How to clone/copy Windows to a new drive and why you should
301This is a video on what might seem like a very specific thing, but it might be useful to you to ensure you don't have to install Windows from scratch and have all the headaches that come with doing so.
My Windows drive recently corrupted, which meant I not only couldn't boot into Windows, but also lost all my settings - including all the apps I'd installed, all the folders I'd ordered for quick access, all my favourite settings. Reinstalling Windows is a great way to get a faster boot and a smoother system, but getting things back the way you like them can be a real pain.
What you can do though, is use free software to clone your current Windows installation onto another drive. This way you can create a back-up of your Windows installation, set the way you like it so if things go wrong you can boot from the other drive instead.
This technique is also great if you're upgrading your machine and swapping from traditional platter based hard drives to 2.5-inch SSDs or NVMe drives. You can use this to simply clone your current drive onto the newer, larger or simply faster drive. Then you don't need to worry about finding your Windows licence or downloading and reinstalling everything. Much easier.
Featured in this video is the ADATA XPG Spectrix 520G (I'm a numpty and called it XPG in the video).
The software I used here was Macrium Reflect (https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree). You can download this for free and as you'll see the cloning process is really easy. Select the original drive, click the new one and click clone. Simple.
Alternative options:
https://www.veeam.com/downloads.html
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0:00 Hellooo
0:25 B.S.O.D.
1:26 copying Windows to different drives
1:54 XPG Spectrix S20G
3:28 Prawn files and how they are organised
5:04 macrium reflect free software
5:57 Cloning dives
7:25 BIOS settings and boot up
Recorded with:
Panasonic Lumix GH4 - https://amzn.to/2ZE54B0
Panasonic Lumix GH5 - https://amzn.to/2OwgaAP
Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-32 mm Lens - https://amzn.to/2L9mm0O
Panasonic Lumix G Macro Lens - https://amzn.to/2ZCmTML
Shure SM7B and GoXLR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrIvGvSVKBc
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Products:
Products featured may also have been sent for free for review/testing purposes. Often these have to be returned by me, but not always. I endeavour to avoid bias in my videos wherever possible and try to give honest, subjective opinions.