[SOLVED] Macrium Reflect - to smaller M2

[Titanion]

Does order matter?

This is on an HP laptop, and going from a slow 1TB HDD to 500GB M2. There are 5 partitions on the 1TB HDD, 4 small and 1 using most of the 1TB space. The large partition is 3rd in order.

During the creating a clone process, it gives a not enough space message, of course. And the 500GB has plenty of space for everything. I read that I should drag the partitions down, in order, but shrink the large one when I get to it so the remaining partitions can fit when it is there turn.

So 1 and 2 were draged down. When I got the the large one, I couldn't figure out how to shrink it. It shrank itself, but filled all the space leaving no room for the other two. It was late. So I tried to drag the other two down, 4 and 5, and then add the large partition last 3, and it shrank itself to fill in the remaining space.

I thought order would matter, but I tested it anyway, and Windows, even after I changed boot order in bios (F10 for HP), ignored the M2 and booted from the 1TB HDD.

So does order matter, adding the partitions to the clone? I suspect yes. Or must I remove the HDD to get a true test?

And how do I shrink the partition to create room for the smaller 4th and 5th ones I still need to add. I bet it is simple as well.

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Please give us a screencap of your Disk Management window.

To clone into a 500GB drive, the actual consumed space must be below 400GB.
The size of the partitions does not matter, just the actual data in them.

At the end of the clone process, you MUST physically disconnect all other drives, and allow the system to try to boot from only the new drive.
Not simply manipulate the boot order.



But first, let's see the Disk Management window.

 

[Lafong]

Some confusion:

You say "There are 5 partitions on the 1TB HDD, 4 small and 1 using most of the 1TB space."

"Most" of a 1 TB drive would mean over half. Over 500 GB. So it wouldn't fit on the 500 regardless. If you mean "occupied". Maybe you don't.

Can this laptop accept 2 hard drives at the same time? Or is this clone attempt made using an external for the M.2 temporarily, and then you would move the M.2 inside?

 

[dwd999]

Does order matter?

This is on an HP laptop, and going from a slow 1TB HDD to 500GB M2. There are 5 partitions on the 1TB HDD, 4 small and 1 using most of the 1TB space. The large partition is 3rd in order.

During the creating a clone process, it gives a not enough space message, of course. And the 500GB has plenty of space for everything. I read that I should drag the partitions down, in order, but shrink the large one when I get to it so the remaining partitions can fit when it is there turn.

So 1 and 2 were draged down. When I got the the large one, I couldn't figure out how to shrink it. It shrank itself, but filled all the space leaving no room for the other two. It was late. So I tried to drag the other two down, 4 and 5, and then add the large partition last 3, and it shrank itself to fill in the remaining space.

I thought order would matter, but I tested it anyway, and Windows, even after I changed boot order in bios (F10 for HP), ignored the M2 and booted from the 1TB HDD.

So does order matter, adding the partitions to the clone? I suspect yes. Or must I remove the HDD to get a true test?

And how do I shrink the partition to create room for the smaller 4th and 5th ones I still need to add. I bet it is simple as well.

Thanks

In addition to the above, what version of Windows is this? A normal Windows installation has only 4 partitions, 3 of which are visible in the Disk Management window. The Recovery partition, which is around 500MB, always has to be at the end of the disk, shown on the right in the Disk Management window. If you have an extra 5th partition, it may be something that HP put there as part of the installation process and may be essential for the laptop to boot. If all of your main partition is not being used, you could use the Disk Management Shrink Volume option to reduce its size so all 5 partitions will fit on the new drive without changing their essential order.

 

[USAFRet]

, you could use the Disk Management Shrink Volume option to reduce its size so all 5 partitions will fit on the new drive without changing their essential order.

With a Macrium clone, the size of the partitions does not matter, only the actual consumed space.

You can easily clone a 1TB drive/partition into a 500GB drive, IF the actual consumed space is below 400GB.

 

[TerryLaze]

I thought order would matter, but I tested it anyway, and Windows, even after I changed boot order in bios (F10 for HP), ignored the M2 and booted from the 1TB HDD.

So does order matter, adding the partitions to the clone? I suspect yes. Or must I remove the HDD to get a true test?

A file based cloning does not copy over the bootblock so if the M.2 drive doesn't have one it won't be bootable, normally initializing and creating an active partition on the drive will make it bootable.
Now that there is data on it you could use easybcd, on the deploy BCD page you can write an MBR,it should already have a bcdstore so you can load that bcdstore from the m.2 drive and check to see if the windows that is on the m.2 drive is listed in it.

 

[USAFRet]

A file based cloning does not copy over the bootblock so if the M.2 drive doesn't have one it won't be bootable, normally initializing and creating an active partition on the drive will make it bootable.
Now that there is data on it you could use easybcd, on the deploy BCD page you can write an MBR,it should already have a bcdstore so you can load that bcdstore from the m.2 drive and check to see if the windows that is on the m.2 drive is listed in it.

