Is a NVME Enclosure Required For Cloning?

I will be cloning my 2.5 inch samsung ssd that is in my dell xps 15 9550 into a new 1tb samsung 970 evo NVME ssd. I decided I will buy that ssd as oppose to the sk hynix. I know samsung has that migration software which works great for cloning. So i will use that as oppose to macrieum reflect.



Now can anyone here confirm... I need to buy this NVME enclosure to do the cloning ? Since im cloning from a 2.5 inch samsung sata to a new NVME drive... i assume i need this?



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MNFH1PX/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?smid=A41S1C1L96T2O&psc=1


I assume if you were to open up the laptop, take out the 32gb m.2 ssd that is already inside it... then put this one in...then close your laptop... then you don't need it and can clone it like that with the samsung migration software?



My plan is this... clone it myself with samsung migration software. Then once its cloned... i bring the nvme ssd, my new laptop battery, and new ram and bring it to repair shop and they will basically open up my laptop and take out the old parts and put in the new parts. I do not want them to do the cloning for me.


So can anyone here confirm I need to buy the nvme enclosure for this process? I assume i should in my case since i don't want to open my up laptop... as this would work if i take out the 32gb m.2 nvme already inside and put this in right? Thus if someone was tech savy, they would not need to buy the enclosure?



But with this... all i have to do is put the nvme ssd in this enclosure, plug it into the usb port... then clone and wait and thats all right? But someone tech savy wouldn't need to buy this as putting it inside the laptop and can do this clone process with taking the 32gb m.2 nvme out right?

I do have a 2.5 inch ssd enclosure if that matters. But i still need to buy the nvme enclosure right?

 

The enclosure may be irrelevant.

Now, I'm not 100% certain, but IIRC, if you plug in any kind of drive (Samsung) or regardless just through a USB connection, Magician will not see that drive as a Samsung drive. I'm pretty sure I tried this with a 2.5" Samsung 860 I originally had used in a USB enclosure (USB 3.0 with type A connector). I think for it to be recognized within Magician, it has to be installed in a SATA slot, maybe e-SATA port (not sure about that one), or an NVMe slot. But I didn't have a USB-Type C enclosure, but not sure that has any affect.

But all this does is stop you from using Magician, and there are other cloning options available. @Spartan@HIDevolution, can you fill in a little bit about cloning and Macrium? Does it work with USB / Flash drives as mentioned in the OP?

 

In another forum, they said the nvme enclosure is not needed... said i could open my laptop, remove the current 32gb m.2 ssd in it with the 1tb nvme samsung one and then power it on and then clone. They did said if you had the nvme enclosure, its easier since you can just connect it like a usb and don't need the remove the 32gb m.2 ssd inside to clone it. But of course, you still need to open the laptop no matter what when you put the 1tb samsung nvme in anyways.


Okay i did not know about that with the magician. If that is the case, then if i want to use magician, then the nvme is then useless?


Well i wanted to buy the 1tb samsung nvme ssd because its the most popular ssd out there and b/c i heard so many good things about the cloning software. I heard macrium is very good as well but in amazon reviews, i read magician is real good, so thats why i want to go with simplest one.


But its correct i dont need the nvme enclosure then right?


Unless i want it to be more simple?

 

I stopped using Samsung drives because they all overheat and thermal throttle no matter what thermal pads you put on them, they are only nice for synthetic benchmarks not great for long term and sustained performance and very annoying that they won't detect your drive if it's in an enclosure of even if the BIOS is set in RAID mode whether or not they are in a RAID Array unlike Western Digital, Crucial, and SanDisk which are fully supported in RAID. Now, with that out of the way, let me boot into my Macrium Reflect Boot disk and see if will detect my Samsung T5 Portable SSD which is connected via the Thunderbolt/USB Type-C Port.

BRB

Edit: Yes it does detect the external SSD connected via the Thunderbolt/USB Type-C port

 

My question is what is on the OLD drive you take out? Is it possibly your system disk? If it is, and you take it out to replace it with a new / empty SSD, your computer wouldn't even boot. My previous post assumes this is the case, and why I mentioned Macrium.

Now, I can safely say I've never used the cloning within Magician, just benching, and to check for firmware updates. When I had an 860 drive in the enclosure Magician did not recognize it as a Samsung drive, and I couldn't update the firmware.

I guess you could try a quick check with any kind of USB flash drive that connects the same manner as the enclosure. If Magician sees it and lets you choose it, then the enclosure might work.

