In a few days I will be making a major computer upgrade (basically replacing everything but the case, VC and some optical drives).  With all 3 drives being replaced I will be cloning them.

The major concern is what will happen to MSFS under this scenario?  Will I need to make any adjustments or should it start up "out of the box"?

Try it, and report back!

10 minutes ago, RandallR said:

In a few days I will be making a major computer upgrade (basically replacing everything but the case, VC and some optical drives).  With all 3 drives being replaced I will be cloning them.

The major concern is what will happen to MSFS under this scenario?  Will I need to make any adjustments or should it start up "out of the box"?

This topic should be in the hanger chat or hardware but to answer your question, it all depends on how you are able get the operation system to work on the new system.

Cloning the drives will work but you also should backup the OS drive as well because things can go wrong in cloning.  Moving the OS to a new motherboard must be done with a non oem version Windows. There is a process that you have to go through. What I would do is clone everything and then keep the original drive that has the OS intack and to the side by removing it from the system and keep it in a safe place.  Reboot from the clones OS drive to make sure it works 100%. Backup that drive to another external drive with a backup software incase something happens to the clone drive with the OS.  Once you're finish cloning and made a back up and establish that everything works, then there are several ways to do it but I won't able to cover all of it here.

One way is to reboot in safe mode using the clone drive, removing by uninstalling specific drivers to the motherboard, including sound and graphics driver any other specific hardware drivers for the current drives that need to be shut down and remove to get the system down to its most basic in level before shouting down the system while in safe mode. You will need to search on Youtube for the procedure for moving the OS to a new motherboard so you see how its done. Once you have completed that process then you can start the process of reconstruction your system. 

If the new motherboard comes with its hardware utilities, prepare a usb drive with of the utilities to be able to install back into the system or use the one that comes with the motherboard. Sometimes they have their own boot utilities that allows you the install from the usb as well. 

After you have got your system up and running in the Bios and can see you your drives, OS and your usb and your ready, restart start the system in safe mode at the command prompt and then switch to the usb drive and run the the installation utilities for those hardware drivers for your motherboard that are on the usb.  Once that is completed then start the system in safe mode as an admin so that you can see system come up. At this point you can elected to install the graphic driver.

Then start the system but start in safe mod with the network to check you internet connection. You may encounter MS installing drivers in the process of get the other drivers in your system before is is ready for full use.

If for any reason that the clone stops working in the process of booting, you can always restore it from the original drive or back up and reboot in safe mode all the way to log in repeat the same process of removing the divers. The system should work safe mode, you won't be able to go in normal mode until all the driver are replace with the new drivers for motherboard and is stable. 

By all means do your research on moving OS to new motherboards before starting this process. It can be done if you are patient and do it right.

 

I got a new PC around a month ago.   I was nervous about the drive transfer.    I plugged the SSD from my old PC into my new one and used Seagate's free drive cloning software.    Worked faultlessly.   MSFS booted from the new drive identically as it had done from the old drive (and PC).

Don't use EaseUS to clone drives!   It's advertised as free and takes you 90% down the process of getting ready for the clone, then suddenly hits you with a paywall.  It's Chinese, scammy garbage.   No reason to use any obscure drive cloning software, when Seagate (a reputable manufacturer of SSDs) provides a free, super simple cloning program that anyone can download and use (doesn't even need to be used with a Seagate SSD - my new one wasn't).

https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/discwizard/

Edited December 31, 20232 yr by JYW

1 hour ago, BobFS88 said:

Cloning the drives will work but you also should backup the OS drive as well because things can go wrong in cloning.  Moving the OS to a new motherboard must be done with a non oem version Windows. There is a process that you have to go through.

Thank you for this.  The reason I posted here is I actually have a lot of experience moving systems and software to a new PC/board - I just didn't know if anyone had experience with how MSFS would react to this.

I must say, however, that your instructions and careful approach are good food for thought and I will keep your recommended procedures in mind.

13 minutes ago, JYW said:

I plugged the SSD from my old PC into my new one and used Seagate's free drive cloning software.    Worked faultlessly.   MSFS booted from the new drive identically as it had done from the old drive (and PC).

Thank you.  I actually use my Acronis True image software for all back-ups and cloning, etc.  Seagate software is certainly sufficient for a lot of users for this purpose.

