Windows HDD to ssd without partition

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
P

PoopySamurai

Distinguished
Dec 14, 2009
21
0
18,510
I'm currently running windows 7 on a HDD and I was thinking of getting an ssd. I would want to mirror my OS to it but I don't have my Windows partitioned. Is it still possible and how would I go along the process?
 
Solution
popatim
Nope. Cloning makes an exact duplicate but most software today is size aware so if you have a 1tb hdd with 120gb being used and you clone it to a 256gb SSD it will "shrink" the partition down to fit.

You have several options.
1: install windows to the SSD fresh. (with the HDD disconnected)
2: Clone the HDD to the SSD. You may have to uninstall programs/apps until the space used on your HDD is small enough to fit onto the SSD and then reinstall them to HDD when done.
3: Purchase a program that will transfer just Windows to the SSD. The only one I know of is by Paragon
http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components/migrate-OS-to-SSD/

In all cases an updated backup or two should be made before doing anything. Important data...
Sort by date Sort by votes
O

onichikun

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2009
304
1
18,860
You said you don't have Windows partitioned, but your HDD is partitioned. It has one main partition with NTFS and that's where Windows live. You can copy your MBR/primary partition from your HDD to your SSD, this is known as cloning/ghosting.

There is a lot of software out there to help you clone (aka ghost) your drive, such as Norton Ghost.

In reality, if you know how to use a Linux LiveCD, you can clone a drive using a single command.

Look on google for software/methods, since I am not sure what route you want to go nor your skill level.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
O

onichikun

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2009
304
1
18,860
The command for doing it in Linux (a very free and easy approach) is:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror

Where sda is your old SATA hard drive device, and sdb is the SSD device. If you don't understand this command, do some research. If you use it wrong you can trash your original drive extremely easily.

Be warned/careful!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
popatim

popatim

Titan
Moderator
Dec 2, 2009
38,905
980
135,890
Nope. Cloning makes an exact duplicate but most software today is size aware so if you have a 1tb hdd with 120gb being used and you clone it to a 256gb SSD it will "shrink" the partition down to fit.

You have several options.
1: install windows to the SSD fresh. (with the HDD disconnected)
2: Clone the HDD to the SSD. You may have to uninstall programs/apps until the space used on your HDD is small enough to fit onto the SSD and then reinstall them to HDD when done.
3: Purchase a program that will transfer just Windows to the SSD. The only one I know of is by Paragon
http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components/migrate-OS-to-SSD/

In all cases an updated backup or two should be made before doing anything. Important data should always have a few backups made to seperate devices (hdd, tape, dvd, flash drive, cloud...)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom