The PROPER Steps to Cloning and Replacing your M.2 NVME SSD Hard Drive! See Pinned Comment!

Hey Guys! I am back with another tutorial and TODAY, we are talking ALL THINGS M.2 NVME SSD's. From cloning, replacing, installing, enclosures, extending / moving partitions, to everything in between! If you have ANY questions or concerns, comment down below. Here is what you are going to need:
NOTE: You are going to want to make sure that BITLOCKER is DISABLED before performing this procedure. If it is ENABLED before the clone, you might have an issue with extending the partitions later on. So make sure BITLOCKER is DISABLED. You can disable it by going into Privacy and Security - Device Encryption - Set it to OFF.
Remember, DO NOT erase or do anything with your original drive until you are FULLY DONE WITH THIS PROCEDURE. That way, if you do run into an issue, you can stick your old drive back in and try again.
Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for the support.
If you don't have an open M.2 NVME slot on your motherboard to clone to, you will need an M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure ( Highly recommend one even if you do, so you can use an M.2 drive as an external drive ):
amzn.to/3tidvPC
It also appears there is an updated version of the M.2 NVME enclosure I linked above this.
amzn.to/3zp8Yhx
Macrium Reflect, which is what we will use to clone our old drive:
www.macrium.com/reflectfree
In the possibility that you'll need to move partitions around:
www.partitionwizard.com/free-...
( You only need mini partition wizard, you don't have to download anything else it recommends during the install process ).
The 2TB M.2 NVME SSD that I used:
amzn.to/3tfjvIY
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My Main PC and Setup Gear:
Case ~ Omen 45L: www.omen.com/us/en/desktops/o...
MoBo ~ GigaByte AORUS X570 Elite: amzn.to/3fD1f5b
CPU ~ AMD 5900x: amzn.to/3SJNfsQ
CPU Cooler ~ NZXT Z73 360mm: amzn.to/3zUq1bc
GPU ~ EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra: Check EVGA's Website...
RAM ~ Crucial Ballistix: amzn.to/3ytFw87 ( x2 )
PSU ~ Antec 850w Gold: amzn.to/3u5ueDT
PSU Extensions ~ AsiaHorse: amzn.to/3sJnkpT
SSD ~ WD Blue 2.5": amzn.to/3yvw0kX ( 2TB )
SSD ~ WD Black m.2 NVME: amzn.to/3c0yONF ( 1TB )
Fan ~ 120mm Noctua NF-F12: amzn.to/3bFriHO ( x3 / RAD )
Fan ~ 120mm Lian Li Infinity SL 120: amzn.to/3B8gwqZ ( x2 / 3-pack )
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Twitch ~ / dankamyouknow
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Business Inquiries:
[e-mail]
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Chapters:
0:00 - 1:02: Intro
1:02 - 3:47: What You Are Going To Need
3:47 - 6:42: A Few Important Notes On The Process
6:42 - 10:40: If You Are Using An M.2 Enclosure To Clone
10:40 - 14:43: If You Have An Open M.2 NVME Slot On Your Motherboard
14:43 - 20:34: The Process of Cloning Your M.2 NVME SSD Boot Drive
20:34 - 21:14: Cloning Progress and Once It's Finished
21:14 - 22:46: A Few Notes After The Process Finishes
22:46 - 23:17: Replacing the Cloned M.2 Drive and First Boot
23:17 - 29:47: Extending Volumes and Moving Partitions
29:47 - 30:39: Restarting and Verifying Partitions Successfully Moved / Extended
30:39 - 36:05: Erasing / Cleaning the OLD Drive
36:05 - 37:07: Outro - THANKS FOR WATCHING!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

