Win 10 / Mint 19 HDD dual boot clone to an SSD
 

Hi Guys
I have an eMachines E732Z laptop with 256Gb HDD dual booted with Windows 10 and Linux Mint 19.
The machine is getting slow so I would like to install a similar size, or bigger SSD. Win 10 was an upgrade from Win 7 so I don't have a Win 10 key.

I was looking at Cloneziller and REDO Backup but have never done this before. I purchased a Dock that MAY help I hope (Attachment 30009).

Can anyone advise me before I begin what to watch out for? I have full backups of files already.

Many thanks in advance.

Is redo still a going project ?.
I never have any luck with moving Windows, so I always take a system image I can restore from - can be done from Win10 as well. The free EasyUS tool for cloning has been mentioned favourably here on LQ, but I've never used it.
For my Linux systems I simply create some partitions and rsync, then fix up fstab and grub later.

The beauty of this for me is that I know all filesystems are readable, and I'm not simply cloning over any errors that may exist.

The link below discusses several different methods of moving windows. Never used any myself, good luck.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/comput...-10-to-an-ssd/

Just to add another angle, I used Macrium Reflect (free edition) to clone a multi-partition dual-boot HDD (15 or so partitions) from a 500GB HDD to a 1TB HDD a couple of years ago. It worked perfectly. YMMV.

Nothing like a clean install of Windows when looking for a performance boost.
There's many things you can try, for instance, make a backup image of the current installation, delete the partitions and reinstall Windows 10 without Windows 7 underneath and see if it still activates.
You can use WinToUSB and see if it activates, as long as it's same version (ex. Home, Pro etc.)
I haven't had issues so far doing a clean install of Windows 10 on systems that were upgraded with the free upgrade. It should have a digital licence. But testing before hand helps decide if you're leery. Better than using a tired installation.

EDIT: Or just go ahead and install it on the new SSD and if you can't activate it, then clone the old, if the old SSD is not actually dead that is.

Hi Guys

As usual your comments have proved to be invaluable. I think I will give cloning a go as the prospect of reinstalling software on two systems (but especially Win) is not appealing.

My Win 10 is healthy and Mint fully updated - the HDD shown no signs of errors.
At the end of the day, I may gain experience and a working system :-D If not I update my installation skills. Win Win LOL.

Many thanks once more.

Do come back on and let us know how you get on.

Hi Guys

Well, it's taken a while. First I had an issue with a new SSD I bought from EBAY. Then, "life" took over.
Eventually I did the job using Clonzilla. I read the instructions 2 or 3 times and then went ahead. The image took some writing as it is over an USB2 link. I left it to get on with the task so can't say exactly how long.
The old drive was removed and the new SSD installed. The write process is fairly easy and again, I left it to do the job.
Once done, the machine is working well with no issues. I am surprised and delighted. I would have no issues with repeating the process in future.
Many thanks for your help and support guys.

Thanks for posting back your solution/results and for your comment below which I expect had a major impact on your success. Amazing the number of posts by users who do NOT do that or not enough. Congrats and good luck.