Nexstar HDD to SSD duplicator help

[munchuhmunchuh]

Hey guys, 

Just bought a Vantec NexStar NST DP200S3-BK (hard drive duplicator/toaster). I wanted to clone my 1TB HDD with only 170Gb used to a brand new barracuda 500Gb SSD. Before buying it I explained what I was doing to the boys over at memory express and they swore it would work. I followed instructions but it will not clone. Now I know the SSD is smaller but they said it shouldn't be an issue because it does sector by sector swapping. Can anyone confirm this? OR a software solution? Ive tried al the free ones and they dont work. The next best thing I got is to pay for EaseUS which it explicitly says on their site it can do. HELP. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Your much better doing this in software.

 

But you need to shrink the partition first, you can't just put a 1tb partition on a 500gb drive andexpect it to work.

 

But really, reinstall is the best way to go here.

[munchuhmunchuh]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Your much better doing this in software.

 

But you need to shrink the partition first, you can't just put a 1tb partition on a 500gb drive andexpect it to work.

 

But really, reinstall is the best way to go here.

Thanks for the input. Do you know of a software the can do it? 

There is no 1TB partition or one bigger than 500Gb. 

I simply dont have the time. I need to be up and running. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, munchuhmunchuh said:

Thanks for the input. Do you know of a software the can do it? 

There is no 1TB partition or one bigger than 500Gb. 

I simply dont have the time. I need to be up and running. 

disk management screenshot

 

I normally use dd to clone disks., but make sure nothing is allocated past 500gb

[munchuhmunchuh]

54 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

disk management screenshot

 

I normally use dd to clone disks., but make sure nothing is allocated past 500gb

Ugh. I thought it was a 1TB. Its a 3TB. I tried making a whole bunch of partitions at 460GB a piece but its only letting me make 4 partitions and not more. I checked in disk properties and it is a GPT so it should let me make more than 4. (I read thats only for MBR). This is how it sits now and wont let me shrink anymore. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

9 minutes ago, munchuhmunchuh said:

Ugh. I thought it was a 1TB. Its a 3TB. I tried making a whole bunch of partitions at 460GB a piece but its only letting me make 4 partitions and not more. I checked in disk properties and it is a GPT so it should let me make more than 4. (I read thats only for MBR). This is how it sits now and wont let me shrink anymore. 

why do you have all those partitions?

 

Delete them all, but the needed ones, then move or delete that partition at the end(check if its needed)

 

Can you shrink C. if not try a defrag.

 

Really, just reinstall. It only takes a hour to two to setup, ive done this many times.

[munchuhmunchuh]

16 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

why do you have all those partitions?

 

Delete them all, but the needed ones, then move or delete that partition at the end(check if its needed)

 

Can you shrink C. if not try a defrag.

 

Really, just reinstall. It only takes a hour to two to setup, ive done this many times.

I made all those partitions for each one to be under 500GB. Do you mean can I shrink C right now with all those partitions? No. I did a defragment yesterday. At this point I just want to create more extended partitions to get that last disk partition down below 500Gb. Why wont it let me partition it again tho? Ive googled and I get nothing? Its an GPT and still wont let me make more than 4 partitions. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

38 minutes ago, munchuhmunchuh said:

I made all those partitions for each one to be under 500GB. Do you mean can I shrink C right now with all those partitions? No. I did a defragment yesterday. At this point I just want to create more extended partitions to get that last disk partition down below 500Gb. Why wont it let me partition it again tho? Ive googled and I get nothing? Its an GPT and still wont let me make more than 4 partitions. 

DOn't make more partitions, thats not helping, you need c to be under 500gb.

 

Really reinstall, it will be quicker.

[homeap5]

Use Macrium Reflect, clone only partitions that fits etc. but...

 

No matter if you want to clone or clean install, the only two reasons you want to made more than one partition are:

1. You have big SSD or HDD and want to keep your system and programs on small partition for easy backup / image.

2. You have big HDD for games and want to allocate faster sectors (first ones) for some more important games for speed up loading.

 

For other reasons it has no sense and people do this (partitioning) because:

a) hear many years ago that it's important for security reasons (somehow).

b) still think analog way that creating separate partitions is like book cataloging and keeps files in order - but then moving file from one partition to another is very slow, especially compared to moving file to another direcotry on the same partition which is instant.

[munchuhmunchuh]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

DOn't make more partitions, thats not helping, you need c to be under 500gb.

 

Really reinstall, it will be quicker.

NOOO. You cant make me. 
Fu*k it. Maybe ill just make it into a boot drive. 

[munchuhmunchuh]

2 hours ago, homeap5 said:

Use Macrium Reflect, clone only partitions that fits etc. but...

 

No matter if you want to clone or clean install, the only two reasons you want to made more than one partition are:

1. You have big SSD or HDD and want to keep your system and programs on small partition for easy backup / image.

2. You have big HDD for games and want to allocate faster sectors (first ones) for some more important games for speed up loading.

 

For other reasons it has no sense and people do this (partitioning) because:

a) hear many years ago that it's important for security reasons (somehow).

b) still think analog way that creating separate partitions is like book cataloging and keeps files in order - but then moving file from one partition to another is very slow, especially compared to moving file to another direcotry on the same partition which is instant.

I tried that. all the partitions are less that the 500 GB (be that seperate or alltogether). Still macrium doesnt work. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, munchuhmunchuh said:

I tried that. all the partitions are less that the 500 GB (be that seperate or alltogether). Still macrium doesnt work. 

What error does macrum reflect give?

 

Delete the other partitions, what size is the c partition? Updated screenshot?

 

Try clonezilla/dd

[homeap5]

23 minutes ago, munchuhmunchuh said:

I tried that. all the partitions are less that the 500 GB (be that seperate or alltogether). Still macrium doesnt work. 

Macrium is drag and drop style software. You must drag partitions that are needed for system / boot uefi etc. It just must work if you know how it works. Create rescue usb in macrium, boot from it, clone system, unplug old drive at first boot.

[munchuhmunchuh]

5 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What error does macrum reflect give?

 

Delete the other partitions, what size is the c partition? Updated screenshot?

 

Try clonezilla/dd

I tried clonezilla but im really not good at computers and its pretty clumsy to use. 

[munchuhmunchuh]

5 hours ago, homeap5 said:

Macrium is drag and drop style software. You must drag partitions that are needed for system / boot uefi etc. It just must work if you know how it works. Create rescue usb in macrium, boot from it, clone system, unplug old drive at first boot.

I made all the partitions smaller than the smallest partition on the receiving drive. I kept all the smaller important partitions as shown in my previous post. 

[homeap5]

Do not use option "copy all partitions"! Drag and drop first, second, third and last partition.

[Kilrah]

minitool partition wizard does that just great. It'll auto resize the partition when using the disk copy feature.

[munchuhmunchuh]

15 hours ago, homeap5 said:

Do not use option "copy all partitions"! Drag and drop first, second, third and last partition.

Wow this worked. Dont know why. Because theres an option for a checkmark on copy only selected partitions. Anyways. Thanks.