Migrate Win10 Image to a new OWC SSD?

I’m planning to migrate a Windows 10 Image from an existing SSD (MacBook Pro, 2015) to a new, larger SSD upgrade installed in the same machine. I have read the various Migration Guides and believe I understand the necessary steps. However I found one post from a few years ago that seemed to indicate there may be problems when migrating to a new OWC SSD. Does anyone have any guidance / experience regarding this? Is it still an issue, or have others had success in migrating to this brand of drive?

I believe it still has the issue related to drivers of that drive.

tim

Hello,

For information, my configuration:

  • MacBook Pro (13-inch Retina, early 2015)
  • Mac OS 10.15.7 Catalina
  • Bootcamp - Windows 10
  • Original Apple 512 GB SSD - replaced by Aura OWC 2TB SSD (purchased with the box for the old SSD)

After several unsuccessful attempts to clone Windows 10 using Winclone (inaccessible_boot_device error) and looking on the forums, I realized that cloning did not work with the Aura OWC 2TB SSD disk that I had installed!
Then I started looking for an equivalent to Winclone that would work under Windows. I finally came across EaseUS OS2Go which clones Windows to USB drive to use the system from the drive as a last resort.

But after successfully transferring my Windows10 from original Mac drive to USB drive, I tried “Volume to volume” function from USB drive to new Aura OWC SSD (then failed again after trying to change partition size, then another success); Here is a summary of what worked for me:

  1. On Mac
    • Installed OWC Dual Boot Enabler Drivers (Aura OWC SSD Drivers)
  1. On Windows - the one you want to transfer
    • Some maintenance operations that I only did the second time, so a priori not mandatory; disabled disk compression; defragmented disk; Windows virus scan; updated Windows; deleted recent files and folders (view/option); repaired the installation of BOOTCAMP drivers just in case
    • checked for disk errors; seems necessary because in case of disk error, cloning fails (if necessary, Windows restarts to do the check at system startup - approx. 10-15 min)
    • restarted
    • cleaned disk
    • with EaseUS OS2Go software (currently approx. 20$/month or 30$/year or 70$ for life), I cloned on HDD or USB key (60 GB)
    **I couldn’t find a way to manage everything with Winclone so far, and now that it works, I’m not looking anymore, but I would have liked to have one less software to buy. **

  2. Material
    • shut down computer
    • replaced SDD following manufacturer’s instructions

  3. For verification, I restarted by selecting the Windows installed on the USB key; it works.

  4. On Mac (Mac OS already transferred with CarbonCopyCloner from original SSD to Aura OWC SSD)
    • By following the steps indicated by Winclone:

  • partition creation by partitioning (not a volume) the new SSD installed (FAT32-MS-DOS called WIN)
  • Use the “volume to volume” function from the HDD or the USB key to the new partition created
  • Do not inject the drivers
  1. Reboot into Windows (Alt on startup). Normally, the system restarts as it was left at the time of the clone made with OS2Go.

Oddly enough, when I had to start over from a resize partitions crash, resuming from step 5 didn’t work, I ended up at step 6 each time with a black screen with the loading wheel next to the pointer when I moved the mouse, but nothing else happened. I had to start over at step 2; luckily I had kept the data on the Mac’s original SSD.

Sorry for the possible translation problems.
Hope this helps some people.

Bye

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