Cloning a windows 7 sdd to a windows 10 hdd

[aruwin]

Hi there!

My dell laptop which uses a windows 7 SSD (the drive itself is a clone of my old HDD) is not running normaly since yesterday. It freezes every 10 seconds. I have to forcefully shut it down and restart again but nothing works. So right now I am using it in safe mode so that I can at least get it to run.
My laptop is 6 years old so I am thinking of buying a new laptop.
So my issue is I don't want to use windows 10 and I have so many softwares installed in my laptop.
So, I need to copy the image or system of this drive to get an exact copy of it which I want to install into the new laptop that obviously, will use windows 10.

So, I am wondering if this is doable? I am planning on using Macrium Reflect, since that's how cloned my drive before. Even if the hdd of the new laptop uses windows 10, once I copy the SSD into the new HDD, everything inside it will be replaced and I will have all the files and system of my current SSD, right?
One more I want to ask is, my laptop now freezes every 10 seconds and that is the reason I want to get a new laptop, but when I clone it to a new drive, will the new drive also freeze every 10 second?

[aedipuss]

probably not. cloning the drive and putting it in a different laptop will void the windows 10 license. it might not even boot as the laptop will have a different motherboard, cpu, etc. everything would need different drivers. whether the other software would run or not is also iffy. bite the bullet and just re-install the software on the new laptop. just copy the documents, pictures, videos, etc off the old one.

[usually_quiet]

I agree that what you want to do is not a good idea, for the reasons stated above.

Freezing every 10 seconds seems more like a hardware problem, but software and driver issues are also a possibility.

If you dislike Windows 10, HP is still selling some laptops with downgrade rights to Windows 7. I think Dell has some too.

If worse comes to worst, Windows 7 licenses are still being offered for sale in various places and you should still be able to run Windows 7 on most laptops with a Skylake CPU. (The exception being laptops with vendor-specific hardware that has no Windows 7 drivers available.) I would put the new laptop's HDD aside for safe-keeping and install Windows 7 on a fresh HDD, in case you find that you need to go back to Windows 10 at some point.

[TimA-C]

There are some commercially available Backup programs that claim to be able to do something like this . . . I'm yet to be convinced.

Use a Linux Live CD/bootable memory stick (I'd recommend Linux Mint) to check that the problem is your hardware and not just an infected/screwed up Windows installation that could be resolved. Failing that, you might be able to run your current Windows 7 setup as a virtual system on the new PC/Laptop but you'd probably be better to just bite the bullet and get to grips with Windows 10.

[aruwin]

There are some commercially available Backup programs that claim to be able to do something like this . . . I'm yet to be convinced.

Use a Linux Live CD/bootable memory stick (I'd recommend Linux Mint) to check that the problem is your hardware and not just an infected/screwed up Windows installation that could be resolved. Failing that, you might be able to run your current Windows 7 setup as a virtual system on the new PC/Laptop but you'd probably be better to just bite the bullet and get to grips with Windows 10.

Thanks for the feedback, people.
So how do I fix this freezing every 10 seconds? How do I know what the problem is?

[october262]

First, try resetting your bios and see what that does.

[Nelson37]

What you initially proposed not only will NOT work, it is a very bad idea.

For the current question, IF repeat IF you have established that it does NOT freeze in SAFE MODE, and it DOES freeze in normal mode, then the FIRST FREAKING THING TO DO would be to carefully examine ALL drivers being loaded, and ALL software running at boot time, as THESE THINGS are the primary difference between SAFE MODE and normal mode, and the hardware is exactly identical in both cases.

That does NOT mean that the problem CAN'T be hardware, but it DOES mean that this is very unlikely. Use msconfig and screen out sections until you locate the general area, then eliminate chunks and then individual programs or drivers until you find the culprit.

Also, some additional information regarding usage, programs running consistently when freezing, how to unfreeze, keyboard, mouse functionality, task manager, hibernation or power saving functionality, event log notations, etc. You know, some actually useful diagnostic information.

