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Can I Duplicate C: Drive With Copy/Paste?

Anonymous
2024-04-03T05:49:17+00:00

(Hopefully I've posted this in the right category.)

I was told by a repair shop that my hard drive was failing. An SSD was installed, Windows 10 was installed, and I set it up. I have a system image that I would like to "restore" to this new drive, but for whatever reason, the restore process isn't working; I get a BSOD with code 0xc000021a during Macrium Reflect's boot-up process. (Actually, this error first occurred before the SSD was installed, but it still exists. Also, I can't get any help from Macrium because support ends after 1 year.)

I have the old hard drive, and at this point, it's usable. If you go to This PC and right-click on the C: drive graphic, a menu appears, and one of the options is 'Copy.' So apparently the entire C: drive can be copied and pasted somewhere else, which would be onto my new SSD, replacing everything there with my old system, which is what I want. People more tech savvy than I say the copy process might work, but the result likely would not be what I would be looking for, a fully functioning system as it was on the hard drive. If that's the case, why would I be offered the 'Copy' function option?

So, can I do this copy/paste process and get the results I want? If not, what's the point in having that option in the context menu for the C: drive?

If it would work, would I have to, say, change the names of the folders on the SSD C: drive to keep 'duplicate' messages from appearing, and would changing the names make that computer completely unusable?

I appreciate any help, but please don't try to read into this anything other than what I said. I'm pretty sure I've stated the situation clearly and trying to read between the lines is just going to waste everybody's time. Assuming I really meant X, Y, or Z isn't going to get us anywhere. The situation is no more complicated than I described it. (I'm saying all this based on experience.) Thanks.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. DaveM121 872.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-04-03T07:25:21+00:00

    Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    The 'Copy' function is on all right click menu's in Windows file Explorer, but you cannot copy and paste the entire contents of another drive onto your system drive, that would totally corrupt your Windows installation.

    The only data you can safely copy from that drive is your personal files stored in your user folder inside C:\Users, and do not copy over shell folders like the Desktop, Documents, Pictures... etc. folders, just copy over the contents of those folders.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-06-08T22:30:56+00:00

    what do i do if I did this exact thing and deleted the users folder from the c drive but now my computer is all bricked, all my apps are gone. can’t open command prompt, the apps still have some functionality but i can barely open file explorer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-06-08T20:17:39+00:00

    Tao Lee1, I had forgotten about this post. I've moved on, but I agree with you completely. If somebody can give an explanation, I'd love to hear it. If somebody can say that the Copy would actually work and present a credible rationale or even proof, that would be even better. Thanks for your comments.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-06-08T16:14:47+00:00

    What he is trying to ask is WHY doesnt copy simply copy each bit and byte and place it in the exact same place on the new drive to make it bootable? Why does the windos installation become corrupted?

    Ive seen disk imaging software that supposedly does this. How do they differ?

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-04-03T13:02:42+00:00

    Thanks for responding. Bad news, as usual. I hate computers.

    What about AppData stuff in my user profile? And if I can copy that, can I copy the shell folders or just the contents of individual folders.

    Thanks again.

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