Migrating Windows 7 to newer bigger hard dive

[Huntn]

Actually this is being asked to do this with a PC, not a Mac...

After seeing this drive (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EIQTKAS?source=bac-_-AMER-_-SSHD-_-Amazon-_-US-_-) I'm considering upgrading the SSD on my PC which holds W7. Does anyone know if True Image could be used for this purpose?

Of course the other option would be to just upgrade to Windows 10 on the new drive, but my impression is that it would be less overall work to keep all my current programs without having to start from scratch reinstalling everything. Anyone with experience doing this? Any suggestions? Thanks.

I found this article: How to move windows 7 to a new or larger hard drive using Backup and Restore

 

[doynton]

I've used http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx for years. Install it on a USB (I used SD card, either would do), boot it, and image the Windows partition somewhere. Upgrade your SSD, partition it, then boot Macrium again and restore it back - doesn't matter if the partition your restore to is bigger or smaller as long as it fits. If you only change the disk you should have no issues with activation.

Very easy. I did it last week to shrink my Windows partition and swap the order with OSX. Backing up and restoring took about 6 minutes each (~20GB).

I'm sure True image is just as good but just not worth €50 to me.

 

[Huntn]

I've used http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx for years. Install it on a USB (I used SD card, either would do), boot it, and image the Windows partition somewhere. Upgrade your SSD, partition it, then boot Macrium again and restore it back - doesn't matter if the partition your restore to is bigger or smaller as long as it fits. If you only change the disk you should have no issues with activation.

Very easy. I did it last week to shrink my Windows partition and swap the order with OSX. Backing up and restoring took about 6 minutes each (~20GB).

I'm sure True image is just as good but just not worth €50 to me.

For a Bootcamp partition, I wonder how this compares to Winclone? I've had issues in the past where a Winclone backup failed to restore when I needed it. I'll give this a try, but I'd need a Windows product for doing this on my PC.

 

[Surrat]

I've used http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx for years. Install it on a USB (I used SD card, either would do), boot it, and image the Windows partition somewhere. Upgrade your SSD, partition it, then boot Macrium again and restore it back - doesn't matter if the partition your restore to is bigger or smaller as long as it fits. If you only change the disk you should have no issues with activation.

Very easy. I did it last week to shrink my Windows partition and swap the order with OSX. Backing up and restoring took about 6 minutes each (~20GB).

I'm sure True image is just as good but just not worth €50 to me.

I also used the free Macruim Reflect to clone my win10pro install with its hidden partitions to another hard disk in my mac pro 5,1. It was fast and went perfectly, booted right up on the new drive.

 

[Huntn]

I have True Image 2016, which includes both the Windows and Mac version. I'll see how this works for backing up my Bootcamp Partition.

But I'm still looking to upgrading my 2225SSD HD on my PC to a 2TB SSD Drive. I'm thinking I can use True Image to clone a drive for this purpose, but more investigation is required.

 

[Huntn]

I wonder if I can buy the new SSD, then install the new SSD into my computer, clone my existing SSD to the new SSD using cloning software like True Image. Then disconnect the original SSD and reboot. Anyone who has done this... on a PC? I'd like to change the new drive's name to C. The only thing tricky might be reconnecting the original C drive, would that make Windows go wonky to have two drives named C or is there a better way to go about this? Ideally, I'd reformat the original drive and use it for storage. Any PC experts out there? Thanks!

 

[doynton]

Drives aren't named "C", "C" is assigned when you boot from it - it isn't the name of the drive. Normally Windows doesn't name the drive at all (it is blank but you can change it on "properties" in Windows). Installing bootcamp drivers names it "BOOTCAMP" but again you can change it. You never end up with 2 "C" drives - it isn't possible.

What you want to do is boot from something outside of windows and image one to the other. Like I said in post #2.

When you are done, turn off your PC, remove the old drive and boot Windows from your new drive. You can then plug in the old drive, format it and use it for whatever you want.

 

[Huntn]

Drives aren't named "C", "C" is assigned when you boot from it - it isn't the name of the drive. Normally Windows doesn't name the drive at all (it is blank but you can change it on "properties" in Windows). Installing bootcamp drivers names it "BOOTCAMP" but again you can change it. You never end up with 2 "C" drives - it isn't possible.

What you want to do is boot from something outside of windows and image one to the other. Like I said in post #2.

When you are done, turn off your PC, remove the old drive and boot Windows from your new drive. You can then plug in the old drive, format it and use it for whatever you want.

Thanks for the help. This turned out to be really easy. The new SSD arrived today, I plugged it into an empty slot in my computer, started the computer, formatted it, cranked up True Image and selected "Clone Disk", and it was done in about 15 mine (225 SSD drive), shutdown the computer, unpluged the old SSD drive, restarted and there it all was. And your right, it was automatically called the "C" drive.

