free software to clone disk drive?

[BlameCo]

just got a brand new hdd for WD 750gb 7200 rpm WAY better then my old one but i have no way to copy my OS/hundred programs/and such safety 

anyone know a good program to clone my data over?

thanks -BlameCo

[Vitalius]

I use AOMEI Backupper personally. 

[Techpumpkin_WD]

Hi there,

If your using a WD drive you can download Acronis True Image WD Edition:

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

[1hitwonder]

I use AOMEI Backupper personally. 

Do you know if the clone software works if the drives aren't the same size.  Like if someone had a 1TB drive and wanted to clone that disk to a 240GB SSD? 

[Vitalius]

Do you know if the clone software works if the drives aren't the same size.  Like if someone had a 1TB drive and wanted to clone that disk to a 240GB SSD? 

It won't do that, but you can clone partitions. That way only works if the 1TB drive has enough free space for everything else. i.e. >500GB. 

If not, then no, it's not going to work. And obviously it wouldn't work if you have more than 240GB of data to clone anyway. 

 

So what I would do is this:

1. Partition 1TB to where there are two partitions. Each 500GB.
2. Copy data (not OS) from one partition to the other.
3. Delete the data (not the OS, just documents/music/games/etc) on the partition with the OS
4. Shrink the partition with the OS on it to desired size (240GB in this case).
5. Clone the OS partition to the 240GB SSD. Copy any relevant data to it as well.

It's a lot of work, but it is probably your best bet AFAIK.

[1hitwonder]

It won't do that, but you can clone partitions. That way only works if the 1TB drive has enough free space for everything else. i.e. >500GB. 

If not, then no, it's not going to work. And obviously it wouldn't work if you have more than 240GB of data to clone anyway. 

 

So what I would do is this:

1. Partition 1TB to where there are two partitions. Each 500GB.
2. Copy data (not OS) from one partition to the other.
3. Delete the data (not the OS, just documents/music/games/etc) on the partition with the OS
4. Shrink the partition with the OS on it to desired size (240GB in this case).
5. Clone the OS partition to the 240GB SSD. Copy any relevant data to it as well.

It's a lot of work, but it is probably your best bet AFAIK.

 

Thank you for your suggestion, I haven't thought of shrinking the partition and then copying the partitition.  In the past I have used the Acronis True Image software on my machine since I have a WD drive and get it free as suggested earlier in this thread.  That software has an optimize for SSD which shrinks the partition for you, but its also a pain because it envoles taking drives out and connecting to another machine.  I do have some other software that boots from CD or USB but I run into the partition size issue.  I'm betting if I shrink the partition and then boot to usb and run the software it would work... Idealy that would be best because I wouldn't have to install software or move hard drives from one machine to another.