Advice for moving a Windows 7 install to an SSD.

[Nitesco]

There's two 500GB SSDs on sale at Newegg that I'm eyeing right now (Samsung | Crucial). I did some comparisons at UserBenchmark, and I've narrowed down my choices to those two SSDs, however I'm open to suggestions.


I've given my main 1TB C drive a look with TreeSize and I think 500GB should cover the Windows 7 installation and Program Files, with more than enough clearance for whatever else I wish to put on the SSD.


The problem comes with the drive itself. There's only one partition on my C drive, which altogether contains much more than just Windows 7 and the Program Files folders.





Yes, I know that lack of free space on ALL my drives is universally terrible. I need to get to Spring Cleaning ASAP.


Since my C is just one big partition, I can't actually image my Windows 7 installation onto the 500GB SSD, since that's simply not enough space. Is there a way to move only what is necessary for my Windows 7 install to the SSD? I have no experience with making partitions, so I may be overlooking an easier solution. In any case, I want to keep all of my files intact.



I plan on buying either of the two SSDs soon, so I appreciate any help with this.

 

[SIW2]

I suggest you make a folder on C - call it something like NOT-THIS. Then MOVE evrything you don't want on your SSD into that folder.

Then you can use something that can make clones/images and allows you to exclude folders.

Only a few programs do exclusions. O&O DiskImage does both for clones and images - I think you maight still be able to get Diskimge pro v11 on free giveaway.

Pro 11 is still available on free giveaway - also works on win10

Enter your email address at the registration page. They send an email, you click the link to confirm it is you then your reg key arrives.


Registration
Registrieren Sie sich hier fur Ihre kostenlose Vollversion von O&O DiskImage 11
Download English Version
Download Archive

Useful feature is the ability to exclude files/folders from backup.



Another possibilty is Partition Guru/DiskGenius - it can exclude files/folders from images. Last time I looked, the free version has that ability.
Free Download DiskGenius Online

 

[samuria]

The drive in UK money is £77 I got a 480 big for £54 so it's not cheap you will need an adapter to fit the drive unless you have 3.5 bays. If you transfer 7 you need to make system changes for a ssd drive and disable defrag as well

 

[Nitesco]

I suggest you make a folder on C - call it something like NOT-THIS. Then MOVE evrything you don't want on your SSD into that folder.

Then you can use something that can make clones/images and allows you to exclude folders.

Only a few programs do exclusions. O&O DiskImage does both for clones and images - I think you maight still be able to get Diskimge pro v11 on free giveaway.

Pro 11 is still available on free giveaway - also works on win10

Enter your email address at the registration page. They send an email, you click the link to confirm it is you then your reg key arrives.


Registration
Registrieren Sie sich hier fur Ihre kostenlose Vollversion von O&O DiskImage 11
Download English Version
Download Archive

Useful feature is the ability to exclude files/folders from backup.



Another possibilty is Partition Guru/DiskGenius - it can exclude files/folders from images. Last time I looked, the free version has that ability.
Free Download DiskGenius Online

Aces. I have Macrium Reflect Free leftover from when I used that to restore an old C image to rollback from a Windows 10 install (just to get the free upgrade), but it doesn't allow me to exclude files. I assume that it might be a feature for the paid version, haven't checked.



O&O DiskImage Pro being able to exclude the files I don't want in the image is a massive help. Good looking out on that free Pro Version giveaway. Thanks a lot.

The drive in UK money is £77 I got a 480 big for £54 so it's not cheap you will need an adapter to fit the drive unless you have 3.5 bays. If you transfer 7 you need to make system changes for a ssd drive and disable defrag as well

Turns out my PC case has a spot specifically made for one SSD on the back of the motherboard plate. I also have a few 6Gbps SATA Cables that I can use for this.


