Best way to clone M.2 SATA SSD for upgrade

JonnyT

JonnyT

JonnyT

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My laptop has a single M.2 slot, but sadly it is only SATA and not NVMe. I currently have a Samsung PM871 128MB SSD as my boot drive.

What would be the best 500GB M.2 SATA to replace it? I have looked at the WD Blue, Crucial MX500 and the Samsung 860 EVO; is there much of a premium in performance of the Samsung to justify the cost?

What is the best way to replace my M.2 drive without reinstalling, bearing in mind I only have a single M.2 slot?
 
JonnyT said:
What is the best way to replace my M.2 drive without reinstalling, bearing in mind I only have a single M.2 slot?
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If you have a USB HDD with enough space image the existing drive to it. Then install the new M.2 drive and restore the image you've taken to it. The free version of Macrium Reflect will allow you to create a bootable flash drive that'll handle the cloning.

Alternatively, buy a USB enclosure that'll take M.2 drives so you can have both drives connected at once. As they're SATA drives the enclosure shouldn't cost much. Then use Macrium to clone from one drive to the other. When you're done you can put the old drive in the enclosure and have a fast and useful USB drive.
 
bremen1874 said:
If you have a USB HDD with enough space image the existing drive to it. Then install the new M.2 drive and restore the image you've taken to it. The free version of Macrium Reflect will allow you to create a bootable flash drive that'll handle the cloning.

Alternatively, buy a USB enclosure that'll take M.2 drives so you can have both drives connected at once. As they're SATA drives the enclosure shouldn't cost much. Then use Macrium to clone from one drive to the other. When you're done you can put the old drive in the enclosure and have a fast and useful USB drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks, is Macrium Reflect the best software to use to clone then?

Any thoughts on the best 'affordable' 500GB M.2 SATA drive?

WD Blue
Crucial MX500
Samsung 860 EVO
 
JonnyT said:
Thanks, is Macrium Reflect the best software to use to clone then?
Click to expand...
I don't know if it's the best, but it what I use (in free and paid-for versions).

If it doesn't work for you have a look at one of the alternatives. For what you're wanting to do there's no reason for using paid-for software.

Any of those drives will be fine. I'd probably buy the Samsung, but more from habit than anything else.
 
JonnyT said:
Thanks, is Macrium Reflect the best software to use to clone then?

Any thoughts on the best 'affordable' 500GB M.2 SATA drive?

WD Blue
Crucial MX500
Samsung 860 EVO
Click to expand...
Cloning software wise I use "AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition 8.8" and you can use the clone for free. It's superb and never missed a beat. You can also possibly use Acronis True Image as well, but personally, AOMEI only for me. Never let me down and has loads of other stuff as well in it. FGive it a whirl.

Also, reagarding 500GB M2 drives, be aware they're the slowest and only when you go to 1TB and above do you get the fatest speeds, don't ask me why, if you can stretch to a 1TB you'll be futureproofing yourself a lot more but obviously it's money. 1TB Sabrent can be had for £100 and that thing will give you 3500mb read and writes.
 
pugheaven said:
Also, reagarding 500GB M2 drives, be aware they're the slowest and only when you go to 1TB and above do you get the fatest speeds, don't ask me why, if you can stretch to a 1TB you'll be futureproofing yourself a lot more but obviously it's money.
Click to expand...

He's looking at M2 SATA drives, not NVME so the Sabrent won't work. Also the speed difference between 500GB and a 1TB drive is minimal for M2 SATA drives as best I'm aware.
 
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