Upgrading Storage advice

[DarHay]

Hello,

I purchased my computer in 2021 and I am looking into upgrading the storage.

I am thinking about purchasing a 1TB Samsung 990 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD for running the OS, and then another 4TB Samsung 990 PRO for storage.

If I were to do this, how would I go about transferring the OS from my old SSD to the new one? Would it be advisable to purchase a clone docker like the FIDECO M.2 NVMe SATA SSD Cloner Dock?

Is there also a way to work out what M2 slot my current SSD is installed in without physically opening up the computer and removing the heatsinks from the motherboard? When I install the new M2 SSD, would I need to do anything in the BIOS so the motherboard recognises the new SSD?

Below are the specs for my PC

COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX K500 ARGB GAMING CASE
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-11700K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® ROG STRIX Z590-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1200, USB 3.2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler

Any advise or guides on how to proceed would be much appreciated as I am not the most tech savvy individual, and I don't want to do anything that could potentially damage my PC.

Thanks

Darren

 

[sck451]

I wouldn't suggest trying to clone a boot drive. It can be done, but it's way easier just to do a fresh install on the new drive.

You will probably be able to tell which slot the existing M.2 drive is in through the BIOS. I'm not sure there's a reliable way to do it in Windows.

Note that the Strix Z590-F has four M.2 slots: two gen 4 and two gen 3. If you get the 990s (which, for all that Samsung drives have had a bad rap over the last couple of years, are very good value at the moment), you should make sure they go in the gen 4 slots, which are the one directly under the CPU and the one directly under the main PCIe slot where the graphics card will be installed (you'll need to remove this to get at the M.2 slot). These will be referred to in the BIOS as M2_1 and M2_2 respectively.

I would suggest getting an M.2 USB caddy so you can use your old boot drive as a removable USB drive.