- IMPORTANT: You are going to want to make sure that BITLOCKER is DISABLED before performing this procedure. If it is ENABLED before the clone, you might have an issue with extending the partitions later on. So make sure BITLOCKER is DISABLED. You can disable it by going into Privacy and Security -> Device Encryption -> Set it to OFF. UPDATE: 7/15/2023: "Reflect 8 has a free edition (for non-commercial use) and can resize partitions when doing the cloning process. This saves a lot of time." There may be a way to resize partitions within reflect itself, although I have not tried it myself. Curious if you can actually MOVE partitions around. Will need to test or feedback on if it works. UPDATE: 4/17/2023: It also appears that Macrium Reflect is no longer completely free (I am getting mixed answers on if it's actually not free), but has a FREE Trial until it becomes payed for. If you want to follow these steps, sign up for the free trial, perform the steps in this video, and then CANCEL your free trial! Set a reminder or alarm to remind yourself to CANCEL the free trial UPDATE: 3/1/2023: It appears that MiniTool Partition Wizard may no longer be free to use ( some report it's still free so I am confused ). So if you do need to move partitions after cloning ( covered at 23:19 ), you'll want to use the program: "Easy US Partition Master" OR "AOEMI Partition Assistant" , which should be free, according to a recent commenter who had success with using it. The procedure for using those programs should be similar to what I covered. NOTES: - How long a clone will take will vary on which method you’re using to clone and the capacity of your current drive. If the new drive is installed on the motherboard, then the process will most likely go a lot quicker, while cloning with the enclosure could take significantly longer. - IMPORTANT: You are going to want to make sure that BITLOCKER is DISABLED before performing this procedure. If it is ENABLED before the clone, you might have an issue with extending the partitions later on. So make sure BITLOCKER is DISABLED. You can disable it by going into Privacy and Security -> Device Encryption -> Set it to OFF. - Remember, DO NOT erase or do anything with your original drive until you are FULLY DONE WITH THIS PROCEDURE. I would HIGHLY recommend trying your new cloned drive in the SAME SLOT in the system BY ITSELF ( original cloned drive removed for this test ), to verify that it's working properly. That way, if you do run into an issue, you can stick your old drive back in and try again. - Thanks to rmpc50 for the comment. There appears to be a setting to bypass having to move partitions: "Hi Dan. I don't know if this has already been pointed out in the comments, but at 19:38 in your video, when you selected the partitions on the source disk, the "copy partition" option becomes available on the destination disk. If you click on that, the partitions will not only be copied to the destination disk, but it will also reveal an option to "shrink or extend to fill the target disk". Thus eliminating the need for the MiniTool partition software. I believe this feature only became available in Reflect 8." - If you are planning on SELLING your old drive after, please be aware that if you CLEANED your drive as I have discussed, it may still be possible to recover the contents of the drive. Protect yourself from Identity theft: Thanks to Josh Payne for this comment: "Technically the partitions are gone, yes, but the old files are still there on the SSD somewhere, were not overwritten or otherwise destroyed, and technically they could be recovered with appropriate tools. Even when you later re-initialize the drive and perform a quick format, you're not actually overwriting the old files, only the partitions and directory info. If someone were to then sell the drive, a tech savvy recipient could likely recover all of the data with easily available utilities and tools. It would be responsible for you to make this mention, and to possibly suggest tools or techniques they could use to try to purge the old data. Such as by using whole disk encryption on an SSD, all of the data on the drive will become unreadable without the decryption key. Then by formatting the drive and removing the encryption key, the SSD can be securely disposed of without the risk of data remaining on the drive. It's a 2-step process but it works with SSDs, which can be tricky to guarantee they are 'wiped'." Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for the support.

[@tylerperry6419]

Hi. I am getting ready to install a Samsung 970 Evo plus in an HP Omen desktop. I saw online somewhere about disabling some sort of onboard memory on a Samsung model drive. Have you heard anything like that? Thank you

[@tylerperry6419]

Intel Optane memory is what the post was referring to.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

I am not aware of what you may have to disable, but I doubt they are referring to bitlocker

[@TheWLM13]

It took about 1hr and 1/2 to clone the 1tb to 2tb M2 ssd and right at the end failed. Error 8 I think it was an encryption thing. Now do I have to erase the new ssd before I do this again? When I go into devices the new M2 was not recognized

[@TheWLM13]

Its also a Samsung evo plus

[@mrgodspeed]

To anyone scrolling through recent comments to see if this genuinely works, it does I, a beginning PC owner, succesfully replaced my PC's SSD with no issue following his instructions, which were on point and very well detailed

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much!!!

[@dionxyo]

Anyone that's looking for the right video to replace their SSD, THIS IS THE ONE!!! This video was so helpful, and the step-by-step process makes it very easy to understand. I had no issues and everything turned out great. Thank you DanKam!!!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and thank you for such a nice comment and high praise, it is very much appreciated. 🤝

[@vortexc3326]

Can this work if I have a hdd can I still clone my stuff to my new ssd?

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Yup!

[@Acid42]

Your step-by-step explanation is easy to follow and dispels any fear of messing things up by mistake. Followed every step to the letter and installed a new drive. Thank you for making the time to record this comprehensive video. It is very much appreciated by those of us who fear messing about with the innards of our machines. Subscribed!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much for the sub and kind words! I am happy that this guide was helpful for you my friend.

[@Alactriann]

This is exactly what I've been looking for! Got a new drive since my old one was at capacity. Followed every step and everything came out great on the other end. Informative, to the point, and well paced video!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Really appreciate your comment and I thank you for the feedback! I wanted to make sure I covered everything very concisely, so your comment means a lot. Thank you. 🤝

[@lunchTrey1995]

I was terrified of cloning and had no idea how I was going to swap out my M.2 SSD in my Aurora R7 and you made such a great step by step video Dan! Thank you man truly a life saver!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome Trey! Happy to hear that my video made it easy for you 🤝

[@zacharyschnieders5117]

This is hands down the best tutorial for cloning and replacing an SSD anywhere on youtube! I followed it to the T and it worked absolutely perfect. Thanks 🎉

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you!!! Really appreciate your comment

[@jamesony]

This was incredibly helpful. Went through step by step minute by minute and rewatched 30 times... without this video I would be screwed... Thanks a bunch

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Wow, thank you so much Harry for the kind words. Happy to hear to worked out well for you.

[@Dalroth1992]

I had absolutely no idea how to do this when I bought my new 2tb nvme on a whim and thought there must be a way to do this - this guide is incredibly helpful and very detailed, takes you through the whole process perfectly and resulted in the whole thing taking less than 30 minutes (excluding the cloning time) for me. Thank you very much!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! 🤝🤝🤝

[@DrRove]

I've never had a tutorial go so smoothly. Thank you so much!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡

[@blackrifle6736]

Dan, Thank You for returning here and updating this vital information. This is critical and sadly others do not bother to do so. You have my respect and Black Bell sub. Cheers!*

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much for the Super Thanks AND the subscription. It is very much appreciated my friend and definitely helps support future videos like this one. I wouldn’t be able to update this video if it weren’t for you guys! With all of the input I have received, I wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page and that crucial changes / findings, were well documented. Thanks for your comment my friend.

