm really sold with pictures..

Take it it's been a decent drive?

[MrHornsby]

Does the partition size automatically adjust in Clonezilla or do you need to adjust it once back in windows?