Space is limited: is it possible to save a complete, functional Windows 11 installation on your laptop's storage?
Space is limited: is it possible to save a complete, functional Windows 11 installation on your laptop's storage?
You can transfer the contents from your 250GB drive to your Windows 10 laptop without issues. Since it's an external USB, it works just like a regular external hard drive. You don’t need to worry about booting Windows 11 during the transfer. Compressing files beforehand isn’t necessary unless you want smaller storage space. Just ensure you back up important data before moving it.
To preserve the Win 11 setup, you’ll need a backup tool that can generate an image of the drive for future restoration. I haven’t found any software compatible with Windows 11 yet. My usual choice is Veem Endpoint, but I’m unsure if it’s available. Installing Veeam on a 250GB drive would be necessary, and Clonezilla could also be an option. If you don’t mind losing the installation and just need the files, simply transfer what you want to your laptop.
Sure, I understand. You’re considering using the 250GB drive directly and backing up to a larger 2TB drive in Windows 10. Compressing the 250GB with 7-Zip is also an option—would work similarly if you decompress it later. Windows would recognize these actions as standard file management steps, but keep in mind the storage limits and performance differences.
It seems copying or compressing won't suffice since some EFI/recovery partitions aren't visible. Maybe swapping drives and creating a standard backup would be better, in case it works with Windows 11.