[@blackrifle6736]

@@DanKamYouKnow *My pleasure. Cheers!*

[@DanKamYouKnow]

🤝🤝🤝

[@willmayfield6170]

Fantastic tutorial! This walked me through revitalizing an old HP Envy laptop. It was super slow with 100% utilization on the HD due to an old 2.5" SATA HD. I added a M.2 SSD, cloned it, and updated the BIOS to boot on the M.2. The old laptop boots up in less than a minute vs 10 minutes before when using the old 2.5" SATA HD. Thank you for the clear guidance! It is evident that you put a lot of time and effort into this tutorial.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much! Really appreciate the feedback. This video took quite a while to make so I appreciate your comment.

[@reginaldboyd8665]

I followed your directions and successfully swapped my 500GB SSD that came with my prebuilt PC with a 2TB SSD that I bought originally for my PS5. I applaud your effort and you earned yourself a subscriber👍🏾

[@DanKamYouKnow]

That’s awesome to hear! Thank you for your comment and thanks for the sub! 🤝

[@thomasgasperlin7193]

Absolutely amazing video and super easy to follow! Thank you so much Dan!!! As someone pointed out before I was able to select the copy partitions option to avoid that headache! Something to note is that Macrium Reflect no longer has a free option. It does have a free 30-day trial which worked amazing, but no fully free version anymore. I was extremely happy with the fact that all 750+ gigabytes of my data cloned in only 30 minutes, and I was able to find out some amazing information about my PC that I had not previously known. Like how it has 3 total SSD slots instead of just one like I originally thought it would have! Like I said before, amazing video and super happy with the end results! Definitely subscribed after watching this!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you, those notes have been in the pinned comment.

[@leestone6075]

Thanks! - Replaced wife's old 256 gb ssd with a 1TB Samsung Evo on her Dell XPS 8930 and upgraded from 16 to 32 gb on her memory - your video was very instructive and worked flawlessly. great videos!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much for your donation, Lee!! I am so happy that my video was helpful for you. Thanks for taking the time to write out a comment as well! Have a great day and enjoy your new faster drive!

[@silvertiger1324]

Great indepth video. Love that you took the time to make this into a single video to explain in simple detail how to accomplish the toughest parts of cloning. Namely how to move around and extend the partitions after cloning. I would have been lost trying to figure out there was more work to be done after the initial cloning. Used this technique for a NVME and a 2.5 SSD clone since my laptop uses both styles. Perfection! Thank you!🤘😎

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Appreciate your comment my friend, thank you.

[@DrJaredNelson]

Literally one of THE BEST tutorials I have ever done. Step by step and super clear instructions. No way to mess this up. A few notes: 1. Macrium Reflect is no longer free. I didn't have to put in payment info, just email, address, etc. You get a free trial to use for 30 days, although you shouldn't need more than 30 days to complete this process. 2. I made the mistake of plugging in the SSD into a USB 2.0 slot instead of a USB 3.0 slot. It would have taken 5 days for the cloning process to complete if I left it in the USB 2.0 slot with just 230GB of storage needed to be transferred. Using a USB 3.0 slot, the cloning process took 20 minutes. Make sure you plug the SSD drive from the purchase link in the description into a USB 3.0 slot or USB-C. Otherwise, incredible video. Very well done.

[@-BUGZ-]

Been using a 1TB intel 660p M.2 for over 3 years now and i have a Z690 board with 4 SSD slots so I’m so ready to upgrade to a faster SSD, I literally downloaded your video and saved it because this is by far the best walkthrough I’ve seen, im going to a samsung 970 evo plus because it’s way faster, a generation ahead of the intel 660 and only like $69 USD. Im going to just use the m.2 in the slot without that extra part with USB connection because i really don’t want to buy anything else lol i have boxes upon boxes from all of my upgrades across 2 different PCs and I’ve spent so much time and money already on it, hope it works out for me. Wish me luck and thanks for the video!! Already upgraded to 12th gen intel with the 12700K and added more RAM for 32Gigs now it’s SSD time until i can find a good upgrade from this 2080Ti ive been stuck with (still a beast, the FTW3 so it’s a collectors item to me now) but that will be next. Thank you sir.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much! Let me know if you have any questions during the process.

[@rmpc50]

Hi Dan. I don't know if this has already been pointed out in the comments, but at 19:38 in your video, when you selected the partitions on the source disk, the "copy partition" option becomes available on the destination disk. If you click on that, the partitions will not only be copied to the destination disk, but it will also reveal an option to "shrink or extend to fill the target disk". Thus eliminating the need for the minitool partition software. I believe this feature only became available in Reflect 8.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Interesting!! I will edit my pinned comment to include this information. Funny thing is, is that I’ve used Macrium before in the past it’s never done this before when cloning. So I made sure that I filmed the part about moving partitions. Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it.

