Ok, so I have an Asus ROG GL503 laptop that I use for music making. It came with just a 128GB NVMe boot drive though, so am looking to upgrade it to a 1TB version.

As the laptop only has one NVMe M.2 slot though, how can I clone the current drive without having to reinstall everything???

Cheers in advance!

 

there's m.2 duplicator..

 

Cloning is possible with Acronis or Macrium but I am less sure if all activated software will still work

 

Boot a live usb linux or whatever, and use DD

# dd if=/dev/sdNN of=/dev/sdNN bs=1M ; sync

profit

you know its block level device copy, no worries, and "if=YOUR ACTUAL NVMe", "of=YOUR SHINY NEW DRIVE" be careful!

 

Do you want to copy the OS too(if that is possible) or the content only ??

 

macrium reflect

 

I know there is software, my question is more about how I can actually do it as my laptop only has one M.2 socket, and I’m trying to duplicate the drive with OS and all software without having to reinstall on the new drive.

I have done similar with standard 2.5” SSDs before where I have cloned one to another using Acronis, but I’m more confused about how to physically do this with NVMe drives?!?!

 

USB ting man
https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Converter-Portable-Support-Windows/dp/B07VVNGYFV
even tho when i read i didnt pay attention to that,as i deal with SATAs and USB, but i guess it's same

 

I have to do same last week. I use "AOMEI Backupper" very easy and work perfect for 1:1 clone

 

My backup for my nVme is a 1TB SSD. I use AOMEI Backupper professional and do a system clone. It does both the hidden partition and the main. I know it works because I upgraded to the nVme and cloned from the SSD to the nVme. The SSD is now the backup for the nVme. Should the nVme die I can put the SSD straight in seamlessly until I get a replacement nVme. I do it monthly. It does it while Windows is operating and you can minimise it (I have an HDD docking station - put SSD drive in, do backup, file HDD away).

 

That just gave me a thought. I think I have a spare 128GB SSD and a 2.5" enclosure. I guess I could:

- Clone 128GB NVMe > 2.5" USB 128GB SSD

Then swap over the NVMe drives and then:

- Clone 2.5" USB 128GB SSD > 1TB NVMe

This should work I presume? And saves me having to buy a £25 NVMe to USB adapter.

My only thought is, would I need to boot into Windows again on the USB SSD prior to the second clone, or is there a way to do it without having to boot into Windows?

 

I think here is a caveat with this, that the partition table gets written as is. Meaning you have to resize volumes afterward. Block sizes and drive geometry shouldn't matter these days though.

 

Clone it to a USB thumb drive and then restore right from it. It will take longer cause of the nature of the drive but it will work.

 

no conditions or limitations, it WILL get the job done, but obviously since they don't match in size, or you create a second partition on the drive or use a resize function on it afterwards (just like we do with raspberry pis)

sorry for the bad english everybody you know the drill!

 

Acronis True Image 2020.

1) Select Source (SSD 240 GB)
2) Select destination (SSD 1 TB)
3) Start (yesterday, 140 GB, 7 or 8 minutes long cloning process).

All works fine.

 

That assumes 2 NVMe ports though, which my laptop doesn't have.

 

How easy is it, if possible, to clone 128GB NVMe boot drive to a USB (flash drive or external drive) and then clone it back from the USB to the new NVMe 1TB drive?