Cloning a SSD -- software recommendations
Sep 20, 2012 | 10:53 pm
#2
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I always used Acronis True Image Workstation for that sort of thing. Worked pretty well, but it's not free. I don't know if the 30 day trial is fully featured or not.
Sep 21, 2012 | 5:00 am
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interesting question as i just did this myself for the first time yesterday. I used Win 7 backup and Acer erecovery to test which worked better for me to put in a Seagate momentus hybrid in an Acer AO725. Windows didn't load, Acer eRecovery worked great. I wasn't interested in getting a usb to SATA cable, just used a dvd burner that i already had. Google is your friend to find what might work best for you and there are also a lot of videos out to show the way. good luck.
Sep 21, 2012 | 10:51 am
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Sep 21, 2012 | 11:48 am
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Sep 21, 2012 | 11:55 am
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I was a user of True Image until some years ago, but it's getting bigger each year with seldom used features and Acronis has not honored a lifetime edition I had bought in the past.
I now use Clonezilla, an Open Source project and am happy with it:
http://www.clonezilla.org/
I now use Clonezilla, an Open Source project and am happy with it:
http://www.clonezilla.org/
Sep 21, 2012 | 2:26 pm
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I generally use gparted from systemrescuecd and recommend it for more technical folks; for somewhat technical folks, I recommend http://www.clonezilla.org/
For non-technical folks, the best option I've found is to use the Windows 7 built in system image backup and then create a restore CD when it offers at the end, then restore back. The down side is that it requires a sufficiently-large separate external drive for the backup, and it doesn't work if you have additional non-windows partitions. It's pretty close to idiot proof, especially since you've never got both the source disk and the destination disk attached at once.
Sep 21, 2012 | 8:44 pm
#8
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I was a user of True Image until some years ago, but it's getting bigger each year with seldom used features and Acronis has not honored a lifetime edition I had bought in the past.
I now use Clonezilla, an Open Source project and am happy with it:
http://www.clonezilla.org/
I now use Clonezilla, an Open Source project and am happy with it:
http://www.clonezilla.org/
A few years old Acronis will probably ruin alignment; avoid.
I generally use gparted from systemrescuecd and recommend it for more technical folks; for somewhat technical folks, I recommend http://www.clonezilla.org/
For non-technical folks, the best option I've found is to use the Windows 7 built in system image backup and then create a restore CD when it offers at the end, then restore back. The down side is that it requires a sufficiently-large separate external drive for the backup, and it doesn't work if you have additional non-windows partitions. It's pretty close to idiot proof, especially since you've never got both the source disk and the destination disk attached at once.
I generally use gparted from systemrescuecd and recommend it for more technical folks; for somewhat technical folks, I recommend http://www.clonezilla.org/
For non-technical folks, the best option I've found is to use the Windows 7 built in system image backup and then create a restore CD when it offers at the end, then restore back. The down side is that it requires a sufficiently-large separate external drive for the backup, and it doesn't work if you have additional non-windows partitions. It's pretty close to idiot proof, especially since you've never got both the source disk and the destination disk attached at once.
I am quite technical, it's just I haven't kept up on cloning software. I could also go with the backup/restore approach (I'm just replacing the OS drive, there are three other drives in there that each have enough space to hold a backup) but a direct copy is certainly going to be a lot faster.
Sep 23, 2012 | 12:31 pm
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The drive arrived earlier than expected. Clonezilla it was--it did the job but I didn't like it. Every time I've done something like that in the past it showed me a map of the partitions when selecting what to do. Clonezilla only listed the drives, no partitions.
I also *THOUGHT* I told it to expand the partition, it didn't. Fortunately, Windows was quite willing to allocate the rest of the space.
I also *THOUGHT* I told it to expand the partition, it didn't. Fortunately, Windows was quite willing to allocate the rest of the space.
Sep 23, 2012 | 12:45 pm
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The drive arrived earlier than expected. Clonezilla it was--it did the job but I didn't like it. Every time I've done something like that in the past it showed me a map of the partitions when selecting what to do. Clonezilla only listed the drives, no partitions.
I also *THOUGHT* I told it to expand the partition, it didn't. Fortunately, Windows was quite willing to allocate the rest of the space.
I also *THOUGHT* I told it to expand the partition, it didn't. Fortunately, Windows was quite willing to allocate the rest of the space.
It'll do all the partitions fully automatically in disk mode - it's one partition at a time in partition mode. It's not a full partition manager (gparted is, although far from a user-friendly one); it's just a cloning tool. It also won't (for example) do big disk to smaller disk, at least without some manual adjustment.
Sep 24, 2012 | 11:29 pm
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For non-technical folks, the best option I've found is to use the Windows 7 built in system image backup and then create a restore CD when it offers at the end, then restore back. The down side is that it requires a sufficiently-large separate external drive for the backup, and it doesn't work if you have additional non-windows partitions. It's pretty close to idiot proof, especially since you've never got both the source disk and the destination disk attached at once.
Nov 28, 2013 | 6:09 pm
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