Windows 10: How to do a system image restore to new SSD from old SSD?

I have two M.2 SSD's. Removing them is a bit of a pain, I'd like to avoid this if possible.On my old SSD, I have created a system image from the backup settings and stored this on my external hard drive.My new SSD also has Windows on it, but it doesn't have any of my old settings, apps, or files. The settings and apps are all I really care about bridging over, transferring the basic media files is trivial.When I boot from my Windows USB, I enter recovery mode, select troubleshooting, advanced options, and and the option to restore from a system image. I select the new SSD's Windows as the "tar

:)

 

Restore an existing windows 10 system image not to the old failing HDD but to a new SSD

I don't want to do that just yet, cause I want to have 2 systems: one running on an old failing internal HDD, and a new one running on a new external SSD.

Besides, replacing the HDD with the SSD on this computer will be a pain, so I want to take one step at a time.

 

System Image on new SSD

Recently my HDD failed in my laptop, I had previously created a system image on an external hard drive and a repair disk on a DVD. I created the system image in a subfolder of the external drive as it contains multiple system images for different computers.
I have a new SSD that I am installing in place of my failed HDD, I have tried booting with the repair disk and recovering my system image to the new SSD without success, and just tried using AOMEI partition assistant but from what I can see, this software
only installs current OS onto new SSD. I am using a second laptop and want to transfer/recover the system image from my external drive to the new SSD, any ideas on using AOMEI, other software, or figuring out how to properly do this using Windows recovery?

 

Problem restoring system image to new SSD C drive

Hi

XPS 8920 Desktop Win 10 pro with SSD C drive and normal D drive

Dell said they will send a tech to me to change the SSD. (Not waking up after sleep mode).

The old SSD still worked so I used Windows Backup to save a system image onto an ext HD.

The Tech installed the new SSD and then loaded a new win10 from a Dell USB.

After win10 loaded, all my apps & data were gone but the PC was now an exact image (desktop, apps & data) of my sons PC. we are
not networked. (maybe something to do with OneDrive cloud & us both using the same email username in Microsoft account)

That was weird but didn't worry me too much as I had a copy of my system image on the ext HD, ide use that to restore my PC back to normal.

However im having issues doing the recover from the system image on my ext HD, after I select the saved image from drive H and hit the recover button I get this message.

"To restore this computer, windows needs to format the drive that the windows recovery is currently running on. To continue with the restore, shut down this computer and re boot it from a Windows Installation disc or a system repair disc and try the restore
again."

I don't quite understand the message. can someone please explain?

Maybe im going about this all the wrong way, any advice on how to get my PC looking like it was before the SSD change appreciated.

Kindest regards

Mark Gunning