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Cloning Win 7 on an SSD without removing the old HDD

Tags:
  • Asus
  • SSD
  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
Last response: in Storage
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August 1, 2014 12:05:52 PM

Hi, I have an ASUS G53JW-SX119D laptop, and I recently had an Intel 520 SSD installed in the second bay. I'm still running Win7 on my old HDD and I want to clone it to my new SSD - so far so good.
The issue I have is that after the cloning is done, all guides say that you have to remove the old HDD before running the cloned Win 7 for the first time, and removing the HDD is quite complicated on the ASUS G53 (you have to remove the keyboard, touchpad and so on).
My question is if it's possible to clone Win 7 to my new SSD and then run it without disconnecting the old HDD ? (and of course format the C partition on the old HDD)
Thanks,
Sorin

More about : cloning win ssd removing hdd

August 1, 2014 12:23:45 PM

Thanks, I read the guide, but it still doesn't answer my question, do I need to disconnect the old HDD after the cloning ? It's quite hard to get to it.
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a b G Storage
August 1, 2014 12:29:37 PM

No, you can't, you have to get a new hard drive ID otherwise Windows won't work correctly. So you would have to format the HDD after you cloned the SSD so it would work right.
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August 1, 2014 12:42:34 PM

But can I format it without disconnecting it first ? Is it ok if I format only C partition and leave the files on the D partition ?
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a b G Storage
August 1, 2014 12:43:58 PM

No, you have to format the whole drive to give it a new ID.
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August 1, 2014 12:51:01 PM

And can I format it without disconnecting ? This is my main concern ? I don't want to open the laptop again ?
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a b G Storage
August 1, 2014 1:11:24 PM

You can if you have the right tools. You can't let the first HDD see the other HDD in Windows or Windows will try and set it up and then it won't work right.
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August 1, 2014 1:17:45 PM

What would be the right tools to do this ? Can I boot from a Windows disk after I do the cloning and format the old HDD from there ? Or is there another way ?
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