Windows 7 install on a changed hard drive

[psvan]

I am using a ASUS UL80vt laptop with a 320gb hard disk drive. It has been installed with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

I would like to change the hard drive to a Intel 80GB SSD

There is a recovery disk that comes with the Asus, but there seems to be no way to install Windows 7 onto this drive.

I have contacted ASUS Technical support and they claim that they do not support the transfer of the operating system from 1 drive to another.

Can anybody point me to a thread or give me some advice on what to do in order to transfer get Windows 7 onto the SSD.

Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Save a Win7 Backup Image to an external HD, or to a primary formatted partition on your current HD, which you can use to reimage the SSD: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

You can find out now what size this image will be by typing Backup into Start Search box, selecting "Create a System Image" then DVD to see what size the image is.

If the image is bigger than 80gb, you'll need to move some files off the of the Win7 drive to an external or a data partition.

To create a data partition or primary partition to store the backup image: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html
.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, that should work fine.

If it is tricky to point in the right direction - or you want something much faster and more flexible - try Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

It will preserve the correct 2048 alignment on restore ( assuming that's what the oem did originally)

If you have a 100mb partition - you would be best making an image of that as well as the 7 partition - restore them both to the ssd.

 

[gregrocker]

Save a Win7 Backup Image to an external HD, or to a primary formatted partition on your current HD, which you can use to reimage the SSD: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

You can find out now what size this image will be by typing Backup into Start Search box, selecting "Create a System Image" then DVD to see what size the image is.

If the image is bigger than 80gb, you'll need to move some files off the of the Win7 drive to an external or a data partition.

To create a data partition or primary partition to store the backup image: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html

 

[SIW2]

Macrium image will be half the size - if the Win sys image is too big.

It is more important to shrink the source partition itself - to a bit smaller than 80 gb if poss. If you can't shrink it that far - have a clearout - delete restore points , run extended disk clean up etc. Then try the shrink again.

 

[gregrocker]

Macrium compresses to 50% of WindowsImageBackup? That's impressive. :shock:

I'd use Macrium then. Might change to it myself.

What about the Linux disk it uses to reimage - wassup witdat?

 

[SIW2]

It's tiny - 6.5mb - loads in seconds - very easy to use. You can only use it to restore - you can't make an image from the boot disc.

It's superfast and efficient - not too many features - but as much as you need .

I use it quite a lot if i want an image made and restored fast.


FYI - I am looking at the Paragon HDM 2010 Server atm - not yet released - pretty awesome - but it is big and the user needs to know what he's doing.

 

[Saltgrass]

With Windows, it is the size of the partition, not just the image. You can't restore a 100 GB partition to an 80G one using Windows Backup. You would need to shrink the size of the partition prior to creating the image.

 

[psvan]

Thanks for all the advice. I will be trying this in the next few days and will report back.