Upgrading SSD

1. Should I use the Clone option or do a backup and restore?  a couple of years ago I did a backup and restore.  I restored using the USB Boot
2. If I do a backup and restore, should I do sector by sector or not?  I recall doing the previously.  not sure why I chose that.
3. If I do a backup, should I not exclude any temp files?
4. Last, since my C drive was only 256MB, I have my Outlook OST files and Dropbox folders on separate internal hard drive.  Not sure if that makes a difference.  I assume not, but wanted to note it.

 Mike, to answer your questions in turn:

1. Please make a full Backup regardless of whether you decide to use Clone or use Restore to migrate to the new drive.

   To use Clone you will need the ability to connect your new Samsung 860 Pro SSD along with having the original SSD connected.

   To use Recovery / Restore, then you should remove the old SSD and replace it by the new SSD (assuming both use the same physical connections).

   Using Restore is the safer of the 2 options here, as your original SSD should be set aside, disconnected from the computer and providing is stored safely, away from any chance of any mistakes that could damage or cause corruption etc.
    

2. Sector by Sector mode should not be necessary when making the Backup image - this is only needed for situations where you may have possible disk issues or are trying to recover data later for deleted files etc.  ATI will switch automatically to using SbS mode if bad sectors are encountered on the source drive.
    
3. Temporary files are excluded by default by ATI for all backup tasks - again there should be no need to include these.  If needed you can use a cleanup tool before making your backup, i.e. use such as CCleaner from Piriform to cleanup unwanted temporary data.
    
4. Your Dropbox and Outlook files / folders stored on a separate drive should not be an issue here.  Again I would recommend having a full backup of that second drive before starting this type of migration.  You could also disconnect the second drive for additional security / safety against restoring to the wrong target drive.

ATI 2019 has the ability to do an Active Clone, assuming that you can connect both SSD drives, where provided the target SSD does not already have an OS present, ATI will use the same Microsoft VSS snapshot service as used for Backups to perform the Clone fully within Windows without the need to restart into an offline environment or use the rescue media.
Note: Do not attempt to boot into Windows with both SSD's connected after cloning as these drives will both signal the same drive signature to the OS which can cause issues.

Thanks.  Is there any harm in not excluding the recycle bin, temp files, and the volume information? I'd rather have it all just in case.

No harm (that I am aware of) in including them in the backup - may take a little longer.

Ian

Thanks.  I tried the restore, issue is, the C drive partition is in the middle so I cannot expand it.  The partitions are in order:

• 500MB EFI System
• 40 MB OEM
• 750 MB WINRETOOLS
• OS C Drive
• 450 MB OEM
• 7.58 GB PBR

The 7.5GB I probably do not need.  I believe hat is a Dell Windows recovery partition.  I am not sure about any of the others.  Any ideas what to do?

Mike, this is a common issue and you just need to employ a different tool to resolve it very quickly.

Download a copy of the free MiniTool Partition Wizard, install this then use it to move the partitions that sit after your C: OS partition to the end of the unallocated space, after which you can expand the size of C:

thanks again.  Any idea what these partitions are for?

• 750 MB WINRETOOLS
• 450 MB OEM
• 7.58 GB PBR

The system is a Dell Precision 7910.  I assume the 750 MB is a dell backup tool I uninstalled when I got the machine.  Note sure of the 450.  I think the 7.58GB is probably a older version of windows install image.

Mike, the WinRETools partition is your Windows 10 Recovery Environment.  The 7.58 GB PBR partition is likely the original recovery partition provided by Dell to allow you to reset back to how it was shipped from the factory.  The 450MB OEM partition I would suspect might be Dell Diagnostics tools partition.

Steve,

Thanks for you help.  I used the default settings on the exclusions for a backup.  Restored and in windows.  I downloaded the MiniTool.  One note, when installing it, Malwarebytes blocked a PUP.Optional.FusionCore.  Note sure of that was a false positive or not.  I scanned after and looks like the system is still clean.

I used the MiniTool and dragged those two partitions to the right.  I am pretty sure I did not resize them; however, the 450MB is now 462MB.  Out of curiosity, I went into the MiniTool again to see if I accidentally resized it.  Looks like I cannot resize smaller than the 462MB so that might be a limitation in the MiniTool when it has to manipulate a small partition.  I assume it does not effect anything on that Partition.

I then extended the C drive partition leaving some unallocated space.  On my system, the Samsung Magician will not run so I cannot use their over-provisioning tool.  I have a Xeon and SAS interface so that is an issue with Magician.  The only thing I did not do and I might go back to the MiniTool is move the un-allocated space to the end of the drive.  That si where Samsung put it on my other systems.  Note sure if that makes a difference.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike, glad that you have been able to do the resizing as needed, thanks for the feedback.