[TimA-C]

There are some commercially available Backup programs that claim to be able to do something like this . . . I'm yet to be convinced.

Use a Linux Live CD/bootable memory stick (I'd recommend Linux Mint) to check that the problem is your hardware and not just an infected/screwed up Windows installation that could be resolved. Failing that, you might be able to run your current Windows 7 setup as a virtual system on the new PC/Laptop but you'd probably be better to just bite the bullet and get to grips with Windows 10.

Thanks for the feedback, people.
So how do I fix this freezing every 10 seconds? How do I know what the problem is?

OK. Sounds like you'd be better off getting someone (friend, relative - personally I'd steer clear of brothers-in-law as most of them who "know about Computers" really don't! - or even a pro) to have a look at your laptop. The only way for you to fix it is by lots of reading and research, and you don't seem that keen to go down that route. Sorry.

[SameSelf]

So how do I fix this freezing every 10 seconds? How do I know what the problem is?

This is why I keep clean images of my Windows build handy. Troubleshooting these sort of issues is simply not worth the time or effort. I have too many other things I want/need to do versus playing sys admin on my 'puter. Trust me, a format c: (truthfully, I don't even do that anymore) followed by a reload of the last clean build takes mere minutes with a modern ssd (of course, it helps to have a decent image program that can boot into a pre-install environment from a USB/CD/etc. because we are talking about imaging the OS, not cloning). That ALWAYS solves whatever problem may have manifested. In the absence of a reliable system image, a rebuild from scratch can be necessary—obviously a pain if you don't have all the necessary files/discs handy for the drivers/software installed. But you're already in pain territory as it is.

IMHO, back up your drive NOW and do a system rebuild.

[redwudz]

Just to mention, W10 isn't that bad. But I only run it on this laptop at present. My other PCs still run W7.
I also run Start10 with W10 so it has a familiar similar interface to W7. I don't have a touch screen and I don't like the excess of crap with W10.

W10 seems to work with most software. Software that won't work may be a bit old.

But I agree, best to fix your W7 install first. And find and fix the problem with the '10 second freeze'.

[aruwin]

What you initially proposed not only will NOT work, it is a very bad idea.

For the current question, IF repeat IF you have established that it does NOT freeze in SAFE MODE, and it DOES freeze in normal mode, then the FIRST FREAKING THING TO DO would be to carefully examine ALL drivers being loaded, and ALL software running at boot time, as THESE THINGS are the primary difference between SAFE MODE and normal mode, and the hardware is exactly identical in both cases.

That does NOT mean that the problem CAN'T be hardware, but it DOES mean that this is very unlikely. Use msconfig and screen out sections until you locate the general area, then eliminate chunks and then individual programs or drivers until you find the culprit.

Also, some additional information regarding usage, programs running consistently when freezing, how to unfreeze, keyboard, mouse functionality, task manager, hibernation or power saving functionality, event log notations, etc. You know, some actually useful diagnostic information.

I did what you said and I have fond out the culprit! Here I attached some pictures. It's the program called "Windows Management Instrument". I also realized that I am unable to tick all my Avira programs without ticking Windows Management Instrument. So with this discovery, what should I do next?

[Nelson37]

I am familiar with Avira. I would uninstall it, reboot, clean registry and temp files with CCleaner, reboot again into normal mode, then see if the problem persists. I use AVG because, in hundreds of installations, it is extremely rare for it to be the source of such problems, unlike any other antivirus program I have ever seen.

Also, that is Windows Management instrumentATION, it is important to get the words right.

[usually_quiet]

@aruwin If you were to look up what it does, you would find that Windows Management Instrumentation is a part of Windows itself and provides notices, performance information, and diagnostics. You can't simply uninstall it, and given its function, it is probably not the real source of your problems.

I would try uninstalling Avira to see if that changes anything. Antiviruses sometimes cause computers to freeze and as well as random BSODs.

