Windows 10: Trying to clone Windows 10 to different drive. Can I do this on drives I've already installed?

I'm watching tutorial videos explaining how to transfer the contents of one of my drives to another, i.e., cloning Windows 10 so I can set a larger drive to my default drive. The C drive is my default, with 400 GB, and I have a 4 TB D drive installed that I want to transfer my data to and set as my default drive.

Some of the videos have drives connected to external hardware, but the drive I want to transfer Windows onto is already installed and hooked up in my PC. Will this still work using a software like Macrium Reflect? Can I transfer/clone Windows 10 onto a hard drive I've already installed and plugged into the computer? Thanks!

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:)

 

Hard drive/ OS issue

a guy suggested :

• shutdown
• unhooked HDD
• restarted
• yay !!
• reconnected HDD
• restarted
• yay !!

also , try method 3
How do I unlock the drive where Windows 10 is installed?

 

cloneing a drive in windows 10

Hi,I have this question last year,but my os is windows 8.there are my steps of

How to clone drive in winodws

,you can check.hope that helps

First,I download a free tool of MiniTool partition wizard and launch it.

Step 1. Connect SSD to Windows 8. Install and launch MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, select the source hard drive and then choose “Copy”

Step 2. Select a disk to copy the source disk. Here you are expected to choose the SSD (we choose disk 3).

Note: All the data on SSD will be destroyed, so make sure you have done backup in advance. You are allowed to clone a hard drive to a smaller SSD, as long as it can hold all data in the source disk. You can also clone SSD to larger SSD by using MiniTool
Partition Wizard Free Edition.

Step 3. Review the changes you are going to make and also change the copy options if necessary.

Step 4. MiniTool Partition Wizard will tell you how to boot from the destination hard drive. So if you are cloning boot drive to SSD, you need to pay attention.

Step 5. When you are lead to the main interface again, you can preview the changes you are going to make from the middle pane. (Here disk 3 has the same disk layout with disk 1.) If you confirm these
changes, you should click “Apply” to make the changes effective. Hope that helps

 

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

Installing The SSD - Install A Solid State Drive In Your Notebook | Tom's Hardware

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.