[@abab0015]

You are a good man rmpc50

[@claytonpuranen]

Thank you so much for your comment. You saved my cloning process! For my newly installed m.2 I was not allowed to move my partition to the right with the minitool partition wizard or any other free software I tried, so therefore I was not able to extend my other partition to include all the free space, and I could not find any information on why this is and how to fix it on the internet or other youtube videos. This comment did the trick though! I Had to clear the newly cloned M.2 and re-clone it to get that option again in Macrium in case anyone else has the same issue as me.

[@ricardobribiescas]

Dumb of me didn't see your comments I was pointing this out, well rather asking him.

[@GlitchmanVGM]

@@claytonpuranen Thanks, this is good to know!

[@Bububixby]

After look at other videos and getting stumped on “you need to pay now”. Im so happy i found yours! You were very specific and easy to understand! Now I can enjoy my new 2TB NVME drive, thanks!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

That’s awesome to hear! Glad it was helpful for you my friend.

[@BikerDash]

Again, thank you for this video. Update on the Lenovo and the 4TB SSD installation. I was having an issue with the Lenovo Loop happening, but I took the laptop to a shop that took care of that. That one now wooks excellent. I just followed these instructions to clone the 1TD drive in my new MSI laptop. Everything worked perfectly and now I got the drivespace I need. (at this time, anyways... will be watching this again when I go up to an 8TB drive) Bless you, good Sir, for providing this tutorial for those of us in need of it.

[@ThiccWeenus]

Thank you for being so clear and detailed in this video. I was so nervous about switching out my SSD, but your video was a perfect guide. Again thank you so much.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! I’m glad my video gave you that push to get it done, great job! It can definitely be a daunting task, so I totally understand. Thank you for your comment.

[@markh351]

When changing out hard drives, I generally just do a full OS re-install from scratch with the latest drivers for everything so that things are all minty fresh again but thanks for this detailed and concise guide in case I decide to clone instead in the future! Much appreciated Dan.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Appreciate you Mark!

[@AndyioL0]

Total noob here. In the process of upgrading ssds. How do I do a full os reinstall?

[@markh351]

@@AndyioL0 Hi Andy, while there are some variations of what to do based on the exact hardware in your PC, this handy dandy guide should help get you rolling! It's a bit older and deals with Windows 10 but still pretty solid. Best of luck. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5fam3yJotB4gK8

[@RobBCactive]

This becomes more difficult with NVME M.2 slots as you cannot simply remove power connectors to hide the drives from the Windows installer. UEFI BIOS can disable but it may be hidden unless you enable "Fast Boot" or go into other obscure PCI bus related menus. However with a Linux boot/rescue system you can change the partition type IDs in the table to another OS data, then change them back. There's still an issue with the UEFI and recovery partitions, which will need cloning. Some people prefer booting from SATA and keeping C: small, adding NVME M.2 drives for their main software & data later.

[@lenny108]

15:50 It is important to Initialize the new SSD in the disk management and prepare it for use. Otherwise, it will not show up in the clone software.

[@realdealisai]

How can anyone dislike this video . The dude is super helpful and seems so chill. Thanks so much I followed the steps and it worked like a charm . I was going from SSD to m.2 what a huge difference with editing

[@TheJokerManification]

Just wanted to say thank you! I successfully changed out my old boot drive to a brand new M.2 and it went super smoothly. It was my first time messing with M.2s so I was nervous but your vid helped me step by step

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! Happy to hear it all went smoothly for you. 🤝🤝

[@kanive1566]

Great video. I like how you explain things in such detail. My SSD came with a free version of DiscWizard software which cloned the partitions exactly as they were so I didn't have to go through that last step where there was an unallocated partition left. AOMEI Partition is another good free software for creating and combining partitions. You should do a video on how to wipe an SSD completely so the data is not recoverable again. The disk clean command deletes everything but the data is still recoverable. There aren't a lot of good videos on that. I had to go through that over the summer. Keep the vids coming!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thanks my friend! Just curious on why you would want to erase the data so it’s not recoverable?

[@kanive1566]

If you buy an SSD, use it and then find out it's defective (happened to me) and have to return it. Or if you've used it and want to sell it to someone else. You don't want your data recoverable in either case.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

That is very true, never even thought of that.

[@GlitchmanVGM]

This is the BEST video on this topic of cloning drives! Thank you so much for making this video and taking the time to explain everything so calmly and clearly without rushing or skipping any steps. 👍😃

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you!! That is very kind of you to say and I really appreciate it. That is some very high praise and I thank you for it.

[@jointhemasquerade]

Got a larger replacement M.2 earlier in the year and have just plucked up the courage to clone my existing drive. Wasn't looking forwarded to it due to past experience, however, this video was perfect and explained everything very clearly. Thanks very much. Anyone getting the "Checking media..." message on boot afterwards, it's likely changed the boot order and you'd need to go into bios and put the new drive to the top.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Glad I could help! 🤝

[@bradrickrobinson7452]

My laptop upgrade Journey: The SSK and Macrium Reflect worked like a charm. Yes, my cloning process took 1:38.01 but it was well worth it. My laptop specs on my Acer Aspire A317-53 Gen 11 i3 has more power than the high end laptops that you can buy off the shelf. After watching your video my laptop now has a Crucial 1TB NVME M.2, Crucial M500 2TB SSD and Crucial 16GB RAM (+4GB Hardwired Factory Installed RAM)=20GB Max. I bought the laptop on sale at BestBuy back in 2022 for $400 and now about a little over $300 in upgrades, I have better performance that I could ever imagine considering that my laptop is labeled as old technology. Thanks again for your detailed and easy to follow video and I wish you the best of luck in the years to come. Thanks again!!!

