Can I clone my Windows boot NVMe drive to another SSD?
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MellowPine47
I bought a Western Digital USB backup drive that includes Acronis True Image for Western Digital. I want to replace my current C: boot drive, which is an NVMe SSD, with another NVMe SSD of the same capacity. Ideally, I'd like to copy the entire disk, including Windows, boot information, partitions, and all files, so the new drive works just like the old one. Neither NVMe drive is made by Western Digital. Does the included Acronis software require a WD drive to function, and if so, what other cloning tools would you recommend?
Answers
The Acronis version bundled with a WD product is generally an OEM edition and may require a qualifying Western Digital drive to be connected. If it refuses to work with your NVMe drives, Clonezilla or the more user-friendly Rescuezilla are good alternatives. After cloning, shut the computer down, remove or disconnect the old drive, and make sure the new SSD is selected as the boot device.
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Clonezilla is a solid choice for this. Use its disk-to-local-disk option to clone the entire source drive to the new SSD, including the system and recovery partitions.
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I’d boot the computer from a USB stick containing the cloning software, then clone the drive while Windows is offline. Cloning from the running system can cause problems because some files are in use. Clonezilla is commonly used for this, and having two drives with the same capacity should make the process straightforward. Just double-check which drive is the source and which is the destination, since the destination will be overwritten.
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MellowPine47: That makes sense. I’m going to try Clonezilla from a bootable USB.