How to move Windows 7 64-bit (c:) to new larger hard drive?

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  1. Posts : 359
    Windows 7 64-bit
       #1

    How to move Windows 7 64-bit (c:) to new larger hard drive?


    I keep getting data overload warnings on my SSD 128Gb (c: ) I have another seldom used 2Tb HHD that has some data on it but could easily be moved to another drive. All drives are NTFS. I'd like to move all data on (c: ) to the 2Tb HHD, making it my new booting (c: ).

    Can this be done without too much trouble?
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  2. Posts : 5,092
    Windows 7 32 bit
       #2

    I would take a look at the cloning features of free imaging programs. Macrium Refflect Free is one example. Make sure when you clone to a larger drive it doesn't require the Windows boot partition to be the same size as the source partition. You could probably live with a 128 GB boot partition. But searching around may side step the limitation.
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  3. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #3

    Why don`t you just move the data ? Why are you storing all your data on C when you have another drive ?

    You want to keep the ssd as your boot drive.
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  4. Posts : 1,261
    Windows 7 Professional X64
       #4

    As said above, just move data ( pictures, files etc) to new hdd.

    I would copy and paste first and when you are sure everything is on new hdd, erase the old data from C.

    One of the biggest hogs is the "Windows Old".
    If that is on your C drive, you will probably get more than 40gb back.

    I try to keep my SSD boot no more than 50% capacity.
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  5. Posts : 5,092
    Windows 7 32 bit
       #5

    PSCO2007 said:
    As said above, just move data ( pictures, files etc) to new hdd.

    I would copy and paste first and when you are sure everything is on new hdd, erase the old data from C.

    One of the biggest hogs is the "Windows Old".
    If that is on your C drive, you will probably get more than 40gb back.

    I try to keep my SSD boot no more than 50% capacity.
    Other than booting is it really that much faster? Say someone runs a server that's always up anyway? I'm curious because the only SSD I owned I used in a USB 3.0 dock for video muxing. Never had one as system disk.
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  6. Posts : 359
    Windows 7 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Thanks for the suggestions. I did move Windows.old but it was only 101MB.

    I think keeping my current c: is a good idea. But what else can be moved? I do not store music, video or photo data on c: . The 3 largest visible folders are;

    • Windows - 27.2 GB
    • Program Files (x86) - 10.7 GB
    • Program Files - 6.80 GB.

    In hidden folders;

    • Users - 22 GB
    • Program Data - 4.67 GB.
    • I couldn't access Documents & Settings (? GB).


    Those add up to 71.37 GB, far from 128 GB's capacity. There's some 40 GB of unseen data (system alerts when HD is at 90% capacity.

    So, what can be moved elsewhere?
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  7. Posts : 5,092
    Windows 7 32 bit
       #7

    Many programs can be installed in other than Program Files. Also you can check if a program you use has a Portable version. Also you can move the User folder to another disk.

    User Profiles - Relocate to another Partition or Disk

    What happens when you run disk cleanup?

    edit: Where is the page file located? How much disk space is dedicated to shadow storage? IOW, how much is used by restore points?
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  8. Posts : 359
    Windows 7 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    MilesAhead said:
    Many programs can be installed in other than Program Files. Also you can check if a program you use has a Portable version. Also you can move the User folder to another disk.

    User Profiles - Relocate to another Partition or Disk

    What happens when you run disk cleanup?

    edit: Where is the page file located? How much disk space is dedicated to shadow storage? IOW, how much is used by restore points?
    Thanks MilesAhead! Disk cleanup cleared over 7 GB off C: . C: now indicates 19.4 GB free of 119 GB. Pagefile.sys is on C:\ & is 15.9 GB. Can User folder be moved? It now reads 18.2 GB.

    Below is Restore Setting which was turned off. Maybe that's not good?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails How to move Windows 7 64-bit (c:) to new larger hard drive?-capture.jpg  
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  9. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #9

    I would get rid of the hiberfile. The command is powercfg -h off. Also, reduce the pagefile to 1 or 2GBs. Those 2 operations should save you appr. 30GBs.

    And I would not move any system or program files.
    Last edited by whs; 06 Dec 2013 at 14:50. Reason: typo
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  10. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #10

    MilesAhead said:
    PSCO2007 said:
    As said above, just move data ( pictures, files etc) to new hdd.

    I would copy and paste first and when you are sure everything is on new hdd, erase the old data from C.

    One of the biggest hogs is the "Windows Old".
    If that is on your C drive, you will probably get more than 40gb back.

    I try to keep my SSD boot no more than 50% capacity.
    Other than booting is it really that much faster? Say someone runs a server that's always up anyway? I'm curious because the only SSD I owned I used in a USB 3.0 dock for video muxing. Never had one as system disk.
    A SSD for the OS is faster in all regards when you access the OS - e.g. loading programs, etc. I would never again put the OS on a spinner.
      My Computer


 
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