[@SleeplessKyru]

You just made my first SSD swap feel like my 100th! I was scared that I only had one slot but now I have everything transfered and I got a backup SSD for whatever I want :D Thank you!!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! Happy I could help 😎

[@DXcellence718Returns]

Efficient fucking video. Thank you so much. Replaced my 1tb boot to a 2tb and im using the same enclosure for an extra 2tb that amazon accidentally gave me 😂 Also for those wondering just use the macrium free trial its the same. Just do it within 30 days, doesn't ask for any credit card info

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Appreciate that!! And thank you for the update on Macrium. I had so many comments saying that it was going paid in 2024 but the free trial is still working perfectly.

[@DXcellence718Returns]

@@DanKamYouKnow Yup notice alot of people(including myself at first) seemed worried with the new macrium page. All in all still worked. After cloning , my new ssd space was fully usable and didnt have to move partitions or extend like you did.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Great news. Have a good one my dude 🤝

[@matn7743]

Did this clone process today. Back when I built this PC, I purchased a 256Gb gen 3 M.2 for my system drive for $110 AUD. Yesterday I bought this new 2Tb Gen 4 PCIe M.2 drive for $149 Aud. Thanks heaps for the video. Even though I'm pretty confident in my own ability, it's always helpful to watch someone more experienced do it just so I don't forget anything obvious. In my case, I didn't have any issues with slow initial boot, it was lightening fast. And the partitions on the new drive were next to each other, not sandwiched like your example, so I was able to extend the partition using the windows disk management tool, no 3rd party software needed. Thanks again Dan, much appreciated.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! And thank you for the comment!! Very much appreciated. Have a good one 🤝

[@st.paulslutheranchurch5607]

Great Video and wonderful process of walking me through every detail. I used the same M.2 to USB 3.0 case, and Reflect 8.1.7544 (Free for 30 days no CC needed) and within 8 minutes we had copied all partitions from my M.2 NVMe drive (837.68GB) to the USB. Installed the drive into the same M.2 slot on my Aorus MB, now all I've got left is to run MiniTool Partition Tool to finish things up! Great Job, looking into some other projects you got covered. Keep up the great work!!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much!!! Really appreciate the comment.

[@worldrecord54]

Give you another option.. I used a separate flash drive with Rescue Zilla program that I downloaded. Works for Linux and Windows. This way Rescue is on its own drive which will not interfere with cloning process. Works with every drive . Just did Win 11pro from a 500 GB to a 2 terabyte NVME.2 Copied all programs and apps even the paid ones.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Very interesting. Thanks for the information.

[@Grat1616]

WOW!! Awesome video. I stumbled on the cloning software you used and believed I made a good duplicate. Was nervous to do the actual swap but found your vid. You confirmed I had a good copy so dove in and did the actual drive swap - your info on combining partitions was perfect - a flawless upgrade on laptop from 256gb to 2TB!!!!!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Happy to help and thank you for the nice words

[@anaelmayeur9855]

Hi ! After spending almost an entire day on forums and Microsoft help sections, I was still so confused. Thank you for being calm, clear and concised in your explanations. It was really helpful and solved my issue. For reference, I cloned a SATA onto a M.2 PCIe, both installed on my machine. I simply unplugged the source drive when booting with the clone drive. Flawless. Thank you.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome!! I’m glad you were able to diagnose the issue, sounds like a pain in the butt. I appreciate your comment

[@merciless41582]

My HP OMEN 45L has two M.2 slots for NVME SSDs. One has my current 500 GB NVME, the other is empty and says, "Please install SSD with heatsink." Would I still need an enclosure to clone, or can I just install the new NVME SSD into the empty slot and clone from there? How would I go about cloning the old NVME SSD to the new NVME SSD? Sounds like it would be easier if I invest in SATA SSDs. But I won't get the speed that NVME SSDs has.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

If you have an open m2 slot, then you’ll want to utilize that for the cloning process. You will not need an external enclosure to do this process. Follow the steps at 10:42 and continue on like I did. And if you have an open m2 slot, I’d much rather go that route over a SATA SSD, speeds are much faster.

[@warriorxtman2]

MINI TOOL PARTITION WIZARD IS NO LONGER FREE AND THIS DOESN'T WORK WITHOUT PAYMENT. I had to watch a video on disk partition and use the command prompts to get it to work. ALSO you need to format the new m.2 as soon as you put it in the enclosure, before attempting the clone or it won't work. At least not for me.

[@matrixz13]

Could you tell me which video you watched

[@colinhong8152]

Use the old mini tool partition wizard 10.0 version its still free

[@jackclark1994]

Worked perfectly fine for me.

[@jorgiewtf]

Bro, thanks so much man. I followed step by step and it all went super smooth. After making sure my new 2TB 990 Pro is working properly and fully partitioned, I used the 1tb 4th gen that came out of my computer and put in my ps5! Total win all around!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Very happy to hear! Thanks for your comment, appreciate it.

