Can't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.

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  1. Posts : 30
    Windows 7 64-bit
       #1

    Can't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.


    I'm trying to clone/migrate my OS, Win 7 Pro x64, to a 60GB flash drive. I've searched SevenForums for existing threads on this problem and have tried two suggested programs, Disk Genius and Hasleo. Both tout the ability to let the user clone just the OS, not entire disk. But when the moment comes, neither program lives up to its promise. They both refuse to let me clone my OS to a smaller drive. I've added up the sizes of all the top level folders except for "users". The total is less than 29GB. So there's plenty of room on the flash drive for my OS and installed programs.

    Can anyone suggest a free (not trial version) program that actually does what it claims?


    Thank you!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 16,453
    7 X64
       #2

    provide screenshots of the program windows and that will probably give a clue
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 1,940
    Windows 7 pro
       #3

    You need the users folder otherwise you won't be able to log into the computer upon restore. If that folder is too large try off loading pictures, videos, music, and your downloads folders for every account. You can also try cleaning up the profiles with ccleaner.
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  4. Posts : 30
    Windows 7 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    To SIW2,

    Here are the screenshots. Hopefully, I'm just not using Disk Genius correctly.

    Can't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-disk-genius-1.jpgCan't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-disk-genius-2.jpgCan't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-disk-genius-3.jpgCan't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-disk-genius-4.jpgCan't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-disk-genius-5.jpg


    To townsbg,

    I'm not trying to exclude system files associated with the "users" folder and subfolders during migration. I merely excluded its size from my calculations for the needed disk space as I believe it is the only folder that contains my personal files. And it is my understanding that a system migration does not migrate personal files but perhaps I'm wrong.


    Thank you both!
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 16,453
    7 X64
       #5

    Os Migration will migrate all the used space on the selected source partitions.

    You could try a partition image. That will allow you to exclude any files/folders you don't want from the image. But you have to know what you are doing, don't exclude any windows system files.

    Then you restore the image to the target disk


    Can't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-dg-exclude1.jpg

    tick the system volume information box to exclude it and click ADD to browse to any other files/folders you want to exclude


    Can't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-dg-exclude2.jpg
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  6. Posts : 30
    Windows 7 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    I guess I'll go ahead and try that. I'm pretty much down to just the two drives now. So I'll have to first put the image on the destination drive, copy and paste it to the system drive, then recover to the destination drive.

    I was really looking forward to the whole cloning thing since (from what I've heard) that bypasses the whole image creation step. I sure thought everywhere I read and listened, migrating the OS was cloning the OS, and cloning the OS was not cloning the whole disk. So I guess all of that is crap. Don't know how I kept getting that wrong in so many places. Is there not a free program that will just clone the OS and installed programs without creating an image first?

    - - - Updated - - -

    I'm now trying to recover the partition image, but I'm getting a prompt asking, "The Master Boot Record(MBR) has been changed. Do you want to restore it to the selected time point?" Sounds like I need to get this one right on the first time, but I don't know what the answer is. I'm guessing that I should want to swap the MBR in the image file for the MBR on the flash drive, which would mean I should select, No. I think selecting, Yes, would change the MBR on the flash drive to whatever is in the image file, which I don't think is what I should want. Do I have any of that right?
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  7. Posts : 3,892
    win 8 32 bit
       #7

    You don't say what flash drive as 7 wont natively boot from flash drive
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  8. Posts : 1,940
    Windows 7 pro
       #8

    Danny S said:
    To townsbg,

    I'm not trying to exclude system files associated with the "users" folder and subfolders during migration. I merely excluded its size from my calculations for the needed disk space as I believe it is the only folder that contains my personal files. And it is my understanding that a system migration does not migrate personal files but perhaps I'm wrong.


    Thank you both!

    users folder contains more than your personal files. It contains login information, application settings, and saved passwords for your account. If you leave that folder off completely you won't have an account to log into. Yes you can exclude folders like music, pics, documents, downloads, IE bookmarks within each profile but most of the other other folders beneath each profile are necessary. You also need need the default and public folders beneath users.
    Last edited by townsbg; 20 Aug 2024 at 16:22.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 16,453
    7 X64
       #9

    It is possible to boot win7 via usb but it needs a couple of registry changes.
      My Computers


  10. Posts : 30
    Windows 7 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    To samuria and SIW2,

    I'm not yet at the point of trying to boot from the flash drive. I'm still just trying to recover the partition, but DiskGenius wants to know, "Do you want to restore [the MBR] to the selected time point?" before it will recover the image. But I can tell you that my active OS is running from an external SSD via USB thanks to the code provided by SIW2, so as far as I know the computer should be able to boot from the flash drive once the image has been recovered. And the flash drive currently holds bootable installation files for Windows 7 Pro x64. I just need to know if I should restore the MBR. I presume it means to restore the MBR on the flash drive to a setting in the image. But the setting in the image is for the OS on the external SSD. I'll also mention that DiskGenius made me boot from another drive just to create the image.

    Can't clone my OS to a smaller drive with Disk Genius or Hasleo.-disk-genius-6.jpg


    To townsbg,

    I'm not disputing that "
    users folder contains more than your personal files". And as I said before, I'm not trying to exclude system files associated with the users folder and subfolders. Nor am I trying to exclude the folders themselves. But thank you.
      My Computer


 
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