Greetings. I am new. This is my first post here.
I have a regular HDD. I am about to buy SSD. I wish to move my Windows 7 as well as one of my games to that drive. What is the best way of moving Windows 7 to new drive, while leaving all storage folders, like Documents, Downloads, My pictures, Etc. on HDD? Please note that I have made backup and I have made an Image Backup.
Thank you.
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SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System
Is your data on the same partition as your operating system on the HDD?
You say you have made a "backup". Of what?
You say you have made an image. Of what?
I backed up entire drive. There are two partitions. Windows installed on the same partition as everything else.
I backed up entire drive to image using Windows image backup. I also backed up my entire drive using WD SmartWare.
I would say that the latter only backed up files but not the structure.
Post a picture of Windows Disk Management to avoid any confusion. We need to know what is on both partitions.
I have no idea what WD SmartWare is and so I don't know what it might have backed up.
Generally speaking: you can clone your existing system to the SSD or you can make an image of the HDD and then restore that image to the SSD. Cloning and imaging are different processes.
Both can work. Both can fail. Most here use imaging.
Since you have WD I'd use the Acronis premium imaging/cloning suite which comes free with any WD in the mix: WD Acronis free cloning app
This gives you the choice to save a backup image externaly to reimage to SSD, or clone it over directly.
Be sure to choose if offered to include MBR and Track0. Leave drive letter set to Auto.
You may need to align after cloning/imaging: SSD Alignment - Windows 7 Forums
My WD is an external backup, that I don't use daily. But I will I'll look into what you suggest. Thank you. In the mean time here is my Disk Management picture.
Your C drive has over 800 GB used.
You can't move an 800 GB partition to an SSD--as far as I know, none of them are that large.
You need to reduce the size of C--likely by moving some or all of your personal data to an external drive.
Then shrink C to a size equal to or smaller than your SSD, using Windows Disk Management or possibly Partition Wizard bootable disc.
Then clone or image it.
You would have to include the System Reserved partition in the clone or image.
Yes. I figured that Windows is around 40G. So my original question was, how can I move only Windows. yes, my image was of entire drive. So I want to figure a way to only move Windows, because all else is pretty much personal files, applications, games, etc. If I wanted to move everything, I would just use clone form one of my backup apps. So this is my dilemma. Is it doable? My new drive will be 128Gig.
@ignatzatsonic Add: Ok I just re-read your post. I think I know what there is to do, and it is going to be a hassle, but I guess there is no other way. I'll report my outcome.
Question: How much space should I allocate on drive C:?
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