Question Help with hard drive cloning

[mf doomer]

Hello all, I have a 1 tb HDD with only about 60GB's used

I just bought a 250gb SSD to upgrade to for speed and longevity.

I go to disk management to try and split the "60gb out of 940 partition" below 250GB but it stops me at 500GB every time and I cannot split a partition any smaller.

I've tried error checking and optimize / defragmenting.

I have also done all of these things mentioned in this microsoft forum answer which has not worked either (link below)

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-c-drive/217c3521-b254-4662-bac9-bc90dc633fab

Any and all help would be appreciated!

 

[triplex1]

Hello all, I have a 1 tb HDD with only about 60GB's used

I just bought a 250gb SSD to upgrade to for speed and longevity.

I go to disk management to try and split the "60gb out of 940 partition" below 250GB but it stops me at 500GB every time and I cannot split a partition any smaller.

I've tried error checking and optimize / defragmenting.

I have also done all of these things mentioned in this microsoft forum answer which has not worked either (link below)

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-c-drive/217c3521-b254-4662-bac9-bc90dc633fab

Any and all help would be appreciated!

Cloning from a large disk to a smaller one cannot be done like this
You need a cloning program like Acronis , Paragon , Easeus

 

[mf doomer]

Cloning from a large disk to a smaller one cannot be done like this
You need a cloning program like Acronis , Paragon , Easeus

I have Macrium Reflect and am currently throwing a hail mary with copying the 60gb out of 1tb onto the 250 SSD,

I'm under the impression I have to have the 60gb's in a partition less than 250GB and the rest of the 1TB not be in any partition in order for this to work?

 

[KingLoki]

Try third-party software. This might help. Nice to back up data just for safety!!!

https://www.partitionwizard.com/clone-disk/clone-hdd-to-smaller-ssd.html

 

[mf doomer]

Try third-party software. This might help. Nice to back up data just for safety!!!

https://www.partitionwizard.com/clone-disk/clone-hdd-to-smaller-ssd.html

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/help-with-hard-drive-cloning.3860870/post-23374713

 

[KingLoki]

Ok, yeah you may need to split the larger into two partitions and leave the rest as unallocated space for now to copy to smaller drive. MiniTool is good software, worth a try even with the partitioning part as well.

 

[mf doomer]

Ok, yeah you may need to split the larger into two partitions and leave the rest as unallocated space for now to copy to smaller drive. MiniTool is good software, worth a try even with the partitioning part as well.

Thank you for helping.

But could a 3rd party software achieve something that Window's disk management cannot?

From my homework, people are saying I cannot partition any smaller most likely due to some immovable files somewhere abouts despite my several optimizes and defragments.

The optimizing and defragmenting brought the total storage from 69GB to 60GB so it forsure did alot. But alas I still cannot get the 60GB into a partition 250GB or smaller.

 

[USAFRet]

STOP

​

Please show us a screencap of your Disk Management window.

 

[mf doomer]

STOP

​

Please show us a screencap of your Disk Management window.

It's on another computer but here is a screen shot via phone

https://imgur.com/a/ZqWPw4k

View: https://imgur.com/a/ZqWPw4k

 

[KingLoki]

👍

 

[USAFRet]

So, to clone, all you really need is the 500MB EFI partition, and the C partition, both from Disk 0.

This should clone just fine into a 250GB SSD.

Macrium Reflect, and select ONLY those 2 partitions during the clone process.


-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Magician (which includes Data Migration), if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select the partitions mentioned above, on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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.
-----------------------------

 

[mf doomer]

So, to clone, all you really need is the 500MB EFI partition, and the C partition, both from Disk 0.

This should clone just fine into a 250GB SSD.

Macrium Reflect, and select ONLY those 2 partitions during the clone process.


-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Magician (which includes Data Migration), if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select the partitions mentioned above, on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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.
-----------------------------

Thank you, if my hail mary doesn't work right now I will follow this. Thank you so much Mr. "USAFRet" IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME!!!!

 

[mf doomer]

Thank you, if my hail mary doesn't work right now I will follow this. Thank you so much Mr. "USAFRet" IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME!!!!

Boys this doesn't make any sense to me, but my hail mary worked! Macrium Reflect was able to grab the 60GB's from the 500GB patition and put it into a 210GB patition without issue.... this doesn't make sense to me... but I will just have to deal with it!

An explanation would be wonderful, but otherwise thank you all for all of your help. Amazing community here.

https://imgur.com/a/iaLjAFs

View: https://imgur.com/a/iaLjAFs

 

[USAFRet]

Macrium Reflect was able to grab the 60GB's from the 500GB patition and put it into a 210GB patition without issue.... this doesn't make sense to me... but I will just have to deal with it!

Macrium Reflect only considers the actual data. Not the size of the partition.