[bevills1]

FYI there are still Win7 laptops available from http://www.staples.com/windows+7+laptop+computer/directory_windows+7+laptop+computer and https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=windows%207%20laptop&Submit=ENE if any of those might suit your needs. However, I suspect restoring your current image even to a new laptop will simply transfer the freeze problem to the new laptop just as it would by restoring it to a new drive. Your only solutions to that problem is to find and remove the problem or use either an older backup image before the problem began or use a restore point to restore to a time before the problem began. If you co do none of this, you may need to do a clean install and install all apps anew to fix the problem.

[aruwin]

I am familiar with Avira. I would uninstall it, reboot, clean registry and temp files with CCleaner, reboot again into normal mode, then see if the problem persists. I use AVG because, in hundreds of installations, it is extremely rare for it to be the source of such problems, unlike any other antivirus program I have ever seen.

Also, that is Windows Management instrumentATION, it is important to get the words right.

I did what you recommended. Now there is no more freezing, but another problem came up. I think it has something to do with messing with the msconfig, but that would be weird since I have enabled everything. Usually when I turn on capslock, there will be an indicator on the screen showing "CAPS : ON" for a few seconds, but this time it does not show up at all.
And before, I could zoom in and zoom out using the touchpad, now I can't do that with the touch pad anymore.
Any advice on this? How to enable them back?

[Nelson37]

First, eliminate MSConfig and possible human error by selecting normal startup at the beginning of the msconfig page.

Next, download Malwarebytes and do a thorough scan. My guess is the msconfig, particularly the WMI, but malwarebytes is a good prog to have anyway.

[TimA-C]

I'm guessing that somewhere along the line you've removed or disabled either the specific drivers or utils for the keyboard and touchpad, and Windows is using it's own bog-standard drivers.

[Nelson37]

While that is certainly possible, for this user that would seem highly unlikely and also, this is just exactly the sort of communication that is often done through WMI, which was disabled, and may have been missed after Avira was determined to be the main problem and removed.

[aruwin]

First, eliminate MSConfig and possible human error by selecting normal startup at the beginning of the msconfig page.

Next, download Malwarebytes and do a thorough scan. My guess is the msconfig, particularly the WMI, but malwarebytes is a good prog to have anyway.

I am using normal startup, though.

[Nelson37]

The changes made in msconfig are temporary and totally reversible, that is why I suggested it. So, either you have made other changes you have not mentioned, or there is a third party actor, such as a virus. Combined with the original problem being related to an antivirus program, which are often damaged by a virus, that would be why I suggested the Malwarebytes be downloaded and run.

Report results. Describe ALL other actions taken.

[aruwin]

The changes made in msconfig are temporary and totally reversible, that is why I suggested it. So, either you have made other changes you have not mentioned, or there is a third party actor, such as a virus. Combined with the original problem being related to an antivirus program, which are often damaged by a virus, that would be why I suggested the Malwarebytes be downloaded and run.

Report results. Describe ALL other actions taken.

As far as I remember, I have not made any other changes, besides the changes I made in msconfig. I did as recommended, identifying the problem and uninstall avira, cleared registries and re-install, then changed back msconfig settings to "normal", so as to load everything at startup.
Now I am going to try Malwarebytes and run it. Thanks for the advice!
I will report the results later.

[aruwin]

The changes made in msconfig are temporary and totally reversible, that is why I suggested it. So, either you have made other changes you have not mentioned, or there is a third party actor, such as a virus. Combined with the original problem being related to an antivirus program, which are often damaged by a virus, that would be why I suggested the Malwarebytes be downloaded and run.

Report results. Describe ALL other actions taken.

Just ran Malwayebytes. So here I attached the report.

[Nelson37]

Delete ALL of that crap, make a note of them and exercise caution to NOT load crap like that again. Advanced system care, browser defender usually are user selected and approved, Open Candy may be much worse, be more alert. CCleaner, files and registry, reboot, run malwarebytes AGAIN, run CCleaner AGAIN, reboot AGAIN, test.

Most likely you will need to identify the specific Dell utilities missing and re-install them, they have likely been disabled or removed by the extra, worthless programs you chose to install. DNDTA. Do Not Do That Again.