replace failed HDD with SMALLER SSD and load from windows backup?

[tomj1]

Dual 500gb asus gh73jh-a1 laptop had C: drive fail, I have a good backup on external HDD that was made by windows backup. I've got an intel 530 240gb SSD coming that I want to load the backup to to make it the new C: drive. I've heard an extra step is required if going to the smaller drive, is there a step by step guide somewhere for a newbie to do this whole procedure?

 

[Spacedust]

Yes, mount the VHD image somewhere on a working Windows 7 machine, then use Easeus Partition Manager and trim the partition to the size of your SSD. Then unmount VHD image and write it to the SSD using WinImage option Restore virtual disk image on physical drive - it will show an error at about 50%, but don't worry. Then just boot off the SSD

 

[tomj1]

I ended up doing pretty much the same thing using gparted I think.....It was a while ago. I don't recall any error messages but the PC is working fine now, and because that laptop has 2 drives I now have a backup of c on another partition on the data drive just in case.
thanks
tom