How to best transfer data from a large drive to a smaller drive

[thinksachi]

I need to reinstall Windows 10 on my SSD. As such, I have to transfer the data from it to another drive temporarily before transferring it back. The temporary drive does not have as much space as the SSD. It's 900GB of data vs 200 gb.

Should I be cloning or imaging the transferred data? Or is there some other approach to this? And how long should I expect the process to take? Can I transfer apps and files or just files only? This is my first time doing this and I don't want to screw up the process. Thanks

 

[photonboy]

First off, you would clone to a new, blank drive with sufficient space so that's not an issue.

You can't make an Image since you have insufficient space.

Your only option is to save the most important DATA (videos, pictures) that will fit into that 200GB of unused space.

You can't "transfer" most applications though you can backup Steam games (backup is smaller) or copy UPlay, Origin, Blizzard folders then copy them back (some issues there especially with Origin but it works fine once you know what you are doing).

SPEED TO TRANSFER?
Depends on the speed of the slowest drive (i.e. SSD to HDD it's the HDD) as well as file sizes of content. Small pictures for example might transfer 10x slower than larger files.

Even at only 10MBps average it would be under six hours to copy 200GB of data. At 50MBps it's just over one hour.

What to do?
1) copy most important data
2) copy/backup games if possible
3) write down names of programs to reinstall
4) write down your login email/password info

5) install video drivers etc
6) setup fan control for CPU/case
7) install programs
8) setup Steam if applicable

9) copy back files

*I'll post this then discuss Steam, Origin etc a bit more.

 

[USAFRet]

I need to reinstall Windows 10 on my SSD. As such, I have to transfer the data from it to another drive temporarily before transferring it back. The temporary drive does not have as much space as the SSD. It's 900GB of data vs 200 gb.

Should I be cloning or imaging the transferred data? Or is there some other approach to this? And how long should I expect the process to take? Can I transfer apps and files or just files only? This is my first time doing this and I don't want to screw up the process. Thanks

Obviously, 900GB of data will not fit into a 200GB space.
Two options:
1. Decide on what 700GB of data you wish to toss out. Copy the remaining valuable stuff to the 200GB
2. Buy or borrow a 1TB drive, and copy the entire 900GB of data.

 

[thinksachi]

Hmmm...I guess I may need to just buy another 1TB hard drive to make this process easier. But before I do that;

-So it sounds like imaging takes up less space than cloning?
-What's the general compression ratio of imaging? I'm curious to know how much space my hard drive would need if not 200gb? I realize the answer is simply an estimate due to multiple variables.
-Why can't you transfer applications?

First off, you would clone to a new, blank drive with sufficient space so that's not an issue.

You can't make an Image since you have insufficient space.

Your only option is to save the most important DATA (videos, pictures) that will fit into that 200GB of unused space.

You can't "transfer" most applications though you can backup Steam games (backup is smaller) or copy UPlay, Origin, Blizzard folders then copy them back (some issues there especially with Origin but it works fine once you know what you are doing).

SPEED TO TRANSFER?
Depends on the speed of the slowest drive (i.e. SSD to HDD it's the HDD) as well as file sizes of content. Small pictures for example might transfer 10x slower than larger files.

Even at only 10MBps average it would be under six hours to copy 200GB of data. At 50MBps it's just over one hour.

What to do?
1) copy most important data
2) copy/backup games if possible
3) write down names of programs to reinstall
4) write down your login email/password info

5) install video drivers etc
6) setup fan control for CPU/case
7) install programs
8) setup Steam if applicable

9) copy back files

*I'll post this then discuss Steam, Origin etc a bit more.

 

[photonboy]

I'm CONFUSED a little on the details... you have already installed to a 1TB SSD, need to reinstall Windows to it, and have 200GB of free space on a secondary drive?

Is the "900GB" used space? (if it's a 1TB SSD then you've filled it up... I have 903GB of usable space after OverProvisioning on my Samsung 1TB 840 EVO).

A Windows drive should in general have at least 30GB of free space left for Microsoft Updates, but if Steam or other games those can add updates as well so at least 50GB is a good strategy.

Also, if it's a 1TB SSD or larger I'd partition the SSD to something like this->
a) 150GB (Windows + Apps), and
b) 750GB (Games?)

STEAM:
You can save Steam games two ways:
a) backup each game, then restore it, or
b) copy entire "Steamapps" folder then move it after Steam is reinstalled

You can have a Steam folder on each drive. I have an SSD just for games (F:\Steam) and another HDD for games (E:\Steam) so I put games that benefit most due to load times (or texture stream issues) on the SSD.

Other:
I would highly recommend getting an HDD with sufficient space so you can at least automate a backup Image solution. Acronis True Image works well. It makes weekly, incremental backups (compressed) and auto-deletes old backups.

