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Clone HDD to SSD without Sata to usb cable and only one SATA slot available in laptop

I would like to copy everything from my laptop (literally everything - windows 10, microsoft office, software, drivers, files etc.) from the HDD on my dell latitude e6530 to a Samsung EVO 850 500gb SSD.

Note: I do have an external hard drive that I can connect to my laptop using a USB. My laptop only has space for one storage drive at a time so I'm planning on cloning everything onto the external hard drive from my HDD on the laptop ->then swap the hdd in my laptop for the new SSD -> finally I would clone the previously copied data now on the external hard drive to the SSD now in my laptop

Please can some one advise the best way to do this?

I've heard of people having difficulties when cloning windows 10?

Mike

Zac Harris

If both the source and destination disk drives are the same size, in your case (500Gb) you could use Clonezilla. It's free Open-Source software that works excellent for doing a bit-for-bit copy of the hard drive. It's also wicked fast.
Both disks don't have to be the same you just can't clone a larger size drive to a smaller size drive in storage space. You can go smaller to larger though. You would just have to do some partition work after the fact to open up the rest of the disk for use.

You can get Clonezilla here.

mikes6058

ASKER

Presumably it will be fine as the the original HDD is 250gb and the SSD in 500gb

So I can copy back everything from the external hard drive to the SSD once I've slotted it into my laptop - including windows 10, office etc?

Zac Harris

Well, you would just clone the existing laptop with the disk in place then restore that image to the new SSD. If you have already copied the data off to an external drive and no longer have access to the original hard drive then cloning is out.

Also, if you move data like that the programs like office and other installed programs won't work correctly on the new drive.

mikes6058

ASKER

The original hard drive is currently in the laptop so it should be possible right?

Zac Harris

Yes, in that case you can just create a bootable USB Clonezilla and take an image of the existing system then replace the hard drive in the laptop and restore the image to the new disk.

mikes6058

ASKER

great, I don't suppose you have any links that will explain this in steps?

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Zac Harris

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mikes6058

ASKER

That would be great, mikes6058@gmail.com

Cheers for that

Zac Harris

Ok, just sent the guide to you. It covers multiple ways to create the media, you will only need to be concerned with the section starting on Page 11 since you are using a PC.

mikes6058

ASKER

Excellent, went above and beyond what was required.

Zac Harris

Thanks! I try to help when I can...

mikes6058

ASKER

Do I just copy the steps when cloning from the external drive to the SSD?