Ok, now I'm debating about this old drive, if I should keep it as a spare Windows install. It has about 33GB left open on it. I know the new SSD drive content will eventually exceed the 250GB GB size of the original, but in a pinch I could use it to start up in Windows, not that it will necessarily help with a Windows problem on the new SSD.

I'm also thinking about shrinking down the C drive partition and adding a second partition without reformatting This to add another area where I can store stuff that is separate from the C drive. This page seems to say you can:
How to partition hard drive disk without formatting the hard drive?

My next question- If I was to plug this original SSD drive back in, the computer will sense two Window installs on startup. I suppose, I need to go into bios and update the boot order?

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[doynton]

Thanks for the help. This turned out to be really easy. The new SSD arrived today, I plugged it into an empty slot in my computer, started the computer, formatted it, cranked up True Image and selected "Clone Disk", and it was done in about 15 mine (225 SSD drive), shutdown the computer, unpluged the old SSD drive, restarted and there it all was. And your right, it was automatically called the "C" drive.

Ok, now I'm debating about this old drive, if I should keep it as a spare Windows install. It has about 33GB left open on it. I know the new SSD drive content will eventually exceed the 250GB GB size of the original, but in a pinch I could use it to start up in Windows, not that it will necessarily help with a Windows problem on the new SSD.

I'm also thinking about shrinking down the C drive partition and adding a second partition without reformatting This to add another area where I can store stuff that is separate from the C drive. This page seems to say you can:
How to partition hard drive disk without formatting the hard drive?

My next question- If I was to plug this original SSD drive back in, the computer will sense two Window installs on startup. I suppose, I need to go into bios and update the boot order?

Thoughts? Thanks!

If you plug in your second SSD it will not magically become dual boot. It will see the boot files that are on the lowest port number and just boot that (you can change this in BIOS). So if your new one is in port 0 and you put the old one in port 1 you'll just boot the new one. If you unplugged the new one it would boot the old one. If you wanted to have the possibility of booting either you'd have to add a boot menu entry to the boot manager on the active (usually lowest) port.

I wouldn't bother keeping the old one as a bootable SSD though. I'd format the old drive and make backup with Macruim free. It will compress it and leave out some useless files so the backup will be smaller. It will also prompt you to make a bootable USB to use to restore it (this is about 450MB so will fit on almost any USB or SD card you can find).

As for partitioning you certainly can make a new one without re-installing. You need as a minimum about 25GB for Windows 10 or about 40GB for Windows 7. I use this partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.

This makes it much easier to backup Windows and data separately. My Macrium image for Windows 10 (with office) is 9GB (my partition is 22.3GB as I make it a bit smaller than I meant to). If something goes wrong in Windows I can restore the Windows partition back in 5 minutes while leaving all my data intact.

 

[Huntn]

If you plug in your second SSD it will not magically become dual boot. It will see the boot files that are on the lowest port number and just boot that (you can change this in BIOS). So if your new one is in port 0 and you put the old one in port 1 you'll just boot the new one. If you unplugged the new one it would boot the old one. If you wanted to have the possibility of booting either you'd have to add a boot menu entry to the boot manager on the active (usually lowest) port.

I wouldn't bother keeping the old one as a bootable SSD though. I'd format the old drive and make backup with Macruim free. It will compress it and leave out some useless files so the backup will be smaller. It will also prompt you to make a bootable USB to use to restore it (this is about 450MB so will fit on almost any USB or SD card you can find).

As for partitioning you certainly can make a new one without re-installing. You need as a minimum about 25GB for Windows 10 or about 40GB for Windows 7. I use this partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.

This makes it much easier to backup Windows and data separately. My Macrium image for Windows 10 (with office) is 9GB (my partition is 22.3GB as I make it a bit smaller than I meant to). If something goes wrong in Windows I can restore the Windows partition back in 5 minutes while leaving all my data intact.

Thanks, you've been very helpful. I'll post more question as they arise. I've had True Image for years and updated it recently. I'll take a serious look at Macrium though. Are you by chance familiar with both? I wonder how they compare?

 

[doynton]

Thanks, you've been very helpful. I'll post more question as they arise. I've had True Image for years and updated it recently. I'll take a serious look at Macrium though. Are you by chance familiar with both? I wonder how they compare?

I've only used Macrium so I can't say. Both have good reputations and do (basically) the same thing.

I went for the free one and it works very well for me.

I'm sure both are OK though.

Do please feel free to ask any questions but I'm only answering with my opinion - others may disagree or see a better method so feel free to ignore it (if you want).