I forgot that I needed to turn off Defragmenting for SSDs, but I also wasn't aware of other System-level changes I needed to make. Found a 3 part guide that seems to lay out what I need to do: 10 Tips for SSD Optimization in Windows 7 - Part 1


Anything else I need to do to prepare? I've ordered the Crucial MX500, and it'll arrive in 2 days.

 

[Nitesco]

I'm having problems cloning my C drive onto my SSD with O&O DiskImage 11. I made sure to move all of the files and folders into a single "DO-NOT-MOVE" folder on C, placed those into the exclusions as shown, and I'm still getting an error telling me that the target drive is too small.





It seems like the DO-NOT-MOVE folder isn't actually being excluded if the error being returned is that that the target drive is too small. What am I doing wrong here?

 

[SIW2]

Are you are sure you have moved enough into the DO-NOT-MOVE folder? Check the used space on the source partition. Then check the size of the DO-NOT-MOVE folder and deduct it from the used space.

Have you selected to clone only used sectors?

 

[Nitesco]

Are you are sure you have moved enough into the DO-NOT-MOVE folder? Check the used space on the source partition. Then check the size of the DO-NOT-MOVE folder and deduct it from the used space.

Have you selected to clone only used sectors?

View attachment 407537

Yes. I'm moving more files now. Here's a shot of the C drive from TreeSize. Many of the bigger files that aren't system files are now in the DO-NOT-MOVE folder, and the 608.5 GB is how much space that should be subtracted from the total used space (assuming it's being excluded correctly).





So going by that, what should be left is only 128 GB of space to be cloned onto the SSD, right?


Also, here's a shot of the SSD in Disk Management.





All I did was the basic initialization so the SSD could be recognized by cloning software (which it is). Do I need to make a New Simple Volume on it as well?

 

[Nitesco]

Cleared out some more space.





Then O&O seems like it's starting to move forward after I begin cloning, and then this happens.





I have no idea what's causing that message to be displayed. I'll keep trying.

 

[SIW2]

No idea. I haven't had any problems with it.

Maybe try creating partition and formatting the target disk.

Also scroll down the target drive list and make sure there isn't anything ticked inadvertently.

What does CUSTOS mean, is that your PC name?

 

[Nitesco]

Yes, Custos is just the name of my PC.


Cleared out some more space. EaseUS Todo Backup Home (Trial) had issues, as did Acronis True Image for Crucial, so I'm giving Macrium Reflect's Cloning function a shot.


So far so good, as slow as it is.





I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the help so far.

 

[SIW2]

Something odd about your system if several applications had difficulty. Particularly strange the Acronis application which is suggested by crucial had difficulties.

I have an MX300 which is larger at 525gb. O&O works great.

 

[Nitesco]

It's strange. I expected this to just go forward after moving files and clearing out more space.



Did some more searching, and I saw a few suggestions that a virus scanner might be interfering with the Cloning process. Is it possible that my NOD32 might be causing problems with disk imaging software? I seriously doubt it, since I'm not seeing any logs in NOD32 showing that any actions from what I tried so far were being prevented.

 

[SIW2]

You could try temporarily turning off real time protection or whatever NOD calls it

 

[Nitesco]

Macrium Reflect came through when the others couldn't.




Restarted, changed the boot drive to the SSD in the BIOS, everything is all good. And fast. Windows 7 feels like a brand new install now. W7 seemed to just disable defragmenting for the SSD drive (it's not even showing up in Disk Defragmenter) despite showing that it was defragged once last night. I made sure TRIM is enabled, too. I'm not sure if there's anything missing.





The weird thing about this situation is that the DO-NOT-MOVE folder couldn't be excluded, but Macrium Reflect was still able to clone the drive just fine to the SSD, with space to spare. This leaves a bunch a copies of files, but nothing some time and careful comparisons can't fix.


At least I can use D (the former C) as a backups drive and place to toss stuff into. Still might buy a brand new 1TB HDD when I can.


O&O DiskImage couldn't cut it for whatever reason. I'm still interested in finding out the reason why.


Still, cheers for the help.