[@Lubmachine1]

Thank you for such a clear and concise explanation on how to clone these drives. I just used your method to the letter and it was a success. I just wanted to thank you for making this video.

[@Zombified-]

YOU KNOWWWWW!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️

[@dagored4077]

Cheers Dan. This video was clear, concise, and easy to follow. I was mainly interested in moving the partitions, and with the help of your timestamp, I had the solution within seconds. You now have a new subscriber in the UK.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Appreciate it my friend!! Cheers from California

[@ControllerSupported]

Dan you tha man! I just upgraded to a samsung 990 pro, and followed your step by step, perfectly accurate steps, and it booted up flawlessly! Thank you so much!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You're welcome! Happy I could help my friend.

[@_tactownpro8817]

thank you for being so clear. as a kinda techy hobbyist I appreciate you including the full process and not assuming people understand small things. very effective tutorial.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and thank you!! My videos are usually a little longer but I want to make sure I explain everything very well. I really appreciate your comment. 🤝

[@monolithic7739]

I found you through your YT shorts and I'm so glad I did, even though I had to use a free 30 day trial for Macrium as they charge for the program now, I was able to clone my old SSD to a new M.2 Thanks!

[@highgyver1696]

you are a god man your step by step coverage helped me so much it saved me from waiting for someone to come over and get my pc running after a hard drive failure i was able to do it myself you earned a sub and a like sir thank you so much

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you for the sub , like, and comment my friend!! Really appreciate it!

[@rickc.6740]

Well done & thanks. Works like a charm. Cloned a 960 EVO 1TB NVME to a 970 EVO PLUS 2TB using a M.2 Orico enclosure. Zero problems & love the part on extending the new drive partition which obviously is important if the target drive is bigger & you don't just want to have 2 partitions. I really enjoyed your video & recommend it for all wishing to undertake this proceedure.👍

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much!

[@dennicklay]

Just used this video as a step-by-step guide to help me with my first ever SSD upgrade. You made it extremely simple to do, however I ran into a problem when trying to reallocate the missing space on the new SSD to the C:Drive. Once I realized that my PC had 3 healthy backups I needed to move, it was super simple to reallocate the extra space!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Happy to hear it helped you out! I’m also glad that you were able to figure out reallocating all of the backups. Thanks for the comment. 🤝

[@3344510]

Excellent instructional video! HUGE HELP!! I used this to clone multiple field computers with the latest Windows updates. Saved me days and days where I would normally have to wait for each PC to apply Windows 22H2 updates. Takes less than 10 minutes on a 512GB drive (clean install). The M.2 encloser is my new favorite accessory!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Happy to hear! And yes, I absolutely love having this enclosure around. I use it ALL the time for external drives

[@calloq1035]

I just did ALL these steps last night, without the help of this video and I had to go through so many different blogs and videos to get all this information. So glad you covered The case when the unallocated data isn’t to the right of the drive you want to extend How to wipe the now-external SSD to make an insanely fast USB drive Mentioned in the description about disabling BitLocker prior to extending the volume. This is definitely the best video for this process

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your comment.

[@ItsPabloBruh]

Just stopping by to say that this video helped from start to finish. Thank you so much for your straightforward explanation and the effort that you put into the video. It is appreciated.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you!!! I appreciate your comment. 🤝

[@davidanderson1451]

I just gotta say Thanks to you for this video. I followed your step by step process to the letter and now everything works great. Can't thank you enough

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome!!! 😎🤝😎

[@NemaseaL2023]

Your easy-to-follow video guide has helped me to successfully clone my SATA SSD onto my new 1TB M.2 NVMe drive. Thank you for creating such a comprehensive video. Much appreciated. Subscribed!👍

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you for your comment and the subscription! Very much appreciated.

[@Wikrin]

This really helped. I was very stressed out trying to tackle this process for the first time and I greatly appreciate your assistance. Great job!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you! I appreciate the comment.

[@RayRiv73]

Finally bought a 2tb samsung 980pro on sale to replace a wd sn550 500gb m.2 and your cloning video helped me greatly! Thank You my guy!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

🤝🤝🤝🤝

[@andyb8403]

Just wanted to say this was a fantastically made video. Super easy to follow, well detailed, great pace, cool dude & cool shirts 🙂 Used this to help replace the SSD on the ROG Ally just now. Super helpful! Ran into 1 little issue with Bitlocker on Windows 11 Home but figured it out & was then able to resize the new partition. Thanks Dan! You know.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

That’s awesome to hear, and thank you so much for the comment!

[@user-yy4gi5pz4i]

A terrific instructional video - I would have never had the courage to do this without dan's step-by-step guidance.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Very happy that I could help, and thanks for the kind words

[@TheKrazyblade]

I just switched out/cloned a 500gb that came stock with PC to a new 2tb SSD. This video gave me all the info and tools I needed. Thanks and great video!!!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Glad it helped! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, I appreciate it!

