Moving Factory Image Partition, shrinking boot disk size

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  1. Posts : 52
    Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
       #1

    Moving Factory Image Partition, shrinking boot disk size


    Hello,
    I have a HP HPE-210f with a factory 1TB HDD.
    I just installed an Intel 320 series 80GB HDD to move my OS over to.
    My first attempt to copy disk0 to disk1 failed because there was not enough space on the target disk. This is a new PC with harldy any downloads on it.

    I moved 6GB off to my USB HDD and then retried and it worked. I was totally shocked that 80GB was right on the edge of capacity to move the OS over to.

    It looks like I could free up some space on my boot disk if I were able to move the Factory Image partition over to the old 1TB drive (it's actually still there since I copied it over to the SSD).

    Can I delete the FACTORY_IMAGE partition form my SSD and have Windows 7 Home Premium point to the FACTORY_IMAGE partition on the 1TB non-boot drive?

    Any other tips to skinny down the SSD drive?

    Thanks
      My Computer


  2. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #2

    It may be better if you post a full picture of your Disk management so that we see what the situation is.

    There is absolutely no need to transfer the recovery partition to the SSD. But I would make a recovery disk from it (type recovery into start/search and the recovery disc creator will show up).

    Before you redo the OS transfer, you should do 3 things:

    1. Create a data partition on your big HDD and move all the user folders (Documents, Pictures, etc.) Here is how.

    2. Create an aligned partition on the SSD. If the SSD is not aligned, you will have a serious performance degradation - up to 300%. Here is how. Since you now already have stuff on the SSD, add a Clean command. So your commands look like this:

    Diskpart
    List disk
    Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)
    Clean
    Create partition primary align=1024
    Active (assuming you want to install an OS)
    Exit

    3. If you have the 100MB active partition, move the bootmgr to C. Do that whilst booted from the big HDD. Then you can ignore that 100MB partition and move only C to the SSD. Here is how.

    If you have questions, post back.

    PS: Once you have C on the SSD, there are a few other tricks how to reduce the size of C. Ask for that when you have the OS on the SSD.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 52
    Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Here is my current disk layout.


    I used Intel SSD migration tool, which is Acronis.
    I think I'm going to switch back to my 1TB as my boot drive and erase the SSD and start over following WHS's recommendation above.

    Is that the right approach?
      My Computer

  4.    #4

    Yes, I would follow Wolfgang's approach to rely on your HP Recovery Disks and abandon the Recov partition, image over only the first two partitions. SSD - Install and transfer the Operating System
      My Computer


  5. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #5

    Yeah, I think you are best off to start anew. If you follow my instructions above (but do not skip anything, LOL), you should end up with a nice clean and performing SSD. If you have questions, ask.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 52
    Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Great, thanks guys. I'll starting now :)
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 52
    Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #7

    I completed all the steps above and am now ready to copy my C partition to my SSD.
    I was going to use the Intel SSD Migration tool (which is Acronis) but it does not let me select just the C partition from the source disk - I have to select the entire disk. I'm going to give Macrium a shot. I watched the video tutorial on moving "Test Images" between partitions. I'm not sure from the tutorial how I would copy a C partition from the big HDD to the SSD but hope the interface is intuitive enought to walk me through it.

    Any tips?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #8

    denisl said:
    I'm not sure from the tutorial how I would copy a C partition from the big HDD to the SSD but hope the interface is intuitive enought to walk me through it.

    Any tips?
    I'm not sure I am following you, but if you are referring to an imaging process you don't "copy a C partition from the big HDD to the SSD".

    Instead, you make an image file of C, store it on some other drive, and then "restore" that image file to the SSD, via booting from a previously burned CD boot disc.


    But you may be talking about "cloning".

    In which case, look at this recent thread by DeaconFrost, an experienced member who successfully used Acronis to clone:

    Best method to clone SSDs
      My Computer


  9. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #9

    For free Macrium, you must first shrink your C partition to the size of the SSD. If it is bigger, it will not work regardles of the amount of data in it. With Disk Management you will not be able to do it because it is an active partition. You must use the bootable CD of Partition Wizard. But make sure you make an image of C first - in case something happens.

    If you used free Paragon, you can start with a larger partition than the SSD - provided the data on the partition is less than the size of the SSD.

    If you want to make your life real easy, get this program. It costs $19.95, but it gets the job done with 3 clicks.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 52
    Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Paragon it is. 3 clicks for $19.95 works for me... downloading it now.
      My Computer


 
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