Fresh Installation of Windows 7 using ISO and OEM Key on Toshiba L450

Apparently the 400mb partition is booting Win7 since it's marked Active which is the flag that points to the intended System partition, but strangely its not marked System which is always a concern. So you can either move the Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD - Windows 7 Forums so that C is booting itself, or run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times to see if the 400mb jumbo System partition will flag itself System. It may continue to boot correctly, but until one of those partitions is marked System it will never be correct.

I'm assuming you have a jumbo System partition because it once serviced a Recovery partition you've since removed? If so you dont really need it so moving the Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD - Windows 7 Forums is an easy and effective way to get C booting itself so you only need to concern yourself with dragging it to the new SSD if it's going to be small. If it is plenty big you could drag all three partitions to it, then adjust their size as I described earlier can be done during Macrium imaging. But without a Recovery partition about 75% of the 400mb is wasted since it only needs the boot files which take 50mb. (The % Free shown above is incorrect since it's a hidden partition and won't report until it's unhidden in Folder Options>View to browse it).

Once you move the Bootmgr you can install Macrium Imaging, make its boot disk to use later to recover the image to SSD, save C to external. Power down, unplug all HD's, plug in SSD, boot Macrium Disk, browse to image and load it, choose destination SSD, drag C to SSD, click link below it to adjust size to take up full SSD unless you want to save space at the right end for another partition then adjust the right border as desired.

As you probably already know, data doesn't benefit from SSD speed so can afford to be stored on another HD linked to Win7 by moving it's User Folders - Change Default Location, or adding to Library - Include a Folder and Library - Set Save Folder .

I see you use cloud storage, so you might want to look over this method to Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with OneDrive which has worked well for me for 3 years now. I strongly recommend you keep a hard copy on a local drive.

I'm not sure about the jumbo partition - I did a system restore last year and experimented moving things around the different drives more recently - but any changes were inadvertent.

I actually installed Macrium before you answered and it brought up a page with a breakdown of the drives (below). I have since got and used the EasyBCD to change the boot drive to C as per the instructions in the thread you cited. I thought this wd affect the analysis on Disc Management and Macrium - I just checked both Disc Management and Macrium though and the figures all have stayed the same. I notice though that the 400mb partition is identified as 'System' by Macrium - does that help?

Did you have a Recovery partition which was replaced? How did you obtain your Recovery media?

Go to Control Panel>Folder Options>View and unhide Hidden and System files, assign a drive letter to 400mb partition in Disk Mgmt, then rightclick to Explore, post back a screenshot of the contents. There is something stored there if it has that much content as said by Macrium.

Are you sure you applied the change of Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD following the steps exactly as shown, then rebooted to check Disk Mgmt? Try it again and then let us see another screenshot.

I used the Toshiba Recovery disc creator as far as I recall. I have the USB stick here with me - I can post the contents of that too if any help.

How do I assign a letter to the 400MB partition? I have unhidden all system files etc now and rebooted.

Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

Have you used the Recovery media so you know it works?

What size is the SSD?

Ok so i now see that Drive C has 'system' and 'active' after it in Disc Management, and 'Active' after it in Macrium, so that's new.
I will now assign the letter and try to explore the 400 mb- thanks

Good work. C is now booting itself with the 400mb cut out, backup media created so you can do without it if you want since it appears to only be big enough to have generated recovery media off of C.

What I would do is only check C to image. A data partition can be backed up as data and then recreated if and where you want it.

Great- do I need a cable to put the image on the SSD? thanks again for the advice- getting there.
struggling to assign letter to the 400mb- disc management doesnt allow me to right click on the drives to assign letters even after entering instruction through Start as per the tutorial

As I detailed in post #31 you'll need to install Macrium to C to Create a Disk Image stored on external. Then power down to swap the drives, boot the Macrium boot disk you also create, and apply the image to the SSD. Only if you had a desktop could you plug in both drives internally to clone C over to the SSD.

If you have space and want to save the Recovery partition you can include it, but I would not waste SSD space for it since it's not needed now and really only could be used later to reconstruct the hard drive to boot Factory Recovery. But you don't need that since you made Recovery Media.

Be sure to read Macrium Imaging - Windows 7 Help Forums which illustrates all of this and also provides a download for boot disk to save time.

Here is Macrium help for How to create a disk image

I am just reading through the relevant pages. just wondering if I can save the image to a usb, and also if I can put the macriam boot disc on a usb (a different one I guess) - I only have usBs not cds handy