Can I move Windows to a smaller drive?

[Bigpuns1]

Hello all,

I currently have Windows 7 installed on a 2TB HDD, with a 128GB SSD being used as a cache drive for it. The SSD is partitioned more or less 50/50, as the Intel RST software doesnt like big cache drives for some reason. I thought I might try and move Windows on to the unused space of the SSD, just to get a slight boost to boot times, but all the guides seem to suggest I can only clone onto a bigger drive, using various free utilities. Is this correct?

Am I reduced to doing a clean install of Windows on the spare partition and having to go through all the updates and driver nonsense again?

 

[RARRAF]

Macrium Reflect will copy your windows and there are other cloning tools but this is what I use 50gb will not be very big but should be fine and you would have to change it too the boot drive in your bios but should be fine

 

[slingsrat]

The clone software will make a 2TB copy which of course wont fit onto the 60GB SSD partition. An option is to shrink the partition on the 2TB drive down to 60GB but that will only be possible if you don't have much installed on your HDD.