Cloning SSD Windows 7 Pro Using Same Brand and Model SSD

theucusa

I'm looking to clone my boot drive Windows 7 Pro to a clone drive so it can swap in directly to the same computer/hardware profile and Windows 7 Pro not having to re-recognize or re-authorize: literally if the current SSD crashes, can shut down, swap SSD, boot back up and go.
My question is this: If I have a clone SSD that is the same brand and model number (example Samsung EVO 550G) but from a different batch (serial # is different) will Win7Pro see it as the same system or realize it is only in the same family? Thanks.

admin

@Theucusa, Do you want to use the cloned drive to another computer? It might need to re-register for the windows system. Our software can't handle the windows license. When you boot from the cloned system, windows will detect the validity of windows license.

aiArtisan

1) Backupper is a powerful software that can clone or restore to dissimilar hardware. You may clone into a different hard drive and bootup, everybody does that.

2) As long as your PC was created in 2012 or after, and you are in UEFI mode, not Legacy-BIOS mode, and your PC was store-bought, not custom built, Windows will detect the product key in the motherboard.

3) "if the current SSD crashes"

If the SSD hardware crashes, then yes, you will need to replace the SSD. However, if the Windows software crashes, then you will not need to replace the SSD, you may simply restore your Backupper .ADI image file from a USB stick, and continuing using your old SSD.

4) I understand there are a few old softwares that only work on Windows 7. What are you using Windows 7 for? Thanks.

chrisj

Like Theucusa, I have cloned my entire SSD installation WIN10 onto a similar but not identical SSD. I have tested this by swapping the SSDs and confirm that the cloned one does indeed boot just fine.
This has always seemed to me to be a better way of backing up. If anything goes wrong with the installed SSD, you just open up the computer, take out the failed SSD and replace it with the cloned one. Then immediately you're up and running again.
I re-clone every month or so, but run a daily back up of all my working files, which I locate in a single folder. So if I have to use the cloned SSD all I have to do is copy over the folder with all my working files to it and, in the worst case, only lose files saved within the last 24 hrs - often much less depending on the time of the SSD crash.

theucusa

Thank you everyone for your input. It will be going in the same computer setup, so like Chrisj is talking about- the hope is that it doesn't care about the precise sn/ID batch number, but rather just the main SSD drive model.
Eventually I'm thinking of getting a back up of the memory, gpu, and mobo to continue the potential of the full system being able to continue to operate in the long-term.