Installing Windows 11 on two different drives, same PC.

[Olympios]

I have Windows 11 installed on an M.2 drive. For backup purposes I like to install Windows 11 on a second M.2 drive which is already on the motherboard. Can I do that without removing the other drive(s)?
Removing M.2 drives is almost impossible as they are glued on the cover with thermal tape.
Thank you.

 

[Grizzly]

The only problem you will have when you install it on two different drives is that one drive will have the boot sequence for the other installed, meaning that you can run the second system only if your first system is operational and the drive is not defective unless you take out the first drive and do an install on the second.
Do you really need to have both drives running at the same time??
I, for myself, have two M.2 drives of which I use one as a backup. However, my second drive is external and a direct clone of the first one. I clone my system 2-3 times a month onto my backup drive in case the first one goes out. Then I just swap the drives and I am up and running again. That takes only minutes to do.
There is a second option though. Some of the imaging programs (Acronis etc) have the option to do a backup of the system "on the fly". That means that they constantly compare both systems and back up only changed files. That can go against the performance though.

BTW: is your primary drive soldered on your motherboard or in a socket?? I am guessing that the second drive is located on a Pcie port??

Think about it for a moment.

 

[Olympios]

Hi Grizzly.
My MB is the ASRock X570 Taichi which has three slots for M.2 drives. All three are populated (1TB, 250GB, 2TB).
This is what I do: I install Windows on the second drive (250GB) and "decorate" that with all the little third party utilities (music and video processing and other useful stuff), add-ons on the context menu, etc. So this is my clean "prototype". Then, using Acronis true image, I clone that on the first drive (1TB) which is the one I use (drive C).
I may never go back to the "prototype" unless something happens to the drive C installation, usually some adware and occasionally a virus as I do not use antivirus (never did). Rather than wasting time searching for the offender, I install updates (if any) on the "prototype" and using Acronis, make an image and restore it on Drive C. Also, this can be used to run my computer if something happens to actual drive C. That is why I want Windows installed on a different drive but in the same PC.
The prototype I have now is about one year old and highly modified. I need a new one.
All three M.2 drives are plugged in sockets (not soldered) but there is thermal tape between them and the Mother Board cover. Removing the cover, will rip the tape and could damage the M.2 boards. Also, removing a bunch of little screws is a hassle.

 

[Grizzly]

That might work the way you describe, as long as the boot manager knows where to boot from (setting the boot drive in the BIOS).
I cannot really comment on that as I have not tried it that way.
Cloning the "prototype" to the drive C;\ is the way to go, however, you have to remember that you only clone 250GB onto the 1TB. the rest is not allocated space

 

[Olympios]

...
Cloning the "prototype" to the drive C;\ is the way to go, however, you have to remember that you only clone 250GB onto the 1TB. the rest is not allocated space

Although the drive image is 250GB, when recovered on the 1TB drive it actually adds the rest of the space to it. Acronis does this, probably EaseUS Todo Backup does too.

I will do a fresh Win 11 install on the 250GB without removing the other drives... and lets see what happens.

Thanks Grizzly.