1) Clone the drive before replacing? Will that always just work? If so what's the best software for that-and I don't mind paying if it's quality stuff that will last... --A dedicated device is probably the best bet. They have USB 3 toasters with two slots that can do cloning now. Not used one, but I imagine it'd be a lot easier than using SW. e.g., https://amzn.com/B00N1KXE9K
2)|Or can I just get a new drive and somehow easily extract the Win10 license and then reinstall Windows. If so what's the best/fastest way to do that? --No need to extract, at least as long as you go through OOBE with Internet access (not 100% sure even this is required, actually...). The hardware ID is registered with Microsoft, and you can reinstall any number of times onto the same system. So long as it has internet access, it'll verify your hardware ID and activate automatically. I don't think a drive replacement negates that. -----Original Message----- From: Hardware [mailto:hardware-boun...@lists.hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Bino Gopal Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2017 4:15 PM To: hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com Subject: [H] Cloning HDs for new laptops and stuff...? Hey guys, so been randomly getting a lot of new laptops with say Win10 on them but with either too small SSDs or HDs. What's the best way to replace those with bigger/better SSDs or NVMe drives and get them up and running? 1) Clone the drive before replacing? Will that always just work? If so what's the best software for that-and I don't mind paying if it's quality stuff that will last... --A device is probably the best bet. They have USB 3 toasters with two slots that can do cloning now. Not used one, but I imagine it'd be a lot easier than using SW. 2)|Or can I just get a new drive and somehow easily extract the Win10 license and then reinstall Windows. If so what's the best/fastest way to do that? --No need to extract, at least as long as you go through OOBE with Internet access (not 100% sure even this is required, actually...). The hardware ID is registered with Microsoft, and you can reinstall any number of times onto the same system. So long as it has internet access, it'll verify your hardware ID and activate automatically. I don't think a drive replacement negates that. Thanks for any help and tip guys and glad to see you're still here! :) BINO
