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Imaging HDD to SSD

sorasmemories
By sorasmemories
in Storage Devices
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I've been wanting to build a new PC for awhile now. Various things, including software I definitely won't be able to reactivate, and the fact that I don't want to move to Windows 10, has me hesitating. I've been considering sysprep and pulling an image of my computer and loading it into a SSD. It's a HDD as of right now. Aside from obvious size restrictions, are there any potential technical issues I might experience that simply haven't crossed my mind? Unless there is some huge potential flaw I am unaware of... this option seems more preferable for me at the moment, than starting over...

 

Thanks in advance!

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32 minutes ago, sorasmemories said:

I've been wanting to build a new PC for awhile now. Various things, including software I definitely won't be able to reactivate, and the fact that I don't want to move to Windows 10, has me hesitating. I've been considering sysprep and pulling an image of my computer and loading it into a SSD. It's a HDD as of right now. Aside from obvious size restrictions, are there any potential technical issues I might experience that simply haven't crossed my mind? Unless there is some huge potential flaw I am unaware of... this option seems more preferable for me at the moment, than starting over...

 

Thanks in advance!

You can clone your HDD to your ssd using some Windows software. If you want to reinstall Windows you won't lose your licence, just download the ISO from Microsoft and log into your account.

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I've always used Partition Wizard's disk clone feature. You won't even need to prepare any bootable tools.

 

You can pre-shrink any partitions that are too large before the clone.

 

Do it offline or windows updates might keep it from running when it asks to reboot.

Donate your unused computer resources for cancer and other research. For Zinsey ❤

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Something I just recently used for moving my windows installation from one SSD to a smaller SSD, then to a much larger SSD (my PC wouldn't recognize both SSD 1 and 3 when they were in the system at the same time, only one of them. It'd recognize 1 and 2 or 2 and 3 just fine though) was Acronis True Image (If you have a Western Digital HDD (or maybe SSD too) you can download it for free). The clone tool allows you to manage partition sizes when you clone the disk or it can do it for you. Assuming the amount of data on the source drive doesn't exceed the capacity of the target drive, you'll be able to clone your HDD over to your SSD no problem.

 

Here's the link to it: https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=119

Don't have a WD drive? You can try Acronis True Image for free here: https://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/true-image-features/

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I used minitool partition wizard too, i think its Copy disk or migrate OS function can help you.

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If I read this correctly, you are wanting to make an image of the OS on a HDD in one computer to an SSD that will go into another computer. If this is the case, it most likely will not work since the OS is tied to the MOBO during installation of the OS and will have different drivers than the new MOBO will use. The clone will work in the original computer but probably will not in the new computer.

Jeannie

 

As long as anyone is oppressed, no one will be safe and free.

One has to be proactive, not reactive, to ensure the safety of one's data so backup your data! And RAID is NOT a backup!

 

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Thank you for your responses everyone! I was actually planning on using clonzilla. My current drive is 1TB. I was intending to move it onto another 1TB. I've been doing dummy tests with clonezilla and trying to find a way to get it to ignore the unallocated space to ensure it will fit. Haven't been successful yet.

 

@iamdarkyoshi Thanks for the recommendation! I'm gonna try it out on my test dummies.

 

@Lady Fitzgerald Will sysprep not prevent this?

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I used EaseUS free. Had an option to turn on TRIM etc too IIRC. https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-guide/migrate-os-to-ssd.html

 

[edit] I also did a temp fly by the seat of my pants mobo/CPU shift... but only to boot up and copy emails/accounts etc. I'd recommend a full Windows install if upgrading the motherboard. If only upgrading from HDD to SSD in the same PC, then a clone and reinstall of SSD drivers, turning on TRIM etc, will be fine.

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System backup and then dissimilar hardware restore is recommended. Have a look at Dissimilar Hardware Restore in AOMEI Backupper (free).

Edited by Ingrid_W
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