Solved Tr'ferring Win7 & Contents from 1st SSD to 2nd SSD

[gplea]

So, I need to double the size of my current SSD, and I know I can move the OS AND Contents to the new one, but I haven't a clue how. PLEASE tell me the EASIEST way to achieve this maneuver. Don't care if it takes twice as long, I just want it to be done RIGHT!

Thanks,
GPL

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I suggest cloning with Macrium Reflect Free. Make sure the new SSD has already been formatted.

 

[gplea]

Thanks Me Lady!

So, as for formatting, does it allow that step to be done just prior to making the transfer, as you could with installing Win7 from scratch?

Thanks,
GPL

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

No, you need to format the SSD before running Macrium Reflect. Otherwise, Macrium Reflect will not be able to see it.

 

[gplea]

OK, I'll bite. How should I do that? Is it as simple as maybe taking out my SATA drive (NOT my OS SSD drive), and replacing it with my new SSD, format it. Take it out, and LEAVE out the stnd SATA drive, and then replace my old SSD with my new?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I was afraid you would ask that.

First, you need to have both your old drive and the new drive connected to your computer at the same time. If you don't have room to install them both inside the computer, then you need to get an external USB dock like this one (even though it's USB 3.0, it will also work with USB 2.0) if you don't already have one.

Plug the new SSD into the dock, connect tit to the computer and turn it on. Then press the Windows key, type in Computer Management then click on Computer Management when it pops up.

Click Yes if an alert pops up. In the window named Computer Management that pops up, click on disk Management. You should get a popup saying a drive needs to initialized. Click on that, then right click on the drive that says it is unallocated. In the menu that pops up, click on New Simple Volume and follow the prompts.

Once the drive has been formatted, start up Macrium Reflect. Click on the box to the left of the drive you want to clone, then click on Clone this Disk. In the window that's pops up, click on Select a Disk to Clone to...

Click on the destination disk, then follow the prompts.

I'm sorry I'm being so vague but I'm having to rely on memory since I don't have any disks that need formatting or cloning and memory never was anything to write home about.

 

[gplea]

LOL! I feel ya! Thanks, MUCH again!

 

[NavyLCDR]

You don't need to use an expensive dock for an SSD. A simple cable works:
USB 3.0 to 2.5HDD - Hard Drive Adapter Cable Black - Newegg.com

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

You don't need to use an expensive dock for an SSD. A simple cable works:
USB 3.0 to 2.5HDD - Hard Drive Adapter Cable Black - Newegg.com

True that, up to a point (I don't know why I didn't think of that). With SSDs, even a single USB 2.0 port will probably have enough power to drive them (2.5" HDDs can be another story). However, I do not recommend ordering the one you linked. It's from a Newegg marketplace vendor based in China. Besides not having the best vendor reviews on Newegg, it will take a minimum of two weeks to arrive (usually more). I trust most Chinese vendors as far as I can spit upwind in a stiff breeze. Also, it's an oddball brand.

A better choice would be this one from StarTech. Besides being made by a reliable manufacturer (I also have one or two of these cables and know they work well), they are sold by Newegg.

 

[gplea]

Thanks again, guys and gals. I have just 1 more question. I've decided that I'm not going to discard my current SSD, but use it as a 3rd drive to handle major realtime multitrack audio thruput. So, having said that, can I simply install it in a 3rd bay? Then, format it from my current SSD. THEN, run the process you described Lady Fitz?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

You could but it's not quite as simple as you think. You would have to first install the new drive into the third bay, then format the new drive and clone the old drive to the new drive. After cloning, the drive letters on the old drive will be wrong. Don't worry about it, it will get fixed in the next steps.

Remove both the original drive and the newly cloned drive, then reinstall the newly cloned drive where the original drive was located. Boot the computer. The C: partition and , if there is one, the system reserved partition will be properly relettered. Shut down the computer, install the old drive in the third bay, reboot and reformat the old drive.

 

[gplea]

Lady, I hereby promote you Queen of the Windows Kingdom.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Lady, I hereby promote you Queen of the Windows Kingdom.

Thank you but shouldn't we wait until you get the darned thing working?