I've been stuck on the Windows 10 1909 update for what feels like forever. I've tried every trick I can think of to force an update, but nothing seems to work. I'm considering a clean install of Windows to wipe everything on my C: drive, but I really don't want to lose all my important files that are stored there. I currently have three drives in total, and I'm even willing to buy a new one just for this purpose. Can I clone my C: drive to another drive, erase the C: drive, and then reinstall Windows? Also, how would I go about removing the old Windows installation from the cloned drive afterwards? Or is that a bad plan altogether?
3 Answers
Always, always back up your files. Even if you’re not reinstalling the OS, this is a good practice. If you know all your files' locations, you could just copy them to another drive or a thumb drive, wipe the C: drive, and install fresh. If you have a spare drive, cloning could work too, just remember you can always use that cloned drive for a backup later on.
You could definitely look into doing an in-place upgrade first, just to see if that fixes the issue. That said, you should absolutely back up your important files regardless. Cloning your C: drive can be tricky if Windows is already broken, so if you can’t manually move your files to another drive, it might not work as you hope. Just make sure you have a solid backup before starting any major changes!
Backup your important files before you do anything else. Seriously, backups are key! Once that’s done, a fresh install is definitely the way to go if you want to start fresh. You can either clone your current drive if you feel confident or just back up everything to another external drive and install Windows without worry.
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