Random Gain of 9-10 Gigabytes, Want to Know if Assumptions Correct

i've only used SFC for the "C:" partition i booted with, so i can't answer your last question.

i'm not sure exactly what all you have done .
maybe you are booting from the old HD?
did you change to boot priority to use the new HD with the clean install as the boot device?
maybe you didn't clean the "cloned Win 7 installation" HD prior to doing a clean install on the new HD, and that is the problem now?

i would

1) clean the new HD - here is a tutorial by Brink
Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

2) Get and run the Manufactures HD diagnostic utility to make sure the new HD is not defective.

3) do a clean install following the tutorial by gregrocker i gave you earlier
Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

I was booting from the new HD, I made sure in the boot menu, and I'd already run diagnostics on it before I tried cloning just in case it had errors. I think all the weirdness was from the partial cloning and the fact that the Windows 7 Installation only performs a Quick Format. After the cloning failed (and before I reinstalled Windows on the new drive), when I booted up it gave me two options for Windows, the first of which was broken because it was on "another device" and the second was also broken because of all the errors I described previously. I think after I reinstalled it recognize the new installation as the first copy of Windows which led to those strange follow-up events.

Just making sure of something here for future reference, the device-to-device option in Clonezilla copies right? I hope it wasn't moving files instead, because then it would be a case of sheer ignorance on my part.

Anyways, back to the hard-drive: After I ran SFC in safe mode with both drives connected, when I tried starting up my old drive again in safe mode for some strange reason it shut down. Afterwards I tried starting it in regular mode and as I mentioned earlier, it got stuck at the Personalized Settings window. I started up my new hard-drive and found files on it and I figured the system was trying to repair the other copy of Windows. I decided to unplug my new hard-drive and startup my old one alone in safe mode. I managed to get into an Administrator level Command Prompt and run SFC; however, it only got to 10% and failed. I restarted into regular mode to see if anything had changed, but nope. When I Ctrl-Alt-Deleted to Shut Down however, I noticed that Windows was trying to download and install updates, something which I didn't necessarily want with the state my hard-drive was in. So I let Windows install the one update as it was shutting down, and then I removed my USB Wireless Internet Adapter. I started the computer up yet again, and this time it managed to get past the Personalized Settings window, though Explorer didn't start up (something I thought was strange was that the process for the Personalized Settings windows was actually Explorer!) so I started it up manually though the Task Manager. However, I was logged on to a temporary account and I couldn't open any folders or programs; I shut down the computer again.

Then I had an idea: I was going to run SFC off my new copy of Windows and analyse my old one, but to make sure my older one did not interfere I had to have it unplugged at start-up. I enabled AHCI so I could plug it afterwards. To make sure the program didn't confuse errors between the two drives, I made sure that my new copy of Windows had no errors at all (weirdly enough, it had some). So I plugged in my old drive, ran SFC on it, and then... it didn't work.

The final idea I had was a simple one. I was just going to try and figure out my what data I lost again. Since Victor doesn't use Windows' in-built backup mechanics, I had no idea how much space the System Volume Information folder uses up for System Restore over three years. So I had my friend install TreeSize Free on his 3+ year old PC with Windows 7, and lo and behold, his folder took up 9.5 GB whereas the one on my old drive took up less than 100 MB. This result was actually hinted at earlier in my endeavours as Startup Repair reported no restore points whereas I knew I had many, since I never changed any of System Restore's settings and had been installing and un-installing various hard-drive analysis programs recently. Therefore, thankfully the only thing I lost was a few restore points.

I will probably perform a clean install and look into disk imaging in the near future. For now though, the original issue is effectively SOLVED.



Quick Edit: w1dpc, I actually found out my Windows folder on my old drive was actually 28 GB; I had closed the Properties window before it finished updating the first time because I thought it was done.