[SOLVED] Shrinking, Cloning, and Restoring Partition Sizes with Macrium Reflect ?

[Ellowas]

First off, Happy New Year's Day to everyone here. 😊

A few days before Christmas, I had to clone my NVMe to a SSD because I needed to factory reset my PC to prepare it for a RMA (bluetooth was faulty).

The problem I'm concerned about is that I had to allow Macrium Reflect to shrink my NVMe's partitions a little, because the SSD was approximately 30-40 GB off from my NVMe's total disk space, before I could clone the former to the latter. Basically, they're both 1 TB, but the SSD was very slightly smaller by double digits.

When my PC returns, is there a way to clone the partitions from my SSD back to my NVMe in their former sizes, or is there some way I can make Windows 11 "intelligently" resize all of the NVMe's partitions to the sizes it thinks it will need?

 

[TerryLaze]

If you just do the normal cloning procedure it could leave the rest 30-40Gb as unallocated space on the nvme drive and you can use any tool, even windows disk manager, to resize that partition to the full size of the drive.
Although I think macrium does have the option to use all free space while cloning.

 

[USAFRet]

When my PC returns, is there a way to clone the partitions from my SSD back to my NVMe in their former sizes, or is there some way I can make Windows 11 "intelligently" resize all of the NVMe's partitions to the sizes it thinks it will need?

Yes.

During the clone process, you can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target drive.
The middle section of this talks about that:

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Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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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 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 ALL the partitions 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.
-----------------------------

 

[Ellowas]

If you just do the normal cloning procedure it could leave the rest 30-40Gb as unallocated space on the nvme drive and you can use any tool, even windows disk manager, to resize that partition to the full size of the drive.
Although I think macrium does have the option to use all free space while cloning.

I'll check Marcium when my PC returns to see if it has an option for using all of the unallocated space.

I'm mainly just worried that Windows 11 or my drive might run into problems or get "upset" about the partitions not being the size they were made to be—unless it actually doesn't matter?

For example, I know some mechanisms or systems set themselves to be such and such on their own because that's what they need to function, but are these partitions the same way? Did Windows 11 precisely set all of my partitions to the sizes they were because that's what it needed?

(I hope I explained my concerns well enough, lol.)

 

[USAFRet]

I'll check Marcium when my PC returns to see if it has an option for using all of the unallocated space.

I'm mainly just worried that Windows 11 or my drive might run into problems or get "upset" about the partitions not being the size they were made to be—unless it actually doesn't matter?

For example, I know some mechanisms or systems set themselves to be such and such on their own because that's what they need to function, but are these partitions the same way? Did Windows 11 precisely set all of my partitions to the sizes they were because that's what it needed?

(I hope I explained my concerns well enough, lol.)

Either way, it is fine.

A Win 11 install, or clone resurrection, does not die if the resultant partitions are not the same size as original.

See my steps above to cause the Source -> Target clone to use the whole drive.


The only time the current clone/imaging tools have a problem is if there is not enough space to hold the size of the data. Not the partitions.

I'll check Marcium when my PC returns to see if it has an option for using all of the unallocated space.

I know MR 7 and 8 does.

 

[Ellowas]

Yes.

During the clone process, you can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target drive.
The middle section of this talks about that:

Oh shoot, my bad, I didn't see your post when I checked the first time—unfortunately restricted to viewing and typing on this page with a mobile device.

Thanks for the comprehensive breakdown on how to migrate my data back to my NVMe. My SSD is completely external, and I used a SATA cable to clone my NVMe to it, so I'll follow the instructuons for that when it's back.

Either way, it is fine.

A Win 11 install, or clone resurrection, does not die if the resultant partitions are not the same size as original.

See my steps above to cause the Source -> Target clone to use the whole drive.


The only time the current clone/imaging tools have a problem is if there is not enough space to hold the size of the data. Not the partitions.




I know MR 7 and 8 does.

Thanks, that's mainly what I was concerned about—the OS failing or having problems due to the partitions not being the same as they originally were before they needed to be resized for cloning.

I'll keep those steps in mind when I can access Marcium Reflect again.

I do have one minor question regarding this part and most of everything mentioned below it, though:

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

The NVMe is the main drive I'm using inside of my PC, and the SSD is what I use as an external storage device via a SATA cable.

If I'm trying to get everything back to my NVMe via that cable and cloning from my external SSD, are these instructions I need to follow the same or is there something different I may need to do? Just wanting to make sure I'm following it correctly based on what I have and my intent.

Right now, in the repair facility's hands, the PC is back to its factory state—completely clean OS with no personal customization.

 

[USAFRet]

If I'm trying to get everything back to my NVMe via that cable and cloning from my external SSD, are these instructions I need to follow the same or is there something different I may need to do? Just wanting to make sure I'm following it correctly based on what I have and my intent.

Right now, in the repair facility's hands, the PC is back to its factory state—completely clean OS with no personal customization.

Yes, those instructions will work, mostly.
The clone is on an external drive that you're not booting from?

You'll need to create a Macrium RescueUSB and boot from that to bring that clone to the internal drive in the system.

What was in it when you made the clone, will be in it after you restore the clone back to the internal drive.

But...since this procedure was just to save the thing in its original state, this would have been much better done with an Image in Macrium, rather than a full clone.

 

[Ellowas]

Yes, those instructions will work, mostly.
The clone is on an external drive that you're not booting from?

Yes, I treated it like a flash drive—which may have been a mistake (I hope not)—for conserving ALL of my NVMe's information via cloning to hopefully put back on it when it's back in my hands.

You'll need to create a Macrium RescueUSB and boot from that to bring that clone to the internal drive in the system.

Is this similar to how Windows installation medias are created to isolate the system/user from the main drive to work on that drive in question?

If so, I'm guessing I can clone NVMe's data on my SSD back to my NVMe through the instructions you provided for making Marcium use any of the unallocated space?

What was in it when you made the clone, will be in it after you restore the clone back to the internal drive.

But...since this procedure was just to save the thing in its original state, this would have been much better done with an Image in Macrium, rather than a full clone.

I saw Marcium had an option for "imaging", but I wasn't sure if it was what I needed for my situation since I didn't know what it does.

Would you mind explaining what "image" does and how it compares to cloning?

(Sorry about all the questions by the way.)

 

[USAFRet]

The Macrium Reflect RescueUSB is for bringing that Clone back from wherever it is, to the drive in the system.
You'll boot from that, it provides enough of an interface to do that.
You can't boot from the internal drive in the system (when it comes back) and resurrect that clone back to the internal drive. It won't overwrite itself.
You'll need to boot from something else with the Macrium interface - The Rescue USB.


A Clone is for changing the drive right now.
From HDD to SSD, or SATA SSD to NVMe, or smaller to larger, or whatever.

An Image is for backups, or saving the contents for later resurrection to the same or different drive.

 

[Ellowas]

The Macrium Reflect RescueUSB is for bringing that Clone back from wherever it is, to the drive in the system.
You'll boot from that, it provides enough of an interface to do that.
You can't boot from the internal drive in the system (when it comes back) and resurrect that clone back to the internal drive. It won't overwrite itself.
You'll need to boot from something else with the Macrium interface - The Rescue USB.


A Clone is for changing the drive right now.
From HDD to SSD, or SATA SSD to NVMe, or smaller to larger, or whatever.

An Image is for backups, or saving the contents for later resurrection to the same or different drive.

Thanks a ton for all of your answers. They're very much appreciated. ♡

Now I know what to do the next time I have to conserve my NVMe's data—image and not clone.