How do I transfer an my entire drive to a new SSD *AND* have the SSD actually boot on install.

[AARRGGHHH]

I'm not totally comfortable with any Windows backup program. Carbon Copy Cloner works exceptionally well on OS X, the closest I've found for Windows (my primary OS) is XXClone, which still leaves about 5% of files uncopied. So when I want an exact duplicate of a disk, I put a Live OS (such as WinXP) in the DVD drive, and copy/paste the entire drive.

I did this to populate my new SSD drive. I expected a BCD issue on initial boot, and allowed Windows to correct it. When rebooting, as far as I can get is a blank light blue screen (not the BSOD) where my desktop should be. No start menu, no taskbar, no anything. That idea obviously did not work.

So, what is the best way to copy the contents of the HDD to the SSD, and have the SSD actually boot when I install it? OS is Windows 7 Professional. I did look into creating a Windows Image, but Windows wants to image all of my drives (the options are grayed out), and this would be greater than the capacity of the SSD.

Thank you!

 

[aldan]

assuming all youve done is add an ssd and not changed any other hardware,use macrium reflect free version to make an exact copy of your hdd to the new ssd.you have to have a big enough ssd to clone to as well.

 

[AARRGGHHH]

you have to have a big enough ssd to clone to as well.

The SSD is the source drive, why would that matter? In any case, there's sufficient room on the SSD for all of the HDD files.

BUT, will this boot by simply swapping the drives? This doesn't seem any different than the copy/paste that I did from a Live DVD. And that did not boot.

Thanks

PS: Macrium Reflect failed miserably. My HDD has 51 GB on it. After a "successful" clone operation, my SDD has 35 GB on it. About 30% of the drive failed to backup. That's much worse than the result I had with my Live DVD copy/paste.

I very much appreciate your trying, but your answer is not a solution. Even if 100% of the files had copied, I don't know that the result would have been a bootable drive. My Live DVD backup should have booted, but never did.

 

[USAFRet]

How much total space is consumed on your current HDD?


Don't know what you did with Macrium or how it failed, but these steps always work for me:
-----------------------------
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
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 original boot partitions, 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
-----------------------------

 

[AARRGGHHH]

How much total space is consumed on your current HDD?

The HDD has 51.5 GB on it, the SSD capacity is 500 GB.

I stumbled on an old copy of Norton Ghost, which successfully did an exact backup. I'm not home at the moment, but I'm looking forward to swapping and testing it out.

Why would I delete the boot partition from the HDD? I'm planning on using it as a backup, so I'd like to keep the boot data.

Thanks!

 

[aldan]

usafret.you wanna tell him or shall i?

 

[USAFRet]

How much total space is consumed on your current HDD?

The HDD has 51.5 GB on it, the SSD capacity is 500 GB.

I stumbled on an old copy of Norton Ghost, which successfully did an exact backup. I'm not home at the moment, but I'm looking forward to swapping and testing it out.

Why would I delete the boot partition from the HDD? I'm planning on using it as a backup, so I'd like to keep the boot data.

Thanks!

Obviously, you don't delete anything from the old HDD until you verify that it works properly on the SSD.

Why do you delete it off the HDD?
Having 2 viable bootable drives with the exact same OS often leads to confusion. The system or boot order may burp, and it will boot into the old drive without you realizing it.

One case here last year:
Guy booted up his system one morn, and it looked exactly as it did 6 months previous.
WTH?
He's thinking some weird virus, or maybe Windows Update did a number on him...
Took us 3 days to track down the reason...a bad SATA data cable.
He had cloned the system onto a new drive. Changed the boot order to reflect this new drive.
All is well.
But he left the original OS on the old drive, in its bootable state.
Enter the bad cable.
Boot up....system can't see the first choice in the boot order due to the newly bad cable.
It drops down to the second item in the list...the old drive.
Boot success, except that everything is 6 months out of date.

Wipe the old drive, but only after you verify that your Norton Ghost actually worked.


Then...for backup purposes...
Use any of the current imaging tools. Macrium, Acronis True Image.
Create an Image of your new C drive on some other drive.

 

[ArtPog]

1. Presumably you plan to have both your future SSD & your current boot HDD internally-installed in the system since you've not indicated the cloned HDD will subsequently serve as a USBEHD.

2. Following the disk-cloning operation (let's forget about "disk imaging"), there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to maintain both the new SSD boot drive and the cloned (now secondary) HDD internally-connected in your system.

3. We've routinely followed that practice in scores of OSs & PCs perhaps thousands of times over the years with no problems. Judging from your Tom's Forum profile going back 10 years I'm assuming you're a reasonably experienced user and understand basic OS's boot processes.

4. I assume you're aware of the basic criteria needed for a successful disk-cloning ("data migration") process...
A. The current boot (source) drive, i.e., your present HDD, functions without any problems.
B. The proposed destination disk, i.e., your SSD, is non-defective.
C. You would be satisfied with your destination disk essentially containing a bit-for-bit copy of your source drive.
D. The disk-space capacity of the destination drive is sufficiently large enough to contain the total data contents of the source disk.

It appears apparent all the above are met in your case.

5. So using a disk-cloning program you would clone the contents of your HDD to the SSD. Forget about using that "old copy of Norton Ghost" you "stumbled on" - (I won't spend any time explaining why). I'm not familiar with that Carbon Copy Cloner program you mentioned; perhaps it will do the job. BTW, many SSD manufacturers provide a "data-migration" program packaged with the SSD. The Samsung program is quite popular.

6. Consider the Macrium Reflect program mentioned by USAFRet. It's quite popular and seems to be an effective d-c program. The program we routinely use is the Casper program; it's a commercial program costing $49.99, but there's 30-day Trial Edition available at...
https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/
You may want to give it a try so here are some instructions re using it...

1. Before undertaking the disk-cloning operation close all open programs. (Generally you need not disable your anti-virus program). Ensure your destination drive - the proposed recipient of the clone - is properly connected in the system.

2. The opening screen of the program will highlight "Create a Bootable Backup". Click on "Add drive" and a listing of the appropriate destination drive(s) will appear, e.g., your SSD.

3. Click on the destination drive's listing and then the "Back up now" button.

4. Casper will run in the background and alert you when the disk-cloning operation is completed. (You can view the actual progress chart by clicking on the Casper icon in the Notification Area on the Taskbar.)

5. Following the successful disk-cloning operation disconnect the current HDD source drive from the system and boot solely to the connected SSD destination drive. As a general proposition it's a good idea (whenever practicable) for the newly-cloned drive to be connected to the motherboard's first SATA data connector, usually designated SATA 0 or SATA 1.
Also, check the system's BIOS/UEFI to ensure the newly-cloned SSD drive is now first in boot priority order.

7. Ordinarily Casper will utilize the entire disk-space of the destination drive to contain the data contents from the source drive, although at the moment I can't remember whether the Trial Edition does the same. It's possible it will create a partition on the destination drive only to the extent of the total data contents that are cloned - in your case about 51 GB. But I'm sure you know (if that is the case) it's a simple exercise to utilize Disk Management to extend the partition to encompass the remainder of the unallocated disk-space on the newly-cloned drive.

8. It's important to work with the newly-cloned SSD drive to ensure it's properly functioning BEFORE you reconnect the old source HDD. Work with the SSD for at least a few days before reconnecting the HDD, capiche?

Thereafter, you should be able to boot routinely to the SSD after you've ensured it's first in boot priority order. And you should be able (if desired) to boot to the HDD using your BIOS Boot Menu or accessing the BIOS itself (depending upon the type of motherboard you're working with). There should be no conflict.