Question hard drive cloning software

[Laser Light]

im looking for the best cloning software that will clone a larger drive to smaller drive. we have some systems that have 1tb drives in them but only have about 100gigs worth of data on them.. i would like to down size the drives to 500gb but havent had much luck in finding something that i think would be good enough.. thanks for any helpful input...

 

[faalin]

Macrium Reflect will clone to a smaller size. As long as the used space is smaller then the new drive it will clone to it.

 

[RolandJS]

I think Image for Windows, AOMEI Backupper, EaseUS Todo, and others will also do what is desired.

 

[fzabkar]

if you have a seagate drive then you can use discwizard to clone to a smaller drive (proportional cloning)

 

[USAFRet]

im looking for the best cloning software that will clone a larger drive to smaller drive. we have some systems that have 1tb drives in them but only have about 100gigs worth of data on them.. i would like to down size the drives to 500gb but havent had much luck in finding something that i think would be good enough.. thanks for any helpful input...

I use Macrium for this.
As long as the size of the data is smaller than the size of the physical drive, along with some padding for working space....it works.
For instance, going into a 250GB drive...the data needs to be under 200GB.

Yes, it works.

 

[USAFRet]

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new drive
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 drive
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new drive
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the drive
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.
-----------------------------

 

[TerryLaze]

No cloning software will copy the boot info when cloning to a smaller drive so you will have to make sure that the new drive is bootable beforehand,some drives come bootable from the factory otherwise you will have to make the first partition primary and active yourself or deal with windows repair afterwards to make it bootable.

 

[USAFRet]

No cloning software will copy the boot info when cloning to a smaller drive ....

That is absolutely incorrect. I've done that many times.

The only considerations is that the size of the data must be smaller than the size of the target drive.

 

[TerryLaze]

That is absolutely incorrect. I've done that many times.

There is migration software that will prep a disk to boot but classic cloning software will not touch the boot unless you do a sector to sector clone.

 

[USAFRet]

There is migration software that will prep a disk to boot but classic cloning software will not touch the boot unless you do a sector to sector clone.

Macrium Reflect, in the default config and usage, will migrate/clone/whatever you want to call it...the entirety of the contents of Drive A to Drive B. AS long as the actual data size fits.
You do NOT have to specifically select sector by sector.

1TB HDD with 175GB consumed space will easily move to a 250GB SSD, boot partition and all.

 

[aldan]

im with usaf on this one.done this many times with macrium without issue.

 

[geofelt]

If the ssd is a samsung ssd, their windows ssd migration app will do the job so long as the used part of the source will fit on the target.
The samsung app is a C drive mover, not a clone which is a bit for bit copy.

 

[Carnaxus]

Bit of a necro, but I just wanted to confirm that Acronis TrueImage will also copy the boot sectors without any kind of weird extra stuff needed.

Source: Am literally doing a drive clone right this moment with Acronis 🤣

 

[geofelt]

What is your target ssd?
Most vendors offer a free migration app for their products.
The apps are usually proprietary to their own ssd brand.
Some work better than others; I can not say about Acronis.