 

Feel free to PM if you need help with this, I can help you over Skype step by step as long as you have the tools (ie. the SSD Enclosure) and I highly recommend getting one of these super fast drives to create the Macrium Reflect Rescue Disk which can also contain the image on a separate partition: Patriot Supersonic Rage Elite FTW

 

I am close to 100% the 32gb m.2 in the system right now only has music in it and nothing else. There is no windows or boot drive in it... im positive of this since last time i saw it was 29.8gb free of 29.8gb before i put any music in. If it had some windows boot... shouldn't it at least use a bit of gb?


The 2.5 inch 250gb samsung ssd has everything in it.


So you suggest not using a nvme enclosure since doing that won't even recognize it using the enclosure right? And just take out the 32 gb m.2 and put the new 1tb nvme in?

 

Have replied on this before.... http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/xps-17-owners-lounge.833204/page-44#post-11047232

Not all encounter same problems a s y00 brother.

Read the guideline (limitations) from Samsung.... https://s3.ap-northeast-2.amazonaws...ration_User_Manual_English_US_revision_v4.pdf

Buy that nvme enclosure and use it as a spare/backup or storage ssd. Should be recognized with the right connection. I't a reason they sell them for etc backup.

 

Unfortunately, you haven't listed what drive is used for what purpose in your laptop. Do you know if the drive that your laptop boots to is the 32GB drive or the 250GB drive?

If you don't know, but would like to, first identify your system's boot drive (assuming not dual booting the computer). From a command prompt, type in and run, "echo %SYSTEMDRIVE%". Remember the output from the command prompt.

Next, use Windows Disk Management Tool to examine where that is located on your laptop. After hitting the Windows Key -> type in "compmgmt.msc" and <Enter> Go to Storage -> Disk Management. In the middle on the lower portion, it will list all drives. Find your boot drive letter from the previous step, and look at what drive it exists on.

This will let you know which drive can be removed.

In regards to using Magician for cloning, it was good @Papusan linked in the Samsung Magician user manual. Under the "Limitations" section, I think #16 is important to investigate.

 

I am positive that my laptop boots with the 2.5 inch 250gb drive. That 32gb only has music... nothing else.

 

Windows has a bad habits put boot partitions on second drive letters. Always disconnect second drive if you clean install new OS. Or make 2 partitions on OS drive. Depends on whom put up the OS on your machine. Dell also love put the Os on old slow spinners instead for the faster ssd.

 

In regards to the new laptop you will be putting this new NVMe drive just to verify that laptop has a spare NVMe slot open, correct? Meaning this new NVMe drive will also NOT be the system drive. And the laptop is currently booting up from some other drive (either another NVMe or other device)?

If that is true, AND you're 100% positive the 32GB drive has nothing but music files and nothing special, the enclosure will work, but why worry about Samsung Magician or any cloning software?

Just get the enclosure, put in the NVMe drive, then just use Windows Backup Tool to that drive OR better yet, use Windows Robocopy** to copy the files onto that drive. Then after you have it installed in your new computer:

A) If Windows Backup, do a restore on the backup back onto that drive.
B) If you used Robocopy method, there shouldn't be much to do as the files should pretty much be available.

** https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+backup+robocopy

 

It's not a new laptop... im using the same dell xps 15 9550 laptop, im putting in a 1tb samsung nvme ssd in it ... and taking out the 32gb m.2 ssd... and also the 2.5 inch 250 gb samsung ssd out... once the cloning is done. I need to take out the 2.5 inch ssd because my new battery that i bought the 84wh... needs that space to fit it in.

 

Sorry about that. I misread "new laptop battery" as "new laptop."

I was confused earlier. I think I'm getting a picture of your current setup. With that said, I think you have enough info from previous posts on how to get the data (all music files) from the 32GB drive to the 1TB drive... assuming that's all you're asking about.

Let's see if this solidifed a more clear picture of your system and what you want to do:

- Dell laptop.
++ It has a total of 2 drives?
++ Drive 1 is a 2.5" 250GB SSD, and it seems to be the system drive.
++ Drive 2 is a M.2 (NVMe??) 32GB

You will be removing the 250gb 2.5" drive AND the 32gb NVMe Drive, and only putting back a 1TB NVMe drive.

a) Since you are removing the boot drive, you will need to make an image / clone of the 250GB drive to the NEW 1TB drive so the system can boot.
b) Since this NEW NVMe drive will be the only drive, you'll also want to somehow transfer the files from the old 32GB drive to the new 1TB drive.
c) There are no other NVME slots available in the machine.
d) You're thinking about purchasing an NVMe to USB converter to hook up the new 1TB NVMe drive for transferring.
e) We also know that Samsung Magician has a warning about limitations where the Target drive of a clone may encounter issues if that Target is a USB drive,

So far, have I summarized correctly?
--

If that's the case, then the following MIGHT work (without the need to purchase an enclosure) if you can free up at least 32-40GB on the SSD after a clone:
1) Take out 32GB NVMe, and put in 1TB NVMe
2) Use a cloning tool like Samsung Magician or Macrium to clone the 250GB drive to the 1TB NVMe drive.
3) Shutdown, and remove all drives except 1TB NVMe. Make sure you can boot from it and the clone looks successful.
4) If step c is successful, shutdown, remove 1TB drive, and put back the 250GB SSD and 32GB M.2 to your original configuration.

