Moving to a new NVMe drive

[Scott]

I have a BitLocker-encrypted Windows 10 system on a 1TB NVMe drive. I've purchased a new 1TB NVMe drive and would like to:

1. Move Windows 10 from the old drive to the new.
2. Shrink the Windows 10 partition, in order to:
3. Expand the EFI partition from 500MB to 1GB.
4. Add a new partition after the Windows partition for installing Linux.
5. Remove Windows from the old drive and use it purely for storage.

I already have BIU installed on the old NVMe drive. I have "Fast startup" disabled as well.

It has been well over a decade since I have thought about this stuff, let alone used the BootIt tools. I'd appreciate confirmation and/or correction on my plans for accomplishing the above. Please also advise on any IFW and/or BIU settings I should be sure to use or avoid for this scenario:

0. Back up the entire old drive to separate media (obviously).
1. Shrink Windows volume on old drive using Windows "Disk Management" tool while in Windows 10 (it does allow this).
2. Move old NVMe drive from mainboard's primary M.2 socket to the secondary M.2 socket.
3. Install new NVMe drive in mainboard's primary M.2 socket.
4. Use Copy function in IFU to copy the old drive to the new.
5. Do a "Clear Sig" on the old drive using BIU.
6. Ensure Windows 10 boots from new drive.
7. Slide Windows partition to make room, then expand EFI partition on new drive from 500MB to 1GB using BIU.
8. Partition old drive as needed using BIU.

I should leave "Change Disk ID and GUIDs" off for step 4, correct? I planned on using the following settings for step 4:

• Set Active

• Copy Disk Signature

• Copy First Track

• Validate Byte-for-Byte

• Copy Unused Sectors

• Assume Original HD

• Unmap/Trim Target Area

I'm assuming that overall procedure will allow me to use Windows 10 on the new drive. I'll worry about adding the Linux partition later. I'm mainly worried about an unexpected Windows 10 boot issue.

PartInfo.png (52.35 KiB) Viewed 3394 times

[crashdummyplus]

i think this is more comfortable...
Create a Win10 Recovery drive on a USB storage in Windows (dont use old USB sticks!). restart.
In BIU change disk type to GPT for the new drive and copy the OS partition with "Partition Work", leaving 1024MB of free space at the top of this drive and select option to add in Boot Menu.
Reboot and enter BIOS to disable the SSD port of the old drive, where BIU and your original OS is installed... enable only the new drive
Save and exit BIOS to restart. If USB doesnt boot, restart and Hit F12 for BIOS direct boot menu. Select Win10 Recovery USB drive for boot.
Then create a new ESP at the free space with the Win10 Recovery tools (command prompt).
Also create the MSR partition with 128 MB.
exit Windows Recovery tools and unplug USB. restart.

Done...Win10 on your new drive should now auto boot.
Check Windows on your new drive if everything works as intended.
Restart and enter BIOS and Reactivate the old drive with BIU installed and set the BootIt Boot loader on the first place in boot sequence. restart.
Boot the new Item in BIU Boot menu. If everything is ok, erase the old drive and install BIU on the new drive if necessary or desired.

If u want to use or try Win11 parallel to your orig. Win10, you could upgrade now this Win10 clone to Win11, aslong your system matches the Win11 requirements. If not forget it.

[Brian K]

Scott, that's a lot of work. What's wrong with making those changes on your current drive and using the new drive as a storage drive?

[Scott]

The new drive is faster and has a lot less wear-and-tear on it, making it more ideal to use as an OS drive.

It's really not a lot of work. My explanation may seem tedious but the only minor hassle is having to swap the drives to make the new one HD0 after the fact.

I did spot a potential error in my steps but I don't have time right now to correct it.

[TeraByte Support]

1 - backup entire drive, remove old, restore entire drive, ensure booting then do any additional work (resize windows, slide, resize efi system), double check booting. Attach old, delete all partitions, change disk guid, create new partition for data.

2 - backup entire drive, remove old, restore efi system with new size, restore windows, ensure booting (if not bcdedit or fixboot.tbs), do any additional work (resize windows), double check booting. Attach old, delete all partition, change disk guid, create new partition for data.

If you're using BIU, you don't have to create a partition ahead of time for OS installs, just let it create one during install (but don't take an option to replace entire drive, just one to add a partition).

[Scott]

Thank you. I had considered but dismissed the possibility of restoring to the new drive, but I'm too many bourbons into my weekend to recall why.

I'll likely go with #1 as you've outlined. Are there any particular geometry and/or restore settings I should be sure to enable or disable?

[TeraByte Support]

no, use simple operations or just take defaults, maybe scale to fit to adjust for any size differences.

[Brian K]

Regarding Change disk Guid on the drive with no partitions. I note tbexplo.tbs (Partition Manager) has an option to Change disk Guid and this requires typing a new Guid. Is there a method to Change disk Guid that doesn't require typing a new Guid?

[Scott]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how do I change the disk GUID after deleting all the partitions on the old drive? It's a Copy/Restore option... Do I have to copy or restore a small partition using that option, and then delete the copied/restored partition?

[crashdummyplus]

There are several options to achieve your goals as already stated above.
The reason why I post here is because some days ago I had the same problem as you, regarding to the SSD-0 port.
On my new laptop, only Port 0 supports the NVMe PCIe 4.0 (=Gen4) standard ...but the manufacturer of my laptop installed a NVMe Gen3 (3.0) with only 500GB in this slot. So i buyed a new 2TB Gen4 NVMe supporting pcie4.0 because this drive is compared to Gen3 up to 50-80% faster in read/write to use with multiple OS installs of W10 & W11.
The only difference between us is that i still want to use the slower drive and its OS. I understand why you want to use the old drive as "data storage". Consider leaving BIU on the old drive because there is no need to move it to the new drive... but you can if you wish.

I worked out a solution, where u dont have to backup your old drive or delete the old ESP before restoring it on the new drive. Basically its a simple copy&paste process... also the EFI System is very simple to handle and to create because it only contains those files of your target windows system ( Windows\Boot\) including BCD. With just a few commands using windows command prompt its very easy and fast to copy or create those EFI files, in case BIU didnt add it to Boot Menu after Copying process (affects Win11 partitions even if "Add to Boot Menu" was checked).

Just tell me if you want to do it that way like i did.