Advice for Cloning Bootcamp Partition on 2,1

[judino28]

I’m considering cloning my Windows 7 Bootcamp partition to its own dedicated SSD to get the max performance possible on my 2,1. What is the easiest way to do this? Is Winclone the way to go?

Ideally, I’d like to simply temporarily remove one of my drives from the drive bays, prepare the new empty SSD via Bootcamp, and completely clone everything so that it is bootable. Do I even need to use Bootcamp to partition the drive since I’m dedicating the entire drive to Windows? Also, having never used Winclone, do I need to make a backup image first and then restore that to the new drive, or is there a way to simply clone everything to the new drive in one go.

Any help/advice is most appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[h9826790]

Inside OSX WinClone is the way to go.

But on cMP, you can also use Linux to do that for free.

 

[haralds]

Inside OSX WinClone is the way to go.

But on cMP, you can also use Linux to do that for free.

Agreed. WinClone is the goto app on Mac. Easier to use than any pure Windows tools, which would not work well with hybrid partitions. WinClone support shrinking and expanding partitions during the copy.

 

[judino28]

So if I have both drives attached internally, is it just a matter of a direct cloning from old to new with Winclone? Will I need to run Bootcamp Assistant on the new drive first? Will Winclone require me to make an image of the old partition first and then will I need to restore that image to the new drive?

Sorry for so many questions, and that some of these questions are in my original post, I'm just trying to explore how much hassle this will be and if it's worth it.

 

[h9826790]

So if I have both drives attached internally, is it just a matter of a direct cloning from old to new with Winclone? Will I need to run Bootcamp Assistant on the new drive first? Will Winclone require me to make an image of the old partition first and then will I need to restore that image to the new drive?

No, Bootcamp assistant is not required, and totally unrelated.

Yes, it can make direct clone.

No, but you can make an image first if you want to.

 

[thornslack]

The makers of EasyUefi also make WintoUSB and WintoHDD, free cloning tools for windows.

 

[mwasking]

Had the source hdd, the destination hdd, and a third hdd by luck.

Second hdd backs up the source hdd on MacOS by Carbon Copy Cloner.

Step 2: Log on to Bootcamp on source hdd and back up Bootcamp to the third hdd. Used Paragon business trial version.

Step 3: Remove the source hdd from the mac and install the second hdd that now has the MacOS backed up to it and install Windows afresh, partitioning and all that is required by Bootcamp assistant.

Step 4: Log on to the new Bootcamp and restore the backed up bootcamp by Paragon again and enjoy the initial state of your computer.

Note: If you were upgrading to a bigger hdd, the new bootcamp restored to the initial volume size and had unallocated space. Head on to Disk Manager, where you extend C: drive for bootcamp to accommodate the extra space, or just make a new partition with the extra space if you like.

Enjoy!