Technical advice please

You can clone your SSD to another one and it will be exactly like the SSD you have. I did that to clone my old HDD to a new SSD a couple of years ago. I used Samsung's Data Migration tool, that people say is the best one to use.

https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/global.semi.static/Samsung_SSD_Data_Migration_User_Manual_(ENG)_v.3.1.pdf

I don't think just copying and pasting the installed game would work since I think it places files in Windows registry and maybe in other places as well.

You can do that. I recently got a new PC, and I copied my TS3 Documents and Program files folder over to my external drive before I set up my new one.
If you want to put the folders back on your new PC you need to install the game first, because as @Cororon said, it will need to add registry entries, but once it is done you can just overwrite your existing new folders with the old ones.
However, I would make a backup of the fresh new install folders first, just to be on the safe side.

Edit - Also, if you've had any kinds of issues with your old game setup, and you replace your new install folders with old, you're copying across all the problems as well as previous settings and such. I just felt I should mention that too.

Bear in mind, there is a line in your Options.ini in the TS3 Documents folder that will probably have changed if you've got new hardware or drivers. It looks like this - "lastdevice = ( bunch of numbers + letters here )
You will need to replace the line in your old Options file with the one from the new install options, otherwise your settings will revert to default every time you load the game.

"SPARKY1922;c-17846035" wrote:
Thank you @Cororon

At least it sounds like it's possible which makes me happy as I have forgotten some of the hoops I had to go through to get some things to work when i first started using the SSD. Does it clone the windows op as well if you can remember?

Yes, it makes a perfect copy of the drive, Windows and everything else you have on it. I did the cloning of the 1 TB HDD to the 1 TB SSD and then I swapped the HDD for the SSD and continued using the PC as normal. With Windows now on the SSD the computer booted into Windows much faster, of course. :) The game worked as normal as well.

Two years later I got a new PC and started fresh with Windows 10 and re-installed the game and then deleted the The Sims 3 folder in Documents with the same folder from the old PC that had all the installed worlds, store content, saves and CC, so I didn't have to re-download anything. But that's another story. :)

Thank you @Cororon

At least it sounds like it's possible which makes me happy as I have forgotten some of the hoops I had to go through to get some things to work when i first started using the SSD. Does it clone the windows op as well if you can remember?

Thank you @Pary

For that further information it is much appreciated copy and paste as always :)

@Cororon

Thanks I am feeling a little better about it now in fact at first I was thinking about cloning my hard drive and putting it away for later in case anything happened to the one I am using-) I am stuck in limbo at the moment as I dare not upgrade my desktop like I usually do once every couple of years in case it messes up my win 10 S3 game graphics even further although I don't know why i should worry as this version of the game through origin is unplayable anyway at this point.

I play 2 seperate ssd hard drives with the same graphics card and I am afraid if I upgrade my graphics card (currently a 1070) it might mess up the graphics on my win 7 hard drive S3 disc game and the 2 UC series I play on there as well. Plus I am at a loss about what brand of Graphics card I would buy as I have always bought Nvidia Geforce but now with all the issues concerning sims 3 graphics lately I am worried about that too now although I don't quite understand how I can have great graphics with the same card on my win 7 hard drive disc version of the game and not the win 10 digital version of the same game it just does not make any sense to me but it is still putting me off buying another nvidia card at the moment which I used to think were superior to Radeon.. apologizes went a little off topic there :)

Thanks for your help :)