Windows 10: How do I make a bootable cloned ssd.

I have a pretty old computer. An hp pavilion prebuilt desktop from 2011. It has a very old hdd with more than 400gb. I bought a 240gb Kingston ssd from amazon. I tried to install windows 10 on the ssd but because the computer is old it didn't work. Can anyone please tell what I need to do to clone everything including os from my hdd to ssd and make it bootable. Also only 118 GB are being used on the hdd, and I want to use only free cloning software.

:)

 

Moving to SSD. Clone or not to clone?

I kinda agree with you, but on a wholr, do not. While I have done things a bit differently than this specific situation, by installing Windows directly to the SSD, and cloning after, my testing shows that there are no issues doing this, very little that can go wrong, provided your system is stable.

There are certain features that must be disabled in this situation, like auto defrag and such, but even with a fresh install to the SSD, you need to take steps to ensure that you SSD performs properly, regardless of how the data got there.

Arming yourself with a bit of knowledge can go a long way.

Installing the latest chipset driver, and the RST Tools, will ensure optimal performance of the SSD. but rather than taking my advice, I suggest the OP takes a look here:

http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sand...7-and-ssds-to-clone-windows-or-reinstall.aspx

Install A Solid State Drive In Your Notebook

Keep in mind, also, Digibucc, that many retail drives include software and such that very specifically is to be used to ttranser the OS from an existing mechanical drive to an SSD, and if there really was alot fo issues stemming from the cloning process, they would not have packages like that, simply to eliminate tech support costs. While not the optimal option, cloning is NOT a bad thing, as long as you take the nessecary steps.

 

Moving to SSD. Clone or not to clone?

Part of how I keep my SSD fast is to clone it to a platter drive, then clone back. You just want to make sure that you are only cloning teh used space, and not the empty space.


So, again, I isntall Windows to the ssd. Clone to platter drive, then clone back.

I am not sure why, but if I do not do the clone step, the drive's speed, and windows booting, decreases substantially within a week or so.

I am using a Corsair F60 SSD and a Western Digital 500AAKS as drives, and using the free version of Acronis that WD provides, if any of that matters. I am not sure, at this point.

 

Cloned SSD suddenly stopped being bootable

Offhand, I don't quite get why it would stop being bootable either......unless there is more to the story.

Cloning: one step process; the destination drive is immediately bootable if the cloning succeeds. Usually done when all is well and you're just swapping from a working drive to another drive, for whatever reason.

Imaging: two step process; step 1: make an image file and save it somewhere, perhaps an external. Step 2; formally restore that image file to the destination drive, at which point it becomes bootable if successful. There might be 10 seconds between the 2 steps or 10 years. More of a proper "backup" than cloning, but accomplishes the same thing.

I assume you cloned but did not image?

It seems cloning has more frequent issues than imaging, at least as seen on this forum.

You could always try another cloning app....Macrium, Aomei, others that I can't think of right now.