My computer currently has a SSD and HDD in it. I bought a new SSD to replace my current SSD. If I take out my HDD and use its SATA cable for the new one to clone my current SSD, will it affect my HDD once I put it back in? Would there be any loss of data/drivers at all? Is there a easier way to do it without buying a transfer dock or SATA to USB Cable?
2 Answers
I'm assuming that the system in question (a) is Windows and (b) boots from the SSD. If it's linux or boots from the HDD, the situation can be different.
If I take out my HDD and use its SATA cable for the new one to clone my current SSD, will it affect my HDD once I put it back in?
There should be no effect on the drive.
Would there be any loss of data/drivers at all?
Not unless those files are manually deleted by a person before, during or after the cloning process.
Is there a easier way to do it without buying a transfer dock or SATA to USB Cable?
No easier way that does not involve a commercial drop-'em-in drive cloning workstation, I think. And if the drive sizes are different, a drop-'em-in clone would require manual intervention later to adjust partition sizes.
A SATA-USB cable costs about $3 on the fleabay (if you can wait 4 weeks for it) and is a good choice for doing drive cloning on systems where there may not be available SATA sockets.
Cloning a disk to another disk will only use the data on that disk. It does not mind if you connect/disconnect another drive.
There is one thing you have to keep in mind though. If you use a clone app that runs inside windows, and you disconnect your HDD, any program that launches from that drive will obviously fail to load in windows too. Although this should not really be a problem, it is something to keep in mind as it is bound to happen.
For example, I have an SSD in my computer and a HDD too. Due to how big my gameslibrary is, I install Steam natively to my HDD. If I were to disconnect my HDD, it would not be able to launch steam.
That said, it is also possible that you have free SATA connectors on your motherboard and possibly even have a spare SATA cable. It does not matter to what SATA connector you plugin the new SSD for the cloning to be done, so that would be the most logical choice.
If you use a cloning app that comes with a USB drive that you can boot from, nothing in this answer is relevant and you can do it safely. For example Acronis True Image can create a bootable usb stick that launches you directly into its cloning app. Its not free though, but that's what we use at work.
So, tl;dr:
Yes, you can safely do this, but if you go to windows first, expect some programs that are installed to this, now missing hdd, to not launch and throw an error instead, which you can ignore.
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Thank you. Not sure if my motherboard has a third SATA and power cable. So If i take out the HDD then plug in the new SSD, then use easyUS free cloning software to clone old SSD which has windows on it. It will safely transfer my OS and Files onto the new one correct? Then I can take out old SSD and put my HDD back in. Will I need to select the new SSD as the boot device in bios or anything or does that info transfer too?– JustinCommented Mar 25, 2019 at 21:29
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Yes, that's basically it. Be sure that you connect the new SSD to the same Sata port as the old SSD (replace the SSD) otherwise windows will not start. Windows 10 is smart enough and probably fixes the issue, but prevention by a SSD swap is better still. You just suggested to connect the HDD to the cable the old SSD was, I recommend against it. Plug the sata cable for the HDD back into the HDD to restore the old situation, then replace the SSD. This way, the OS will still boot device 1,1 and things magically work, even with older versions of Windows.– LPChipCommented Mar 25, 2019 at 21:30
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Feel free to hit the checkmark on the left of one of the answers so others know you no longer need help.– LPChipCommented Mar 26, 2019 at 8:25