Next, if you need to get the 32GB music files:

a) Since the clone was successful, you will need to find room for the 32GB of M.2 files. See if you can uninstall, delete, disk clean-up all files etc. on that 250GB drive to give you 32-40GB of free space. If you can find the space you can proceed. If you cannot find the space, then you'll need to find another way with either an enclosure for your M.2 or for the 2.5" SSD.

b) Using something like robocopy, copy all files from the 32GB drive to the 250GB SSD in a known location
c) Shut down, take out 32GB M.2, and put 1TB NMVe drive back into the system.
d) Re start, COPY (robocopy??) all files you just copied in step b to the 1TB NVME drive. The location doesn't necessarily matter, as you can just put it off a directory of the root, create a new partition or whatever.

--- At this point, the 1TB NVMe should be a clone of the 250GB drive as well as have newly copied files from the 32GB M.2.

e) Shutdown and remove the 2.5" SSD and 32GB M.2 NVMe
f) Replace with 1TB NVMe, and configure system to boot on that drive.
g) Move the 32GB files copied from step d into their final directory location.

Again, if you can't find the room on the 2.5", after cloning you're going to have to find something temporary, like a 32GB flash drive, an M.2 enclosure... just anything you can find to copy the files from the 32GB M.2 to a temp location (on the flash) so it can later be restored to the 1TB NVMe once it becomes the main drive in your system. Or in the case of an M.2 enclosure, just reboot to the 1TB clone and copy the files off of the 32GB sitting within the enclosure.

----
Do those steps make sense? I don't think I missed anything as I just developed the steps in my head, but I think it should get you what you want.

 

Yes Dell has 2 drives and yes those are exactly the 2 drives you described.

Yes I only want to put back the 1TB NVMe drive. The reason is because my laptop has the smaller 56wh battery. And in order to put in the bigger 84wh battery which i currently have... i need to remove the 2.5 in ssd in it to make room for the bigger battery. At the moment, the smaller 56wh battery was removed last week at another repair shop because battery was swollen. So at the moment, im using it now no battery, just plugged in ac charger.

I honestly do not care about the 32gb drive. Its all music files. All I need to do would be copy that entire 32gb drive... which is all music and paste it into the main drive and my music would be there. Then that 32gb m.2 drive would be empty. However, i do not care about that drive. If i were to had it completely deleted, I do not mind. I will most likely not transfer music from it to the new ssd. I will just download the music all over again, no big deal.

My laptop has one spot for a 2.5 inch drive and one spot for a M.2 drive. So yes that is correct. I am pretty close to certain you can't put in 2 NVME drives on my laptop. I mean most laptops even modern ones can't do that right?

I'm thinking about purchasing a NVME enclosure to usb because i figure if i want to clone my 2.5 inch samsung drive the easiest, i do that... without needing to open up my laptop and remove the
32gb m.2 drive and put the new 1TB NVME in. Some ppl did said in another forum, you could easily clone it without the nvme enclosure, just open laptop up and remove the 32gb m.2 and put the new 1tb nvme in.

I do not know much about the samsung magician except i heard ppl say on amazon reviews, its very good software for cloning old drive to new drive. But i dont know if they going from nvme to nvme or not or 2.5 inch to nvme or if they are using a nvme enclosure... or just taking out the m.2 and putting in the nvme enclosure etc.

I will most likely not do nothing with the 32gb m.2 drive. I will not transfer anything from it.


But in the end when i turn on my laptop with only the 1TB NVME inside and both the 2.5 inch ssd and the 32gb m.2 removed... i still need to do something with the boot options? Or should it automatically boot since theres only 1 hard drive inside?


Now... do i need to go to BIOS to do this? My concern is this. Laptop bought is late 2016.. my bios i checked a while back was even older, so my bios is 5 years old or so. I never ever updated bios due to concern of reading about it and how ppl can brick their laptop, so i never did. Will it require something in bios for this?


So you are saying, if i want to make it as simple as possible cloning, get that nvme enclosure? But if you want to open laptop up and take out old m.2 ssd and put in 1tb nvme ssd, do that and don't need to buy that enclosure right?


