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Welcome to the Power Users community on Codidact!

Power Users is a Q&A site for questions about the usage of computer software and hardware. We are still a small site and would like to grow, so please consider joining our community. We are looking forward to your questions and answers; they are the building blocks of a repository of knowledge we are building together.

Comments on Ought I clone my C Windows drive, from my old SSD to new SSD in new computer?

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Ought I clone my C Windows drive, from my old SSD to new SSD in new computer?

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To save time, rather than installing Windows and programs afresh, I fancy cloning my old C SSD, on to my new SSD in my new computer. But I am getting mixed messages on cloning! Who's correct?

When you have got a new SSD, you might feel confused about the way to configure an operating system for the new disk. Usually, you have three options:

  • Perform a clean install
  • Copy system disk to the SSD
  • Migrate operating system to the new disk

Against Cloning

On November 14 2013, Lincoln Spector of PCWorld "strongly recommend[ed] against cloning the drive on an old PC to a new one. You bring all of your old problems to a new machine. What’s more, you create more problems, because every Windows installation is adapted to the particular hardware it was installed on. Finally, you’ll have the same Windows license running on two computers (Microsoft doesn’t like that) while not using the license you paid for when you bought the new PC."

For Cloning

But, we don’t need to do it manually; we can use Macrium Reflect to migrate the entire Microsoft operating system (MOS) from the old PC to the new PC.

You could reinstall Windows from scratch, and in some situations, that may be preferable—but with the right tools, you can get up and running much quicker by copying your entire drive over to the new SSD.

On April 30 2020, gronostaj commented

This information is outdated. Windows has been dealing with hardware changes pretty well since Windows 7 and improved with each release.

windows-11
posted about 1 year ago
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1 comment thread

Your question does not contain enough information to make a recommendation. How messed up is your cur... (2 comments)
Your question does not contain enough information to make a recommendation. How messed up is your cur...
samcarter‭ wrote about 1 year ago
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Your question does not contain enough information to make a recommendation. How messed up is your current installation? Are you able to fix possible problems which can occur with the shortcut?

matthewsnyder‭ wrote about 1 year ago
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I disagree with this. It's strangely worded, and there is a bit too much detail. But the question is simply, "is it a good idea to clone Windows to a new SSD, or do I have to do a fresh new install?" and that's answerable and interesting.

I would say "obviously" the OP's current install is not broken otherwise he would not be trying to preserve it.