1 hour ago, RandallR said:

The reason I posted here is I actually have a lot of experience moving systems and software to a new PC/board - I just didn't know if anyone had experience with how MSFS would react to this.

Well good deal!!!

I am glad to hear that you do have experience in moving OS's, make my instruction a little easier 😊

I believe if you keep everything intact after move I think you should be ok because everything is depended on all the registry entries and other folders in the c drive. 

 

I've copied your comments and will compare you're recommendations to my normal procedures.  I will certainly have a new complete back-up along with the clone outputs.

16 minutes ago, RandallR said:

I've copied your comments and will compare you're recommendations to my normal procedures.  I will certainly have a new complete back-up along with the clone outputs.

 

2 hours ago, RandallR said:

Acronis True image software for all back-ups and cloning,

Then you are in good shape. That is the software I use for all my make up needs and cloning needs. Make sure you have the recover usb handy to get back in the system to restore it.

But I think got all of what you need. Good luck with your the new system!!!!!

I am sure you will enjoy it once you get it going. 😊

What hardware do you use to clone? Do you have an available M.2 slot in your computer you use? Or do you do it externally through some device?

52 minutes ago, Republic3D said:

What hardware do you use to clone? Do you have an available M.2 slot in your computer you use? Or do you do it externally through some device?

It depends, you can use a spare M.2 slot if your cloning from one NVMe drive to another.  You would use Acronis True Image software to do the cloning or you can use the same software to do an system image backup to an external drive and if you're just replace the drive to a larger one, then you can boot into the Acronis True Image usb drive recovery disk that you had created and perform a image backup of the old drive and restore from that external drive back to the new NVMe drive. Either way would work without buying a special hardware cloning device. But if you want use a specific cloning hardware device to simplify the process, that would work as well, with no software needed. The only issue is you will need to remove drive from your system. I would choose the software method, it much safer IMO. Even if you had a spare ssd and you want to restore it there and boot from that drive just to test to make sure your recovery process works before restoring it to the drive in the M2 slot. Because it more work putting those drive in and out of your system depending on how accessible it is.  

You can use Clonezilla : it is free. (I only use Clonezilla - never had a problem)
A good option of Clonezilla when cloning on bigger disks: it will (on request) enlarge all partitions proportionally.
Example, if C and D are on the same drive:
C will be bigger, D also !

Of course, many other cloning software could be a good choice.

Do not forget to do chkdsk all the new drive partitions.

14 hours ago, RandallR said:

In a few days I will be making a major computer upgrade (basically replacing everything but the case, VC and some optical drives).  With all 3 drives being replaced I will be cloning them.

The major concern is what will happen to MSFS under this scenario?  Will I need to make any adjustments or should it start up "out of the box"?

That's a BIG YES! I have just had to reorganise my drives due to the purchase of another M.2 drive during which I successfully cloned both my OS drive and my MSFS drive, apart from having to review and redo a couple of cockpit cams, It all works perfectly.

EDIT: I used the Free Acronis True Image for the clone, amazing piece of kit.

https://www.acronis.com/en-us/products/cyber-protect/trial/

Edited January 1, 20242 yr by SierraHotel

8 hours ago, BobFS88 said:

It depends, you can use a spare M.2 slot if your cloning from one NVMe drive to another.  You would use Acronis True Image software to do the cloning or you can use the same software to do an system image backup to an external drive and if you're just replace the drive to a larger one, then you can boot into the Acronis True Image usb drive recovery disk that you had created and perform a image backup of the old drive and restore from that external drive back to the new NVMe drive. Either way would work without buying a special hardware cloning device. But if you want use a specific cloning hardware device to simplify the process, that would work as well, with no software needed. The only issue is you will need to remove drive from your system. I would choose the software method, it much safer IMO. Even if you had a spare ssd and you want to restore it there and boot from that drive just to test to make sure your recovery process works before restoring it to the drive in the M2 slot. Because it more work putting those drive in and out of your system depending on how accessible it is.  

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. 👍 I have two M.2 slots on my motherboard, as well as a PCI-E extension card with another M.2. And they're all populated. So I would have to get an external device I think.

4 hours ago, Republic3D said:

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. 👍 I have two M.2 slots on my motherboard, as well as a PCI-E extension card with another M.2. And they're all populated. So I would have to get an external device I think.

SATA connectors on the motherboard?