Proper use of Macrium Reflect copies over the boot partition.

Seeing the Disk Management window would clear up any questions.

 

[SkyNetRising]

normally initializing and creating an active partition on the drive will make it bootable.

On GPT drives there are no active partitions. Active partitions are possible only on MBR partitioned drives.

 

[Titanion]

Windows 10 Home
HP Pavilion from Costco a few years back.

There is space for one HDD inside and one M2. I installed the M2 and left the HDD in there. Removing the back for this laptop is a pain. I was going to leave the 1TB in for storage if everything went smoothly.

This is what I see:

1. Fat32 LBA Primary
75.5/260MB

2. Unformatted Promary
16/16MB

3. Windows C: NTFS Primary
159/914GB

4. Windows RE Tools NTFS Primary
625/980MB

5. Recovery D: NTFS Primary
14/16GB

I could see 5 after I installed the M2. Obviously I need to hide it.

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

This is what I see:

Screencap, please.
Upload your pic to imgur.com, post the link here.

 

[Titanion]

Currently requesting a new password from imgur rather than make a new account. But I will upload a pic soon. Thanks for helping.

I was wondering if I can install Windows 11 directly to the M2, upgrading but to a new connected drive, keeping the W10 Intack on the origuonal HDD. If it works and is stable, wipe the drive eventually. But if there is a problem, revert back. This could avoid the need to even use Macrium Reflect.

 

[Satan-IR]

You don't need to login to upload to imgur. Just ckick green New Post button on top left and upload the image file.

 

[TerryLaze]

Currently requesting a new password from imgur rather than make a new account. But I will upload a pic soon. Thanks for helping.

I was wondering if I can install Windows 11 directly to the M2, upgrading but to a new connected drive, keeping the W10 Intack on the origuonal HDD. If it works and is stable, wipe the drive eventually. But if there is a problem, revert back. This could avoid the need to even use Macrium Reflect.

No, you can clean install to the M.2 and check out the OS but it won't have all your apps and stuff, if you have an email connected to your account in windows 10 and connect to the same account in windows 11 a lot of that is going to transfer automatically but it won't be quite the same as an upgrade.

 

[Titanion]

https://imgur.com/a/eqAXlTF

View: https://imgur.com/gallery/eqAXlTF


The bottom HDD is the current 1TB drive with 5 partitions.

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

That pic is pretty meaningless.

I meant the actual Disk Management window, and it is too fuzzy to actually read.

You can use the Snipping Tool to capture the actual screen. Instead of your camera.

 

[Titanion]

https://imgur.com/a/6qmCY4B

View: https://imgur.com/gallery/6qmCY4B


Yes. You are right. In addition, in Disk Management there were four partitions after all.

 

[USAFRet]

OK...so you're wanting to clone Disk 1 (1TB) to Disk 0 (500GB)?

 

[Titanion]

Yep. That simple.

 

[USAFRet]

Yep. That simple.

Given those drives and that amount of data, should be no problem.
You can even leave off the E partition on the Source drive.

-----------------------------
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 Data Migration, if a Samsung 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
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive. In this case, leave off the E partition.

[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 specifiy 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.
-----------------------------

 

[Titanion]

Sorry. I have not gotten around to doing this yet. As soon as I do, I will report back. Taking the back off of this laptop is such a pain. Thanks.

 

[Titanion]

So what is the 15.66 GB drive D: on the source HDD and drive E: on the cloned M2?

Yesterday I used Samsung Data Migration to clone my 1TB SATA HDD to the 500GB M2 drive, and only three partitions were created.

The 15.66 GB partition was not present. What is on it? Is that for a HP factory reset for the Pavilion?

I shut it down and pulled out the 1 TB drive and replaced it with a 7200rpm 500GB HDD I had. I have not wiped the 1 TB original source HDD, the factory drive from HP.

Everything seems to be working great.

I can put the 1TB drive back in, wipe everything but that 15.66 partition and hide it, and create a storage partition with the remaining space, but do I need to? Do I need it?

Thanks

 

[Lafong]

Yeah, that 15.66 gb partition appears to be for restoring to HP factory specs.

You don't need it unless you believe some day you might want to restore to the original HP configuration.

 

[jaged]

Given those drives and that amount of data, should be no problem.
You can even leave off the E partition on the Source drive.

-----------------------------
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 Data Migration, if a Samsung 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
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive. In this case, leave off the E partition.

[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 specifiy 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.
-----------------------------

I was just about to ask about this but I guess now I don't have to.
I'm installing a 2tb NVMe drive to replace my existing 1tb NVMe drive(C: drive)


Thank you for all the support you provide to the Tom's forum community.
Much appreciated.

J