In the case of the 150+750 (if 1TB SSD) above the reason I recommend that is so you can simply backup the Windows partition otherwise the backup would be massive possibly eating up 500GB+ or so (i.e. compressed 800GB to say 300GB plus several incrementals to that)

 

[USAFRet]

Hmmm...I guess I may need to just buy another 1TB hard drive to make this process easier. But before I do that;

-So it sounds like imaging takes up less space than cloning?
-What's the general compression ratio of imaging? I'm curious to know how much space my hard drive would need if not 200gb? I realize the answer is simply an estimate due to multiple variables.
-Why can't you transfer applications?

From the beginning...what are you wanting to do?
A fresh clean install on the SSD? Why?

Anyway...the only thing you can transfer is your personal data, and Steam games, and probably Origin games.

All your other applications or individually installed games will need to be reinstalled. You can't simply "save" them fromt he current install, and apply them to a new install. Doesn't work like that.

 

[photonboy]

Hmmm...I guess I may need to just buy another 1TB hard drive to make this process easier. But before I do that;

-So it sounds like imaging takes up less space than cloning?
-What's the general compression ratio of imaging? I'm curious to know how much space my hard drive would need if not 200gb? I realize the answer is simply an estimate due to multiple variables.
-Why can't you transfer applications?

1) Images can be compressed, clones can not so yes... cloning is an exact copy so if you used 200GB of a 500GB SSD, then cloned to a new 1TB SSD you have used 200GB of that new SSD.

Again cloning is generally to a blank drive.

2) Compression rate?
Varies a lot depending on files (videos/pictures don't get compressed), system memory size (affects Page/Hibernate files that imaging might ignore) etc.

If I choose the 2nd highest compression in Acronis TI (highest is barely smaller but takes a lot longer) you can expect roughly 40% to 70% so maybe HALF is a good guess.

3) how much space the HDD would need if not 200GB??
I thought the SSD was 900GB used and the HDD had 200GB of free space. Aren't you moving data from the SSD to the HDD?

Regardless, how much you "need" solely depends on what you want to save.

4) Why can't you save applications?
Most applications when they install get registered by Windows so there are registry entries, settings, and other files that go into various folders.

When you wipe Windows you lose all that data. You can't simply copy the main application folder to another drive then back again.

*also, most applications aren't terribly difficult to download and reinstall anyway so is that an issue?

If you have the programs installation EXE then just copy that if you have space and you can just double-click it on the other drive to start the install. Don't forget you may have product KEYS that may be in an e-mail or elsewhere.

5) Buy another 1TB HDD?
Good idea as I suggest in part to automate a backup Image so as such I'd probably go with 2TB+ since the added cost isn't very much.

You can get a 3TB HDD for $70USD: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gwBv6h/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st3000dm001

 

[photonboy]

BTW, Acronis TI image backups are searchable so you can find and copy data out of them... it would however be pointless to make a backup IMAGE of everything since you're reinstalling Windows so you'd never restore the backup.

Thus it only makes sense to find the files you wish saved and simply put them in a folder. (GAME SAVES are usually in a sub-folder within "My Documents" so you can just copy the entire folder... then copy back the save by Googling to see where the actual folder is for a particular game.. though many games now have a CLOUD backup in which case there's nothing you need do)

 

[thinksachi]

From the beginning;

I'm locked out of my PC and I've tried multiple methods to get in but nothing works. So I'll need to reinstall Windows 10 again hence my questions.

>>>I'm CONFUSED a little on the details... you have already installed to a 1TB SSD, need to reinstall Windows to it, and have 200GB of free space on a secondary drive?

Correct. The HDD is on my laptop. I think I'll just make my life easier and go out and buy a new hard drive tomorrow.

PS- I wasn't too worried about Steam games since I can reinstall those easily.

 

[photonboy]

From the beginning;

I'm locked out of my PC and I've tried multiple methods to get in but nothing works. So I'll need to reinstall Windows 10 again hence my questions.

>>>I'm CONFUSED a little on the details... you have already installed to a 1TB SSD, need to reinstall Windows to it, and have 200GB of free space on a secondary drive?

Correct. The HDD is on my laptop. I think I'll just make my life easier and go out and buy a new hard drive tomorrow.

PS- I wasn't too worried about Steam games since I can reinstall those easily.

So the plan is to do this?
1. copy data on SSD to current HDD
2. W10 to SSD
3. copy current HDD to folder on SSD
4. swap current to new HDD
5. move data from SSD to new HDD
6. Optionally: buy a 2.5" SATA-to-USB enclosure to use old HDD as portable drive

STEAM:
I know you can re-download but that takes time. There's no need if you either keep the entire "Steamapps" folder. If that's not possible you can still make a game BACKUP and restore the backup (then maybe delete the backup to save space).