restore win7 from image

[jaschulz]

I did a clean install of win7 on my (aging) ThinkPad. No problem. But then I decided to replace the horribly slow hard disk with an SSD. I first made a recovery disk and an image backup (on an external USB hard drive). ThenI installed the new SSD (without difficulty),and rebooted the machine using the recovery disk. Again there was no difficulty. The recovery environment saw the attached USB drive, and the new (blank) c: drive. I chose recover from a system image, but after about 10 seconds, the recovery process quit saying that "no disk that can be used for recovering the system disk can be found".

The C drive is active. I can get to it from the command prompt. I formatted it (FAT32 which was the only option I had). I tried to copy a file from the recovery DVD to C:, and had no difficulty in doing that. I cannot imagine why the image restore system will not recognize C:

Any ideas?

Thanks,

JAS

 

[jaschulz]

I converted C: to NTFS, but still the image restore fails. I really am out of ideas now.

JAS

 

[Arc]

Here is a tutorial about SSD http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/75127-partition-image-restore-hdd-ssd.html
It might help you about some steps I think .

 

[whs]

I suspect that the image (original C partition) is larger than the SSD. Usually you cannot restore an image to a smaller disk/partition. For that you need a clone.

Btw: No disk (internal and external) should be formatted in Fat32 - that is only a valid (useful) format for USB sticks.

 

[jaschulz]

No, the previous hard disk was the same size as the SSD and that hard disk was not nearly full. I understand the original Fat32 format was a mistake, after the conversion

 

[whs]

I would suggest you do a clean install on the SSD. The way you try do do it will leave you with a set of problems.

1. Your SSD will not be aligned unless you did that beforehand. That will give you a major performance hit. The Win7 installer will do that for you.
2. A set of Win7 functions have to be disabled on the SSD (e.g. Defrag is only one of them). Again the Win7 installer will do that for you.
3. Trim may not get properly setup and you'll end up with a write speed that is degraded by 50%.

If you are not an "expert" with SSDs, you are liable to make a lot of mistakes that you can avoid with a clean install.
I am not sure why your restore did not work. I only know that the windows imaging has it's quirks. That's why I use Macrium which never let me down.

 

[jaschulz]

OK. You arguments for a clean install make good sense. I will try it. One more question slightly off topic. I have two sets of Win 7 disks (one for my laptop and one for my desk top). And of course I have two cards bearing the product keys. Is there any way I can tell which product key goes with which set of disks?

Thanks

JAS

 

[whs]

I am not sure I can answer that question. I would think, that as long as you do not use a product key twice, it would not make any difference.

PS: maybe the people from the MS outreach team can answer your question. Send them a PM. http://www.sevenforums.com/member.php?u=65371

 

[jaschulz]

That, alas, is precisely the question. Both the laptop and the desktop were activated, and if I do the install with the wrong disk, the activation will be refused and I will have to reformat and start with the other disk. Oh well... My fault for not keeping things straight at the beginning.

 

[derekimo]

Why don't you use this Magical Jelly Bean Software - Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v2.0.1 on the computer you're not doing the clean install on, It will let you know which one NOT to use.

 

[whs]

Derek made a good suggestion. Here is another keyfinder program - I hope it works on Win7 because I have only used it in Vista.
Another suggestion: if you have an OS on another HDD of the system (applies only to desktops), you better disconnect this HDD during the installation. Else you end up with a double boot situation and the MBR on the HDD.

 

[jaschulz]

Thanks, the Jelly Bean confirmed that I had been careful the first time around, but now I have a new problem: the installer is refusing the product key. Naturally I have entered and re-entered it very carefully (I even tried the other one just in case). I reformatted the disk and did the install again from scratch, but again I got the same result. Is it possible that this has something to do with the SSD? What do I do in a situation like this?

Thanks,

JAS

 

[whs]

Thanks, the Jelly Bean confirmed that I had been careful the first time around, but now I have a new problem: the installer is refusing the product key. Naturally I have entered and re-entered it very carefully (I even tried the other one just in case). I reformatted the disk and did the install again from scratch, but again I got the same result. Is it possible that this has something to do with the SSD? What do I do in a situation like this?

Thanks,

JAS

Did you uninstall the HDD installation. If nothing helps, you may have to make a robocall to Microsoft. That problem has nothing to do with the SSD but the fact that you already have (or had) Win7 with that key installed.

 

[jaschulz]

I have never called them. Can you tell me the number?

Thanks,

JAS

 

[derekimo]

Have a look at this,
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18715-activate-windows-7-phone.html?ltr=A

 

[whs]

This one too: Activation and registration of a Microsoft product

 

[jaschulz]

Yes, that (finally) did it. All is well now. Thank you very much.

JAS

 

[whs]

Yes, that (finally) did it. All is well now. Thank you very much.

JAS

That's good. Let us know how you like the performance of the SSD.