I want to change boot HDD

beauparc · 17 Nov 2013

Hi all,

I have a very simple (to you experts) problem with which I would greatly value your help.

I have 2x1TB HDDs. One is the boot disk and is a Samsung 103SI (C on SATA 1). The other is a backup disk and is a Samsung 103UJ (F on SATA 2).

I have just found out that the boot disk C is 5,400rpm, but the backup is 7,200rpm.

To slightly increase the system speed I would like to make the 7,200 disk into the boot disk.

Do I therefore, clone "C" to "F" and simply change SATA (to keep the same boot sequence but using F sockets? Can it be as simple as that or have I missed something basic?

What software do people recommend for cloning?

Your help will be most gratefully received and acknowledged.

x BlueRobot · 17 Nov 2013

You should be able to clone the C:\ partition onto the F:\ partition, and then change the boot sequence in the BIOS to your backup drive.

beauparc · 17 Nov 2013

Thank you. So if change the sequence in BIOS, I won't have to do a physical swap of SATA ports. That makes things easier.

Thanks again for your help.

whs · 17 Nov 2013

That will probably not work - because of the 100MB system partition.

I suggest you do the following:

1. Copy the bootmgr to C - That way the C partition is self contained and you can forget about the 100MB -partition.

Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

2. Make an image of C - use free Macrium

Imaging with free Macrium

3. Define a primary, active partition on the 7200RPM drive that is large enough to contain the original C - not the total size is important but the amount of data on the original C. You may want to leave sufficient extra space for future. You can use Disk Management for it. Be careful that you do not erase any precious data.

4. Restore the image to that new partition.