Now my original plan was to get enclosure... so i clone it without opening laptop. Then once its cloned.. i would take my laptop, my new ram, my new 1tb ssd and my new 84wh battery and bring it to repair shop so they take out the old parts and put in the new parts... without needing to clone it for me. As reason is i dont want someone else looking inside my documents. And that way i dont risk damaging anything if i were to open up my laptop.


But if i do what you say, well i would be opening laptop myself. But is there a big risk of damaging anything like ram, ssd, motherboard etc? Again i never opened my laptop myself, always had computer shop to do it. But i did read online, my laptop the xps 15 9550 is very simple to open and replace parts compared to other laptops.


I do know if i bring my laptop to a shop and have them remove the ram, 2 ssds and put in the new ram, the new ssd and battery, it probably will cost $100 more or less. Again i want to do this myself but concerned i might damage it somehow. But you say its fine trying it? Again, i rather do it myself and learn so in future, i dont have to go to repair shop for it... but it should seem okay to try then on my laptop? I seen some of the videos online on youtube and they look okay but you can't like see exactly how they are removing it due to camera angles... well you could but not that great a picture if you know what i mean?

 

I can't answer that. You might have to make changes within the BIOS. I'm not familiar with your exact laptop model, so you'll have to do some researching. Perhaps you can find a user's manual for the Dell you're using? Or search to see if there's an online video on how to configure your exact laptop for booting to different devices. Or it just may work automatically. I just can't say. Perhaps posting in the "Dell Community" forums and see if someone more familiar with your model has those answers.

If it were me, I'd not bother with the NVMe enclosure. I've previously posted references to what Samsung Magician has stated when you use such a USB device. Why not just put the NVMe in the M.2 slot, clone using Magician and be done (see my steps 1-4 outlined above)?

Finally, in regards to swapping things, again, youtube is your friend. Try searching for videos online on how to swap drives in your model. Odds are someone's posted a step by step way to change out the M.2 drive.

I think we've covered the bases in this thread. You should be able to take it from here. Good luck!

 

Okay so i got the 1tb nvme ssd recently. And i have the 84wh battery already. Im actually waiting to receive the 16gb ram that will be coming in a day or so.


Would you suggest trying to clone it now and put in new battery now? Then if its all set, then put in the ram the next day or whenever the ram comes? Or do all 3 things at once? Again, my laptop right now does not have an internal battery and im using it plugged in.

 

Doesn't matter. Easy to open a second time.
Inside Dell XPS 15 (Skylake, 9550) – disassembly, internal photos and upgrade options

 

Hey all. Want to update here. I did not use a nvme enclosure.


I opened up my laptop, put in the new samsung nvme ssd in it and removed the 32gb m.2 ssd from it. I then put in the screws to close my laptop. I then cloned the new ssd with the samsung data migration. It finished cloning and then powered it off.


Now... I remove the 2.5 inch samsung ssd from my laptop... then turn it back on with only the new samsung nvme tb ssd right? Now my concern is if i do this, it should boot from the new nvme drive right? Or would it be possible its still going to boot from the 2.5 inch slot which would not work since that ssd is removed?


Someone mentioned remove the 2.5 inch ssd first... then power it on... but go straight to bios first. Do you suggest that or just power it on after removing the 2.5 inch ssd?


Now what would happen if i turn on my laptop now with both ssd still there? Since its an exact clone, i assume its still booting from the 2.5 inch ssd drive?


Now my concern was powering it up with the new nvme ssd and then going straight to bios because i heard bios can brick your laptop. I Never done a bios update ever. But would going to bios cause any issue here?


Then again, doing it my way... take out the 2.5 inch ssd and powering it on... should boot it from the new nvme drive?

 

Hey. Do you have any advice on what i do right now? I cloned the new nvme ssd.

 

If you cloned the drive remove both of the old drives and power it on to see what it does. It should boot into windows as if nothing happened and if it didn't then you need to go into the BIOS and change the boot options. If it still doesn't work you need to update your BIOS if you can find a current BIOS from Dell to do so. NVME's weren't around back then and it might be a requirement to update things to get it to work. Another thing in some BIOS configurations is Intel RST being enabled after a BIOS update which will just need to be disabled to boot from the drive.

Personally rather than muck around with everything in the thread I would have just formatted the new drive and did a fresh install of Windows for a faster boot and better file organization rather than copying the existing OS partition that is probably fragmented and not optimized.

Grabbing the files you want to keep from Windows on the old drive is fairly simple and doesn't need to be cloned from the drive. As to keeping the old drive and making use of it an enclosure or adapter would allow connecting it to your router or something on your home network and use it as a repository for files / backups.