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Backup Dell Laptop/Restore to new Samsung Laptop both Windows 11 Home

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From past experience, I know Steve Smith can help with this.

I have a Dell Laptop Intel i7 running Windows 11 Home. One SSD drive with 2 partitions C: and D:

The Dell is also dual boot.

I backed up each partition separately to a USB external drive with Acronis 2018.

I want to restore this to a new Samsung Galaxy Book2 Intel i7 also running Windows 11 Home with a SSD.

Any suggestions going forward? 

Thanks!

 

 

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If your Samsung Galaxy Book2 came pre-installed with Win 11, then the first recommendation is to make a full backup of it to an external storage location, plus also to install ATI 2018 on that computer and create the 'Simple' WinPE / WinRE version of rescue media from the working system so that it gets the drivers needed to boot it offline.

Do both machines have the same type of SSD installed, i.e. are they both SATA 2.5" drives or both NVMe M.2 PCIe card drives?  Are the drives of similar size or the Samsung SSD larger than the Dell one?

Do both machines use the same BIOS boot method for Windows?  Run the msinfo32 command and check the BIOS mode value for each one?  Hopefully both will show as UEFI otherwise if the Dell shows as Legacy or names the source disk drive, then there is additional migration that will be needed from Legacy / MBR to UEFI / GPT.

In simplistic terms, assuming there are no major differences involved, then it should be possible to boot the Samsung from Acronis 'Simple' rescue media and restore the Win 11 OS backup from the Dell to it, then let Windows resolve any differences in hardware during boot.
Note: to avoid any activation issues, Win 11 should have been activated on both systems before starting this migration.

You haven't mentioned what the Dell is dual-booting with?  Is this another version of Windows, or is it a Linux distro?

From a personal perspective, I stopped using dual-boot around 4 years ago when I invested in a much higher spec main machine (Intel i7 with 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD and second 2GB SATA HDD) that I now use to host Hyper-V Virtual Machines that can be run from my Windows 11 desktop instead of having to restart each time using dual-boot.  I have around a dozen different VM's that I can play with for different scenarios.

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As always thanks Steve

Both have NVMe M. 2 PCIe and same size 

Both boot the same UEFI

On the Dell, the dual boot is another Windows 11 home

Should I back up each partition, there are 2, on the Dell separately or just back up the the drive as one .tib file? Also, depending on the above, how should the restore proceed? If I back up the partitions separately, do I need to create 2 partitions on the Samsung or will Acronis figure that out,? If backed up as one large .tib file will Acronis know to create 2 new partitions when restored to the Samsung?

What would be your preferred path? 

Thanks again! 

Legend
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As you are dealing with a single SSD in both machines, then I would do a Disks & Partitions backup of the Dell including all partitions, then restore that backup to the Samsung as a Disk level recovery and let Acronis recreate the partitions without having to specify the size and location for them all.

Please ensure you backup the Samsung first plus create the WinPE 'Simple' rescue media on that system, along with testing that you can boot the rescue media successfully and 'see' the target drive.

Windows 10 & 11 have better hardware handling for changes detected so you shouldn't need to use Acronis Universal Restore though it can't hurt to create a copy of AUR just in case.

See forum topic: Steve migrate NVMe SSD where I have documented (with images) the process that I have used multiple times for my own laptops using Backup & Recovery. 
Note: this has been for the same HP Omen laptop when I have been upgrading the M.2 SSD to a larger size but the principle should be the same.

KB 60820: Acronis True Image 2018: how to create bootable media

KB 59877: Acronis True Image: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media

KB 60131: Acronis True Image 2018: how to restore your computer with WinPE-based or WinRE-based media

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Thanks. I'll let you know how things go

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One last question before I attempt the backup/restore. Both the Dell laptop and the new Samsung laptop have the same SSD drive, NVMe M.2 2280. Couldn't I just remove the drive from the Dell and install it on the Samsung and let Windows reinstall drivers etc.? I've upgraded the SSD on the Dell before so I have no problem open up the cases to do it.

I'm thinking this might be the easier option.

Thanks

Legend
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You could certainly try that method and it has the advantage of leaving the original Samsung SSD safely untouched so it can be put back if needed.  Do make a full backup of the Dell SSD before installing it in the Samsung to give a way back with that system.

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As always, Thanks!

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Here's an update on what I ended up doing.

Seeing how I was going to have to open up the old Dell laptop and the new Samsung laptop, I decided to buy a new faster SSD for the new Samsung laptop; a Samsung 980 Pro 1tb PCIe 4.0.

Using Acronis 2018, I created a Rescue Media with the builder in tools.

Then, as Acronis instructed (link below) I removed the SSD from the Dell which contained the OS, files, and 2 partitions I wanted to clone and attached it to the Dell via USB with an adapter. I then put the new Samsung  SSD in the Dell. 

I booted the Dell from the Rescue Media, and followed all the instructions to clone the Dell SSD attached via USB to the Samsung SSD which was now in the Dell. After it completed I made sure the Dell would boot from the new Samsung  SSD and look like it did before and it did. Then shut both off.

I then put the newly cloned Samsung SSD in the new Samsung laptop. It took several reboots and windows updates but it now runs and looks just like the old Dell laptop only faster, especially booting.

Lastly, I put the original Dell SSD back in the old laptop and closed both back up.

Now both machines are identical. Once I'm certain all is good, I scrub the Dell of everything except the OS and offer it up for sale in my area.

Success!

Here's the link to the Acronis KB that I followed.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/2931

Thanks for your help Steve!

 

 

Legend
Posts: 110
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Always glad to read of a successful outcome, thanks for sharing it with us.