My current SSD is running out of space for various reasons and I would like to upgrade it to a larger SSD without having to reinstall windows and all my programs. I want the partition space to be the full size of the large drive. What’s the best way to go about this?
I already have additional drives for storage, so that’s not what’s needed here. I just need to be able to replace the main SSD with one of a larger capacity.
Hi there!
There are step by step guides online (not to scold, just to point out), e.g., this one: How to Transfer Windows 10 from One SSD to Another Easily (2 Ways)
Depending on how many the install of all programmes may be, I’d give reinstalling Windows and reinstalling your programmes, especially if it is a long-time-running system a try. This might be the tinkerer speaking, but the upside of having a fresh system just convinces me most days.
Many SSDs come with an entitlement to use some cloning software which will do what you need. Western Digital and Samsung are two that spring to mind but there are probably others.
You just need to boot from usb and then have both old and new drives connected at the same time, then clone your old one onto your new one.
This. When I bought my first ever SSD it came with a license for a program explicitly designed to do this very thing. I’m trying to remember what it was called. (I think it may have been Macrium Reflect Macrium Reflect Free Trials ) If your new SSD doesn’t come with such a thing, or you find the free option too limited, you can spend money on tools that do this, that you could also use to make [bootable] image backups of your PC. On set of tools that comes highly recommended by Steve Gibson (the Security Now host) is https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/ .
Most cloning software will not work with the UEFI systems since apps like Clonezilla and Macruim Reflect don’t work with non Bios based systems. What many pc makers do is why I’m never happy getting an Windows system without the Microsoft banded Windows install disk. Steve Gibson I remember telling me why the sites were we can download spin right inlegacy were saying to never use it on UEFI systems and he’s working on making it work with UEFI systems. So in time apps like Clonezilla and Macruim Reflect will work on UEFI systems. I have some 20 CD-Rs with those boot tools that will not work anymore since their bois based apps.
What kind of data is eating up most of your space? If it’s a whole lot of raw data (pictures/videos/docs) then it might be worthwhile to expand by adding a second disk rather than replacing your existing one.
I haven’t checked on Clonezilla, but Macruim Reflect does work with UEFI. I think it was at least since version 7 (they’re on 8 now) if not 6 (I switched to it in 2019 after 7 had came out)
Also, the tools from TeraByte do explicitly work with UEFI. (As well as with Windows and Linux.)
Thank you for all the replies! I’m going to check more into Macrium Reflect and go from there. I’ve seen plenty of posts with google searches on this topic, but most were just trying to sell you on a product they own, which makes it harder to evaluate. Documents and such are on a separate drive already. It’s really just programs I have installed taking up most of my C: space (what I could install on a separate drive has already been done). 
When I picked up a new drive recently, from 128g to 2tb, I had a hard time getting the software to allocate everything to one large partition… It took several attempts, but I ended up creating two partitions.
Good luck and don’t forget the transfer cable.