Best method to clone SSDs

[DeaconFrost]

I have used many cloning apps in the past, such as Ghost (for many years) and TrueImage. However, these have all been with HDDs. Does it matter what application is used when cloning a small SSD to a larger one?

I have a license for a recent version of TrueImage from work, and I've used it many times as a bootable disc to clone a drive to or from a network share. Would that work going directly from a 128 GB C300 to a 240 GB OCZ Agility 3?

 

[mickey megabyte]

i don't see why not. it should work fine, although i have to admit i've never used TrueImage. I assume the software sees a disk as a disk and doesn't differentiate between hdd and ssd.

you may have to resize the partition afterwards to make full use of the new drive's capacity, but you already probably know that.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The fact is that cloning is not often discussed on these forums---there aren't many threads devoted to it, let alone from SSD to SSD.

Imaging discussions vastly outnumber cloning discussions.

Having said that, I can't recall any cloning failures attributed to any particular application.

I moved from HDD to SDD about 10 months ago and seriously considered cloning, but ultimately did a clean install precisely because I could not get up-to-date and reliable info about the choice of applications and the entire process.

All I can suggest is to dive in with a particular app and see what happens. I'd be interested in hearing about the details after the fact.

 

[TVeblen]

Curious: I know this is probably a matter of semantics, but what is the difference between cloning drives and installing a disk image of one drive to another?

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
It works fine (TI version 2012 or the previous version).

You can also clone from HDD to SSD or SSD to HDD too.

Rather than "Clone" per se use Imaging method -- Image say your "C" drive to a file then restore this image to your other disk drive.

The final target drive can have a smaller or larger partition - the only restriction that the size must be large enough to fit on to the target drive.

Imaging is better than cloning since with an SSD you don't want to replicate an HDD sector by sector. The image will have the same data as the original of course.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Curious: I know this is probably a matter of semantics, but what is the difference between cloning drives and installing a disk image of one drive to another?

I think the term "cloning' is often used loosely and perhaps incorrectly.

When used loosely, the speaker often means simply getting a system moved from drive 1 to drive 2---which could imply imaging.

More strictly speaking, cloning doesn't use an intervening file that is later restored---it's all real-time, on-the-fly. It isn't a "backup" solution in the sense that imaging is. I think of cloning as a possibility when everything is OK, to move to a larger drive. Imaging, on the other hand, is for disaster recovery.

 

[TVeblen]

Thanks Ig - I think you are right.

I just looked up the topic on acronis and that seems to be the case: no difference in terms of result, just in terms of function:
Difference between Backup and Disk Clone | Knowledge Base

I don't see why it would be a problem Deacon.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I always considered cloning the process of going drive to drive, where as imaging involved creating a file that would be stored somewhere first, and possibly kept for future use as well. With cloning, no image file is created, as it is a one-time process.

I guess I'll give it a shot this weekend and report back. Since I always leave the source drive untouched, rolling back would be as simple as moving the SATA cables back to the source drive, if the new one doesn't boot for some reason.

 

[traderpats]

For what it's worth.... Just cloned an hdd to ssd. Installed them both on the computer and used a freeware program called EaseUS. Really couldn't have been easier.

Select source drive, select destination drive, check "optimize for ssd" box, move slider on destination drive to use all available space and click "clone". Easy-peasy ....

 

[DeaconFrost]

I hooked up my new SSD on port 2 and booted from an Acronis TrueImage boot disc. I used the clone option, and I am happy to report it worked flawlessly, and only took about 2 minutes to run. It gave me a choise of destination sizes, so I used proportional, which kept 100% of the drive as one whole C partition. I shut down and swapped drives, so the new one was on the first port, and the system booted without issue. Even the alignment held, which is what I was worried about it.

My scores are lower than I thought, but maybe that has something to do with the cloning? Attached are the screens from AS SSD. The first is my C300, and the second is from the new Agility 3.