Replacing an SSD with something larger or (especially) smaller can be quite tricky. Here's a simple way to do it.
(And yes, it is using a Linux boot stick, duh 😏)
Background
SSDs are simple things. Plug them in and watch them work. But... they're also complicated. Some work better than others. Some don't. I'm still working out the details.
All my experimenting was triggered by a second hand laptop I bought recently. It has a 2 TB SSD... which is pretty damn slow. But replacing an SSD can be a little tricky, as I found out.
So, my challenge turned out to be simple: how to clone an SSD to a similar (but actually smaller) second SSD. On the fly I learned some other stuff.
My laptop is a second hand HP Elitebook 630 G9, which supports NVME 4.0, though it's obviously not the fastest device on the planet.
My old SSD was an NVME PCIE3 drive, the 2Power 2TB SDSSD7016A. Something from Hong Kong, it appears.
The new SSD is an NVME PCIE4 drive, a 2 TB WD Black SN770 (it was available at a steep discount, even though it's overkill). It was a 100 MB smaller than the 2Power SSD (but I didn't know that at first).
How to compare SSDs (and speed testing them)
I'll get back to that later. This post is about replacing an SSD, not about testing the actual speed. I did some testing with CrystalDiskMark, but that doesn't tell you the whole story. (Will be continued.)
Preparing a Rescuezilla flash drive
There's a 99% chance you'll need to adjust the partitions. Rescuezilla includes a copy of GParted, so start by creating a Rescuezilla flash drive
Steps
1. Use a smaller USB stick (< 8 GB) as some PCs can't boot from larger ones
2. Download Rescuezilla
3. Download Rufus
4. Flash the Rescuezilla ISO onto your USB stick using Rufus
5. If you want to use Rescuzilla you have to reboot your computer, and boot Rescuezilla from the flashdrive.
Note: on the HP 630 you need to press Esc during boot to enter the boot menu.
Hardware (autonomous) cloning
Raidsonic (?) sells the Icy Box IB-2913MCL-C31. This little device can either act as a (dual) external SSD drive for your PC, or it can - all by itself - clone either a SATA SSD or NVME SSD to another NVME SSD.
Note that the IB-2913MCL-C31 does SATA -> NVME and NVME -> NVME. There are other models with different functionality! Make sure you buy the right one.
Notes:
1. The source SSD must be the same size or larger than the target SSD when letting the Icy Box do all the work. Although multiple SSDs may be sold as 2 TB, one might have a few megabytes more than the other.
2. After cloning you still may have to move partitions around to use all that extra space on the newer (larger) SSD.
3. The Icy Box doesn't know what parts of the SSD are in use, and what parts not, so the copying time is independent of the actual data used. The Icy Box unit assumes the whole SSD is in use.
4. The Icy Box is at its best when you clone to an identical SSD, or when using it as a (dual) external drive adapter.
5. When using the Icy BOx as an external drive adapter it's better to use USB-C, which is a lot faster than regular USB or USB3.
Steps
1. Switch the Icy Box off
2. Disconnect the Icy Box unit from your PC
3. Place the source SSD in the left slot
4. Place the target NVME SSD in the right slot
5. Switch the Icy Box back on
6. Press the Clone button for five seconds
All lights will flash.
7. Press the Clone button once more, this time just a short press
If the target is the same or larger than the source then the copy process will start. Otherwise, two or four LEDs will flash simultaneously, indicating that there is a problem.
8. After cloning power down the Icy Box
9. Install the cloned SSD and start up your PC
10. Launch the boot menu during startup.
On my HP 630 G9 this required pressing the Esc key during boot. Many other machines require Del or F2 to get into the BIOS.
11. Select and boot Rescuezilla flashdrive
12. Start GParted application
13. Shift a rescue partition to the end using GParted
14. Reboot into Windows
15. Use Disk Management to increase the size of your main Windows partition
Done
Cloning using Rescuezilla (free)
Rescuezilla is free. In the past I used TrueImage and other tools, and I would be willing to buy something, but I strongly dislike subscriptions. Fortunately, Rescuezilla does the job well.
Steps
1. Leave the source SSD in your PC
2. Put the target SSD in an external housing or adapter (for example the Icy Box)
3. Boot your PC into WindowsYou can skip steps 3 to 5 and 8 to 10 if a. your target is larger than your source, and b. you don't mind the cloning taking a bit longer
4. Launch Disk Management
5. Make the source (Windows main) partition as small as possible (leave a couple of megabytes so it can still boot)
6. Reboot into the BIOS boot menu
This requires Del / F2 / Esc during boot (key combo depends on your BIOS)
7. Select and boot the Rescuezilla flash drive
8. Launch GParted application
9. Move any additional partitions (for example a Windows 11 restore partition) closer towards the main partion.
You want to end up with all empty space at the end of the drive
10. Exit GParted
11. Launch Rescuezilla application
11. Clone
Be very careful when selecting source and destination!
12. Shut down
13. Install the target SSD
14. Boot again from the Rescuezilla flash drive
15. Use GParted to move any recovery partitions towards the end of the drive
16. Boot again, this time into Windows
17. Use Disk Management to increase the size of your main Windows partition
Done.
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