Recommendation for a good hard drive mirroring program?

[Anonymuss]

I'm looking for a reliable program to create a mirror of my current C: Drive of my HDD, which I will be swapping out for a new SDD in the next week.

What would you recommend, and why?

 

[J_E_D_70]

Just an image? Windows built in backup is fine.

And why? The ssd should come with cloning software (or a free download).

 

[USAFRet]

I'm looking for a reliable program to create a mirror of my current C: Drive of my HDD, which I will be swapping out for a new SDD in the next week.

What would you recommend, and why?

I use Macrium Reflect.
I use it daily.

In this case, what you want to do is create a Macrium Reflect Rescue CD or USB
Then, create an Image of your current drive to the temp drive.
Then, when you get the new SSD, boot from the Rescue USB, and apply that Image to the new SSD>

Is this a desktop or laptop?
If a desktop, the easiest way is to just wait until you get the new drive, and do a direct clone from old to neww. Assuming the space requirements are met.

 

[Anonymuss]

@USAFret: I have a Lenovo laptop.

I don't have a USB with enough space to store an image/mirror of my C: Drive on it.

Would another external drive work as well?

 

[USAFRet]

@USAFret: I have a Lenovo laptop.

I don't have a USB with enough space to store an image/mirror of my C: Drive on it.

Would another external drive work as well?

Yes, an external USB connected drive would work perfectly.
In the imaging function, be sure to select ALL the partitions.
You'll end up with a file called 1D494FF04A6DCFDA-00-00.mrimg or similar. (that is from my full C drive image taken last night.)

The Image will be a little smaller than your reported C drive consumption. It leaves off things like the pagefile and hibernation file. And does a teeny bit of compression.

When ready, boot from the Macrium Rescue USB you created.
Tell it the source image, and the target drive.
Go.

 

[Anonymuss]

So the process will be:

-Connect external hard drive
-run Macrium Reflect (free version)
-select all the partitions of my laptop hard drive that I want to mirror
-Reflect will create a somethingsomething.mrimg in the default drive location on my external drive
-once I have removed the current HDD and installed my new SSD, hook up the external drive and boot from the .mrimg, and that's it.

Is that correct?

 

[USAFRet]

So the process will be:

-Connect external hard drive
-run Macrium Reflect (free version)
-select all the partitions of my laptop hard drive that I want to mirror
-Reflect will create a somethingsomething.mrimg in the default drive location on my external drive
-once I have removed the current HDD and installed my new SSD, hook up the external drive and boot from the .mrimg, and that's it.

Is that correct?

Almost....
At the end, you boot from the Macrium Rescue CD or USB that you create.
Then tell it the xxx.mrimage, and the target drive to go to.

 

[Anonymuss]

And the Macrium Rescue USB will be created when I use Macrium to mirror my C Drive?

So then I'd boot from it, tell it the image, and tell it to go to C (since that's the drive I'm mirroring)?

 

[USAFRet]

And the Macrium Rescue USB will be created when I use Macrium to mirror my C Drive?

So then I'd boot from it, tell it the image, and tell it to go to C (since that's the drive I'm mirroring)?

Install the application.
Create the Rescue CD or USB.
Put that away for safe keeping
Then, you Image the C drive to your external.
Power off.
Remove the HDD and install the SSD
Power up, booting from the Rescue CD or USB
Follow the prompts as to what you want to do.

Its in the "Other Tasks" menu

 

[Anonymuss]

Thank you for your help thus far. You've been very clear and explained the instructions in a way I can understand, even though I've never done this before.

One last question: my mirror mrimg file is 394 gigs, and the total used space on my HDD was 404 gigs.

Is that difference expected via the compression, or did I inadvertently miss something?

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you for your help thus far. You've been very clear and explained the instructions in a way I can understand, even though I've never done this before.

One last question: my mirror mrimg file is 394 gigs, and the total used space on my HDD was 404 gigs.

Is that difference expected via the compression, or did I inadvertently miss something?

That's just about right.
A teeny bit of compression, and it leaves off irrelevant things like the pagefile.

 

[Anonymuss]

I'm about to do the changing of the drives, but I noticed one last thing.

The folder that contains only the full drive image is listed at 375 gigs, the file in the folder is listed at 394-ish gigs (via 'details' display), and right-clicking and selecting properties gives me this:

375 GB (403,694,721,497 bytes)

Which is those figures is the accurate one?

 

[USAFRet]

I'm about to do the changing of the drives, but I noticed one last thing.

The folder that contains only the full drive image is listed at 375 gigs, the file in the folder is listed at 394-ish gigs (via 'details' display), and right-clicking and selecting properties gives me this:

375 GB (403,694,721,497 bytes)

Which is those figures is the accurate one?

All of them are. It's just different ways of counting it.

 

[Anonymuss]

Everything worked out perfectly.

Thank you very much for your explanations and clarifications.