Best Free Data Migration Software For OS's?

[Made In Canada]

My friend wants to move his current free copy of windows 10 (updated from windows 8) to his SSD. He does not want to reinstall his only windows copy of windows 8 because he is worried he cant get windows 10 for free (please correct me if you can still get it free, also he cant buy it right now but NEEDS windows 10 apparently for games).

 

With that said, he wants to migrate his free windows 10 over to his SSD, my question is, what is the best way to go about doing this that is free?

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and ANY help is appreciated.

[Electronics Wizardy]

dd or macrum reflect.

[Made In Canada]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

dd or macrum reflect.

Thank You Very Much! (Also, very fast reply).

 

Sorry to have a follow up question but is there any specific guide online you would recommend to watch while doing this? (or just anything on youtube?).

 

Thank you Again!

[Guest]

I use EaseUS Todo Backup Free. It's great for cloning. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, Made In Canada said:

Thank You Very Much! (Also, very fast reply).

 

Sorry to have a follow up question but is there any specific guide online you would recommend to watch while doing this? (or just anything on youtube?).

 

Thank you Again!

For macrum reflect, just tell it what drive to clone and where to clone it to

 

For dd, shink the partition to the size of the ssd, then dd from the first drive to the second one.

[Made In Canada]

11 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

I use EaseUS Todo Backup Free. It's great for cloning. 

We have tried that but it seems its not free for data migration

[Made In Canada]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

For macrum reflect, just tell it what drive to clone and where to clone it to

 

For dd, shink the partition to the size of the ssd, then dd from the first drive to the second one.

For Macrium reflect, when you say clone, is there a way to not copy the whole HDD? (we just want the OS)

 

And for DD, you might have to be more elaborate, such as what do you mean "shrink the partition to the size of the SSD"? And what you meant by "then dd from the first drive to the second one".

 

Sorry for the questions but i need to make sure i dont destroy his pc

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Made In Canada said:

(we just want the OS)

If you just want the os, do a fresh install on the ssd. You either move everything on the C drive(and boot stuff), or nothing.

1 minute ago, Made In Canada said:

hrink the partition to the size of the SSD

Is diskmgmt.msc you can shrink a partition, you have to make it the same size or smaller than the ssd your putting it on

 

2 minutes ago, Made In Canada said:

Sorry for the questions but i need to make sure i dont destroy his pc

backups, right?

[Made In Canada]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you just want the os, do a fresh install on the ssd. You either move everything on the C drive(and boot stuff), or nothing.

Is diskmgmt.msc you can shrink a partition, you have to make it the same size or smaller than the ssd your putting it on

 

backups, right?

1. Alright, thats probably really good to know haha, Thanks

2. the word partition just goes over my head, does that mean the files on the HDD?

3. Yes

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Made In Canada said:

We have tried that but it seems its not free for data migration

Cloning it to an SSD wouldn't work? Why? 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Made In Canada said:

1. Alright, thats probably really good to know haha, Thanks

2. the word partition just goes over my head, does that mean the files on the HDD?

3. Yes

2. on a drive you have partitions, you need to make one smaller to fit on the ssd.

[Made In Canada]

2 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

Cloning it to an SSD wouldn't work? Why? 

It costs money which he does not have/ refuses to buy...

[Made In Canada]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

2. on a drive you have partitions, you need to make one smaller to fit on the ssd.

Okay awesome, Thanks

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Made In Canada said:

It costs money which he does not have/ refuses to buy...

Are you using the free version? I didn't pay for mine, I did a regular download and everything mine is free 

[Made In Canada]

4 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

Are you using the free version? I didn't pay for mine, I did a regular download and everything mine is free 

i have no clue, hes on the other side of the continent, i would have to ask him (if he ever replies). What/ where did you download? (apparently he didint need to download the thing he tried to use which i though was easeUS).

Edited December 21, 2016 by Made In Canada
Words

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Made In Canada said:

i have no clue, hes on the other side of the continent, i would have to ask him (if he ever replies). What/ where did you download?

Should be this link/page http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

[Made In Canada]

1 minute ago, IAmLamp said:

Should be this link/page http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

He followed this guide and said he needs to pay for the software, and this it didint even let him choose the SSD (which i think means he needs to format it or not,  please correct me).

 

http://www.todo-backup.com/backup-resource/data-transfer/migrate-windows-10-to-ssd.htm

[kirashi]

2 hours ago, Made In Canada said:

My friend wants to move his current free copy of windows 10 (updated from windows 8) to his SSD. He does not want to reinstall his only windows copy of windows 8 because he is worried he cant get windows 10 for free (please correct me if you can still get it free, also he cant buy it right now but NEEDS windows 10 apparently for games).

 

With that said, he wants to migrate his free windows 10 over to his SSD, my question is, what is the best way to go about doing this that is free?

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and ANY help is appreciated.

He can either figure out how to do it using Linux (complex and technical) or pay for one of the suggested programs to do it. Personally, I like Acronis TrueImage the best out of ALL disk management software if you're going the PAID route.

 

However, I would perform a clean reinstall of Windows 10 onto his new SSD. This will give him a fresh start with Windows and ensure he doesn't have any weird drivers problems between drives. If he has activated the free Windows 10 upgrade on that motherboard before, he will be able to reactivate it again and again in the future as long as the motherboard stays the same. Simply clean install Windows ans skip entering a key during install. When he connects to the internet, it should activate again without a hitch.

[Ingrid_W]

Whichever cloning software you will choose, make sure it is suitable for your condition. Large HDD to small SSD or small HDD to large SSD or they are the same capacity. For the first situation, the cloning software should allow you clone only used part of HDD to SSD, otherwise, you need to shrink partition or delete useless files first. The later two situations don't have such requirement. 

[Made In Canada]

On 12/21/2016 at 4:44 PM, kirashi said:

He can either figure out how to do it using Linux (complex and technical) or pay for one of the suggested programs to do it. Personally, I like Acronis TrueImage the best out of ALL disk management software if you're going the PAID route.

 

However, I would perform a clean reinstall of Windows 10 onto his new SSD. This will give him a fresh start with Windows and ensure he doesn't have any weird drivers problems between drives. If he has activated the free Windows 10 upgrade on that motherboard before, he will be able to reactivate it again and again in the future as long as the motherboard stays the same. Simply clean install Windows ans skip entering a key during install. When he connects to the internet, it should activate again without a hitch.

Thank You for the reply, luckily hes got it all done (i have no clue how) but i appreciate you taking the time to type out a well explained and good solution to the situation.

 

Thank You Again.