Backing up OS from HDD to smaller SSD

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  1. aruwin
    Posts : 19
    windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       New #1

    Backing up OS from HDD to smaller SSD


    Hi guys!
    I have a 500 GB HDD and my OS is windows 7 64-bit and I want to image the whole drive onto a 240 GB SSD. Actually I first did this using the windows back up and restore function but it failed to restore the backed up OS because the SSD is smaller than the old HDD, although I have only used 70GB of the HDD.
    So I tried to re-do it again by shrinking the OS partition into the minimum that it could but it was impossible to shrink it less than 260 GB

    Now my question is, if I use MACRIUM REFLECT FREE to image from the 500GB drive onto an external disk of 200GB, and then from the external disk, I restore the image onto my new 240 GB SSD, will it work? Or is it just gonna turn out the same like I did with the windows back up and restore function?
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  3. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #2

    aruwin said:
    Hi guys!
    I have a 500 GB HDD and my OS is windows 7 64-bit and I want to image the whole drive onto a 240 GB SSD. Actually I first did this using the windows back up and restore function but it failed to restore the backed up OS because the SSD is smaller than the old HDD, although I have only used 70GB of the HDD.
    So I tried to re-do it again by shrinking the OS partition into the minimum that it could but it was impossible to shrink it less than 260 GB

    Now my question is, if I use MACRIUM REFLECT FREE to image from the 500GB drive onto an external disk of 200GB, and then from the external disk, I restore the image onto my new 240 GB SSD, will it work? Or is it just gonna turn out the same like I did with the windows back up and restore function?
    Yes use macrium!! Post screenshot of disk management first please
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  4. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #3

    How many partitions do you have on your current HDD? Look in disk management.
    "System Reserved"?
    Of course C-partition.
    Any more?
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  6. aruwin
    Posts : 19
    windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Kaktussoft said:
    How many partitions do you have on your current HDD? Look in disk management.
    "System Reserved"?
    Of course C-partition.
    Any more?
    There are three, system reserved, C and one more that has no name :/
    But I have only copied the C partition. Is that OK?
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  7. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #5

    aruwin said:
    Kaktussoft said:
    How many partitions do you have on your current HDD? Look in disk management.
    "System Reserved"?
    Of course C-partition.
    Any more?
    There are three, system reserved, C and one more that has no name :/
    But I have only copied the C partition. Is that OK?
    Post screenshot of disk management please. system reserved (100MB) should be backupped as well (almost sure). It's the active boot partition I assume
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  8. aruwin
    Posts : 19
    windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #6

    Kaktussoft said:
    aruwin said:
    Kaktussoft said:
    How many partitions do you have on your current HDD? Look in disk management.
    "System Reserved"?
    Of course C-partition.
    Any more?
    There are three, system reserved, C and one more that has no name :/
    But I have only copied the C partition. Is that OK?
    Post screenshot of disk management please. system reserved (100MB) should be backupped as well (almost sure). It's the active boot partition I assume
    Oh no, but I have already only backed up the C partition and right now it's already in the restoring process. That's why I can't post the screenshot now. Oh no, what happens if I don't back up the system reserved as well???? But just so you know, the new SSD has 2 partitions, one system reserved and one C part, and I am now restoring the C part of the old HDD onto the C part of this new SSD, meaning that I will still have my system reserve but the one from my new SSD, though. Is it ok?
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  10. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #7

    How come the SSD has system reserved? How did you backup C and how restore C? Using macrium boot from CD?
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  11. aruwin
    Posts : 19
    windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #8

    Kaktussoft said:
    How come the SSD has system reserved? How did you backup C and how restore C? Using macrium boot from CD?
    Yes, using macrium reflect free. And after imaging it onto my external hard disk, I used the macrium CD to for booting it and restore it.
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  12. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #9

    "system reserved" on SSD was working? So it has bootmgr and bcd (bootmenu) on it? If restore completes succesfully.

    • power off and detach old HDD drive
    • try to boot so from SSD... if not working try "startup repair" from win7 install dvd or win7 system repair disc. (eventually 3 times with reboots in between)
    Works? If not... what error on boot?
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  13. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #10

    aruwin said:
    Kaktussoft said:
    How come the SSD has system reserved? How did you backup C and how restore C? Using macrium boot from CD?
    Yes, using macrium reflect free. And after imaging it onto my external hard disk, I used the macrium CD to for booting it and restore it.
    Is old HDD still connected during the restore process? Not a good thing. Maybe it adjusts the bootmenu on HDD "system reserved" instead of SSD "system reserved".

    How long does restore take to finish?
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