[@marksmith8118]

Finally someone with the how to on this procedure. i was wondering for a while the small details about doing this. I was successful in cloning my 512gb NVMe that came with my new TP01-2022, (only has the 1 SSD slot), to a 4gb NVME. It has windows 11 home and worked great. I didnt have to change the partitions afterwards as they came out right, maybe the newer OS fixes that. I now am going to copy the new 4gb SSD in board, (only is 184gb total), to the old 512gb since i have now updated all the windows software and HP/AMD Firmware so that i will have a backup if ever needed. Thanks for your time and detail on this video. Excellent job!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thanks so much for your comment and kind words Mark, I am happy that it all worked out for you, especially not having to move partitions around, that can be a bit of a pain. I really hope Windows 11 is the reason it’s changed and not some other random reason. Thanks again

[@XombieNinja]

your vid made this process extremely painless. i've never swapped stuff like this before and it worked perfectly. much appreciated.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

👌👌👌

[@TheRealSillyGooseGaming]

Hey Dan, thank you for this video. This video was extremly helpful and made my cloning experience a sinch. I will be refering back to this video when I update the remaining NVMe in my rig and will definetly pass this video on to others I know that work on their PC's. I like how detailed you are which answered any questions that would arise.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Happy to hear! Hopefully everything works out smoothly for you.

[@snigbylife]

Thank you for the tutorial. Followed it upgrading my completely full 128 GB c-drive to a 1 TB. Followed along and it worked like a charm.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and thank you for the comment. I am happy it all turned out smooth for you.

[@P_Daddy11]

I just followed these steps for my m.2 upgrade from a 500gb to a 1tb and all worked perfectly!! Thanks DanKam!!!

[@larrysigmon2582]

This was great! Easy to follow and worked like a charm. I upgraded a 500 GB C: drive to 2 TB and a 1TB D: drive to 2 TB, as well. Thanks again.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thanks Larry! Happy to hear 🤝

[@samratkalasagar4567]

Thank you for detailed video, i checked too many videos on cloning os on yt but always getting end up with 2 drives. Your video is very detailed and informative. This resolved my issue. Thank you❤

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching

[@Yucca-xv7uz]

Thanks for the thorough walk through, plenty of little details, really helpful. Allowed me to with pros and cons of pretty much every step. Slow enough to follow without being a drudge. Well done.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you! Your comment is very much appreciated.

[@garethseaborne1416]

Thanks for this video. I followed it step by step and had no problems installing a new, bigger NVME drive.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and I’m so happy that it all worked out for you!!

[@djredbandz]

Had to give a like and comment on this one! This video was very helpful. Made a mistake, and wiped out my external in the process of cloning. I watched this video and bought a ssk enclosure for $18.99 which saved me some money (Services for cloning and installing ssd was $200-$300). Thanks man

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and thank you for the comment! I’m happy you did it yourself and saved all that money!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

$200-$300 for cloning and installing is crazy! I’m in the wrong business

[@djredbandz]

Saved me money in the cloning process but to retrieve my data from my external I wiped out is a pricey mistake (I know not to ever do that again). $300-$1400 to recover my data

[@EtherEcho]

Thank you so much Dan for this in depth guide! I did have split partitions and ended up using AOMEI Partition Assistant (free) to merge (extend) partitions and everything went smoothly. I also looked at more of your content and you are knocking it out of the park! New sub here and looking forward to more. Cheers!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you for the sub!! AOEMI is a great program and I actually strongly considered it for this video

[@juanvera4122]

Thank you for the BEST concise video on cloning. I’ve done it before and have run into issues with having to extend. I even paid for a program to extend it for me. But THANK YOU so much. I’m saving this video for future tech reference.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and thank you for such kind words! I really appreciate the high praise. Thank you so much.

[@user-wj7pn3je8g]

Awesome video! followed steps by step and was successful first time thru. The screen by screen instruction was exactly detailed the right amount. Tools you mensioned worked great. Its pretty rare that every steps goes without a hitch, and you hit it. Thanks!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! Thanks for the comment

[@JadeEye3314]

Heyo! This video is gonna definitely come in clutch when I upgrade my boot drive, it has SO little space rn! Thanks for the clear and easy to follow instructions!!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Happy to hear! Thanks for the comment and kind words 🤝

[@mickieee]

I just wanted to say thank you, and that this video was a 10/10. You went through everything thouroughly, and explain everything really well, so that's it's easily understandable for non-tech people, like me. I was very nervous of adding a new SSD, cloning and wiping my old one to use as a secondary hardrive in my laptop, and you held my hand through the way and made it super simple and quick!! thanks :)

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such a nice comment! Happy that my video helped.

[@keithelmo]

Thanks for your video. This has guided me through my complete clone and back up and replacement of my Laptop drive from 250gb to 1tb. Next is to get a second 1tb to clone occasionally to keep as a backup. Until then I will keep the old one, then use that as a speedy flash drive as recommended. I have subscribed to your channel and really appreciate the video. Great and comprehensive. I definitely recommend your guidance!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Happy I can help! And thank you very much for the sub, much appreciated.

[@TheSpicyMeatball.]

Phenomenal tutorial! Your channel deserves more subscribers for the high quality content you put out. Thanks man!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much! Really appreciate your kind words.

