HDD to SSD cloning worries

[Attitech]

I recently received an Inspiron 8650 (the i5 8th gen version) and it came with just a 7200rpm HDD.
I OWN A 120GB 2.5" SSD if like to clone the HDD to after removing the items I want to keep but I don't want to screw anything up.
Any suggestions or things I should look for to ensure I don't mess up my new computer?

 

[USAFRet]

I recently received an Inspiron 8650 (the i5 8th gen version) and it came with just a 7200rpm HDD.
I OWN A 120GB 2.5" SSD if like to clone the HDD to after removing the items I want to keep but I don't want to screw anything up.
Any suggestions or things I should look for to ensure I don't mess up my new computer?

What is the total size of the data on the current HDD?

If it is below 80GB, you can clone to that 120GB SSD.

These steps, exactly:

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
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
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 as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[USAFRet]

However, if this is a used PC, you personally need to do a full wipe and reinstall anyway.

What OS is this?

 

[Attitech]

It's a brand new Win10. I haven't even installed any programs on it yet.
Recently while trying to remove Ubuntu from an MSATA drive on the computer the SSD is currently installed in, I got a grub error. I'm assuming it's from my lack of knowledge of uninstalling but while attempting to fix it I said screw it cause i wanted to upgrade anyway and bought the desktop.
I have a lot of my school work, animations and programming tests saved on the SSD so I'm hoping to install the SSD as a boot first, pull the items off to a WD external then do the clone after changing back to the preinstalled HDD.
There are a lot of preinstalled items, drivers ECT I don't want to have to rehunt so I was hoping to avoid a clean install.

 

[USAFRet]

It's a brand new Win10. I haven't even installed any programs on it yet.
Recently while trying to remove Ubuntu from an MSATA drive on the computer the SSD is currently installed in, I got a grub error. I'm assuming it's from my lack of knowledge of uninstalling but while attempting to fix it a family member got me the desktop.
I have a lot of my school work, animations and programming tests saved on the SSD so I'm hoping to install the SSD as a boot first, pull the items off to a WD external then do the clone after changing back to the preinstalled HDD.
There are a lot of preinstalled items, drivers ECT I don't want to have to rehunt so I was hoping to avoid a clean install.

The SSD already contains an OS, from a different syste?
If so...this may not work the way you think.

To clarify....
Desktop with HDD and its own OS
SSD from a different system, with an OS and a bunch of personal data on it.

End state is to have the OS on the SSD.

Is this correct?

If so...this probably will not work.

You need to connect the SSD as a secondary drive first, and copy your personal data off it.
Don't try to boot from it in a whole different system (the desktop).

Once the data is off it...then you do all that cloning stuff.

 

[Attitech]

Correct, it was my main drive in my laptop with Windows 10 on it.
Will I be able to access the SSD items from the HDD relatively easy?
I know I haven't had issues before but it's also been...7 years or more since I tried something like that. Basically all I want are a group of files. No programs or anything. The HDD has some special Alienware software and drivers I want to avoid hunting or relying on Windows to properly install so I was hoping cloning would be an option.
For now should I just install the SSD, pull the files to an external, then install Macrium and say I want the hdd to clone to the SSD and it will wipe the SSD for me?

 

[USAFRet]

Correct, it was my main drive in my laptop with Windows 10 on it.
Will I be able to access the SSD items from the HDD relatively easy?
I know I haven't had issues before but it's also been...7 years or more since I tried something like that. Basically all I want are a group of files. No programs or anything. The HDD has some special Alienware software and drivers I want to avoid hunting or relying on Windows to properly install so I was hoping cloning would be an option.
For now should I just install the SSD, pull the files to an external, then install Macrium and say I want the hdd to clone to the SSD and it will wipe the SSD for me?

Correct.
Connect the SSD as a secondary drive.
Copy what you need from it. Your data may be under D;\Users\Documents-Pictures-Videos-whatever...
Once you have everything from it, start that cloning process above.
Be 100% sure, because there is no going back once you start the clone process.

