[SOLVED] Clone OS on SSD

[Fire&Cold]

Hello, I have Win 10 installed on HDD(1TB) and recently I bought a SSD to improve the performance. On HDD I have 2 partitions: one(150gb) with Win and some programs and other one(850gb) with games and stuff. I read that can clone the OS with some specific programs but I would like to know if I can clone only the OS, not the programs location too. I want to have, after the clone, one partition on HDD (where to be all programs,games) and one with SSD (where to be only OS installed). Should I copy all programs location on other partition(850gb) of HDD before cloning? And after clone, if the OS will be installed on SSD, the HDD will be repartitioned into one partition, like will have 1TB storage on single partition of HDD?

 

[BFG-9000]

Yep, clone only the OS partition. Then after it boots up fine when the HDD is not installed, go ahead and blow away the OS partition on the HDD and expand the programs partition into the empty space. The whole HDD will then be D:\ and all the pointers on the SSD will point to the right place, just as before.

 

[USAFRet]

During the clone process, select ALL partitions except the "850GB" one.
Details below.

Regarding this:
"I want to have, after the clone, one partition on HDD (where to be all programs,games) and one with SSD (where to be only OS installed) "

It serves no purpose to have "only the OS" on the SSD and "Programs" on the HDD. In fact, that slows the system down.

Before we go into actual detail, what size is this new SSD?

 

[Fire&Cold]

During the clone process, select ALL partitions except the "850GB" one.
Details below.

Regarding this:
"I want to have, after the clone, one partition on HDD (where to be all programs,games) and one with SSD (where to be only OS installed) "

It serves no purpose to have "only the OS" on the SSD and "Programs" on the HDD. In fact, that slows the system down.

Before we go into actual detail, what size is this new SSD?

The SSD has 120GB storage and the OS partition has ~80gb used so I guess will fit the SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

You just bought that 120GB SSD?
Sorry to say, not a wise choice. The price/size equation has left those little drives in the dust long ago.

80GB will just barely work going into a 120GB drive.
And that leaves you zero real space for future use. For that drive, you don't want to go over 80-85GB or so actual used space. SSD's need some free space to operate effectively.


But, you can try it.

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Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive (Except the large 850GB partition)
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[c050]

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:

Must ALL existing partitions always be selected in a cloning operation?

What should the state of the clone-to drive be prior to cloning? Raw, partitioned or partitioned and formatted?

 

[USAFRet]

Must ALL existing partitions always be selected in a cloning operation? No matter if they're meaningless like a minute cylinder/sector alignment partition of wasted space?

What should the state of the clone-to drive be prior to cloning? Raw, partitioned or partitioned and formatted?

That list of steps is a generalized procedure. If your drive is configured out of the norm, then maybe make adjustments.
Unless there is a secondary Data partition that you do not want on the target drive, yes...ALL other partitions.

State of the target drive does not matter. The cloning operation will do what is needed.

 

[c050]

Unless there is a secondary Data partition that you do not want on the target drive, yes...ALL other partitions.

I don't want the data D: partition on the target but if I exclude it then I'm not choosing every partition.
Partition V and 6 (Disk Manager vs Macrium):

State of the target drive does not matter. The cloning operation will do what is needed.

The tutorial film confused me because it shows the target SSD being formatted [1:20]. It makes perfect sense that the prior state wouldn't matter, it's just overwritten.

 

[USAFRet]

I would deselect #6 and 7.

Again, this is a non-standard config. Most people don't have 7 partitions on their drive.

 

[SkyNetRising]

It is not necessary to format target drive.
Cloning operation deletes existing partitions and creates new partitions in their place.

Deselect #5, 6, 7.