[@tlstechtalk]

I followed several youtube guides, but this was the only one that allowed my clone to boot to Windows 10. Thank you to Dan, and to Macrium.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Awesome!!! Happy to hear

[@armthesharks6904]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I just did this, and I am generally tech ignorant as I had my friends build the PC and I just don't mess with it, but I installed this and got it all set up myself with your video. This is awesome.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome!! Happy I could guide you through the process my friend, appreciate the comment

[@kshemanth]

Worked like magic! Only issue I had was with Mini Tool Partition manager when I downloaded it the first time, it asked to buy to complete the partition. I downloaded it again and this time it let me partition the drive. Thanks a lot!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome! Yeah, I really didn’t like the fact that I had to use MiniTool for this tutorial as it’s not the greatest program, and very spammy. At least it works though. Glad you got it going smoothly

[@amandaiverson1936]

Thank you so much!!! I am planning on cloning my 256 g to a 2 tb ssd in the near future. This process made me very nervous, but your video has shown me that even I can do this.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Easy process! You got this 🤝👍🏻🤝👍🏻

[@CharlesCRussell]

Outstanding tutorial, worked perfectly in replacing my small boot SSD with a 2TB Crucial SSD. Before watching this video I tried using the free Acronis software that is provided by Crucial, and the cloned drive WOULD NOT BOOT. After restoring the small SSD, and going through DanKamYouKnow's steps, everything worked perfectly the first time. THANKS!

[@jayner2020]

Awesome process. I had 2 M2 slots so no need for an external connection and I had enough room so I didn't need to remove the GPU. Great job Dan!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much Jay!

[@Rich222]

I RARELY ever comment or like on videos but you deserve it man. I just cloned out a laptop for someone who only had 1 slot for storage. She was at 500 gigs and now at 2tb 🤟🏽

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Happy to hear that it worked out for you!! Appreciate you taking the time to comment 🫡🤝

[@paddlesouth]

Best instruction video out there. Moved from a 500gb to 2 TB no issues.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much! Really appreciate that

[@jazzman9469]

Just an amazing walk through video!!! I am going to be follow these steps on my new computer build. Thank you for making it seem so easy for a newbie like me.

[@williamruff1419]

This viseo was bang on. Simple to follow and accurate. Kudos and thanks for making such a useful video.

[@reiser50]

thank you so much ! its the best video that covers everything you need to know !. I just did replace my old M.2 NVME SSD for my new one and you helped me a lot !

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Very happy to hear!! Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it.

[@rolandochapa5873]

This video hit everything spot on for my needs. Thank you very much for taking the time to share the knowledge.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much Rolando! Really happy that this video helped you out 👍🏻

[@Music17253]

Excellent video, I followed all the steps and cloned my drive perfectly (went from 500GB to 2TB). For those interested, I used both m.2 slots on my motherboard and 460GB only took about 25 min.

[@bruceprice3109]

Your video is great. it easy to follow and with all of the examples shown there wasn't a problem in completing this much needed up grade. Thank you.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much!!!!

[@ClintVaughn]

Thanks for this step by step guide! Helped me upgrade from a 500GB to 2TB and everything worked great!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Awesome!!! Happy to hear

[@bryancalcagno4173]

Dan thanks a million! Just received my new HP Omen 17” gamer rig, upgraded to 64GB Crucial and a 4TB WD Black drive. Directions worked to a “T”, even saved my bacon with reminding us that initial boot would take an extra minute. Almost pulled the hardware back out! Cheers 🎉

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Very happy to hear that everything was successful!! Thanks for your comment!

[@beachz101]

Thanks Dan! I just replaced my 2.5 inch ssd with a m.2 drive. Thanks to your great video, it went off without a hitch…it was easy. Thank you sir.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Great to hear! You're welcome

[@therandomguy1279]

Can attest that this works, just did an upgrade on my laptop using an enclosure, did the steps down to the details and completed the upgrade without an issue. Comprehensive and effective. Cheers!

[@JJ0203]

Dan you’re the best. I love your shorts, what a coincidence seeing you here. This worked for me!

[@lawrencerisley7231]

Thanks Dan, the video is extremely helpful. I used Macrium with the free trial and it works great. My partitions needed to be moved around and resized. As others have noted, Macrium allows it just before you do the clone. I dragged mine, left the C: partition for last then filled it in. Those are the options I saw. There is a video by Macrium titled "cloning a disk using Macrium reflect 7" They are up to version 8 now... Thanks again!

[@user-zo3vu3ix9z]

Your video helped me a lot. First time Ive had to clone a NVME hard drive . Thanks man, youve earned a subscriber .

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome and thank you for the sub!!!!

[@johnapollon7402]

Man, thank you so much for this video. Everything went very smoothly with your detailed explanations, I never felt lost at any point. Again thank you, 5/5 would recommend.

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much!

[@koinegreekbible]

Well, I let it do the surface scan (it took four hours), and it reported no errors. I re-booted and re-ran MiniTool Partition Manager, moved the restore partition to the right, expanded the OS partition and Applied - with no error messages or problems. Checked in Disk Manager and all as required! Thank you for your video, without which I would not have been able to do this! Trevor

[@DanKamYouKnow]

You’re welcome Trevor! Very glad to hear that it all worked out for you.

[@richardhanley2078]

Brilliant! Thank you so much, just the info I needed and full success in changing over my old drive for a bigger one without any data loss. Very clear instructions and easy to follow includes everything you could want to do this process and more. Thank you so much again LEGEND!!! 🙂

[@Krokodoko]

This is simply the best tutorial I have ever seen. Very easy to understand, greetings from Germany!

[@DanKamYouKnow]

Thank you so much my friend! Greetings from California 😎