In the above steps, the critical part is what happens when the cloning process is done.
You must power off, disconnect the HDD, and allow the system to boot up from the SSD and only the SSD>
Otherwise, bad things will happen.

 

[Attitech]

Lol after dealing with this Ubuntu fiasco, I don't need any MORE bad things to happen.
Thank you so much for your time, but.
If I get stuck I'll hope to see your responses in my followup post.

 

[USAFRet]

Lol after dealing with this Ubuntu fiasco, I don't need any MORE bad things to happen.
Thank you so much for your time, but.
If I get stuck I'll hope to see your responses in my followup post.

No prob.
Those cloning steps above emerged after many trials, and discussion with other people who have done it many times.

Follow that exactly, and it should work. The vast majority of people that have problems after a clone operation missed a step or two in there.
Even after I specifically said "These steps, in order, no skipping or deletions".

Good luck.

 

[Attitech]

So I'm trying to clone and it says insufficient space.
I'm going from a 1TB HDD to a 128GB SSD.
I'm assuming it's an issue with the partition size from the 1TB.
Any suggestions?

 

[USAFRet]

So I'm trying to clone and it says insufficient space.
I'm going from a 1TB HDD to a 128GB SSD.
I'm assuming it's an issue with the partition size from the 1TB.
Any suggestions?

It's not the partition size, but rather the data size.
How much data is consumed on the source drive?

 

[Attitech]

According to what I'm reading only about 40gigs.
I didn't download any programs but Sublime Text Editor, Steam (no games) and updated my drivers.
:/

 

[Attitech]

My exact message is "Not all copied. Insufficient Space"
I also selected to delete all partitions on the SSD
There are about 6 partitions on the HDD, unformatted 128mb, ntfs primary, Dell support, image, winreto and a fat32 called ESP
Do I only need to do the OS then reformat the HDD with Windows (once I've tested the SSD)

 

[USAFRet]

My exact message is "Not all copied. Insufficient Space"
I also selected to delete all partitions on the SSD
There are about 6 partitions on the HDD, unformatted 128mb, ntfs primary, Dell support, image, winreto and a fat32 called ESP
Do I only need to do the OS then reformat the HDD with Windows (once I've tested the SSD)

It needs to be under 80GB or so.
Whatever is telling you "40GB" is not all of it.

Open Disk Management, and look there.
Post a screencap of that here.

We'll worry about the HDD after.
Post the screencap before we proceed any farther.

 

[Attitech]

My exact message is "Not all copied. Insufficient Space"
I also selected to delete all partitions on the SSD
There are about 6 partitions on the HDD, unformatted 128mb, ntfs primary, Dell support, image, winreto and a fat32 called ESP
Do I only need to do the OS then reformat the HDD with Windows (once I've tested the SSD)

It needs to be under 80GB or so.
Whatever is telling you "40GB" is not all of it.

Open Disk Management, and look there.
Post a screencap of that here.

We'll worry about the HDD after.
Post the screencap before we proceed any farther.

E: is my SSD
I selected to upload the image but to me it's not visible. Are you able to see it?

Tried posting img but I don't see it.

[/url][/img]

 

[USAFRet]

During your cloning process, deselect the 11.82GB partition.
Try it again.

 

[Attitech]

This is what I'm getting. It looks like it's trying to do some but won't do all of it for some reason. :/

[/url][/img]

 

[USAFRet]

Well...cloning usually works. Usually.
When it fails, time to fall back to a clean install on the new drive.

 

[Attitech]

Well...cloning usually works. Usually.
When it fails, time to fall back to a clean install on the new drive.

Lol Yeah I was hoping to avoid that if there were any special/irritating to find files since it's a brand new system straight from Dell.
BUT, I did try dragging each one individually except the 11.82GB one and it started working.
😵 hopefully this did it.