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Cloning a larger HDD to a smaller SSD

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  • SSD
  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
Last response: in Storage
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October 4, 2014 1:02:00 PM

I am attempting to upgrade a several computers from HDD to SSD and would like to use a stand alone cloner to do so.

The problem is that all of the SSD's are of smaller capacity than the HDD's and the cloners that I have found do not allow for this. Does anyone know of a stand alone cloner that would allow me to do this?

More about : cloning larger hdd smaller ssd

a c 915 G Storage
October 4, 2014 1:05:43 PM

Going from large HDD to smaller SSD, you have only a few options.

1. Paragon Migrate http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components...
Purports to move only the OS. Not free.

2. Reduce the install size on the HDD to below that of the SSD

3. Clean install on the SSD.

You can't put 10lbs of potatoes in a 5lb bag.
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a c 364 G Storage
October 4, 2014 9:01:10 PM

Most of the stand-alone cloners I've looked at do not contain software sophisticated enough to change the Partition size. It is even more challenging moving to a smaller destination unit. By far the simplest path would be to use a cloning software utility on your computer. Just check first whether the cloner you consider can do exactly this job.

IF you insist on doing it with a stand-alone cloning machine, here is what you will have to do FIRST using other software.
1. Consider carefully what is already on your C: drive. You will have to remove files, if necessary, so that its total file space in use if a bit LESS than the size of the SSD you plan to move to.
2. Defragment the C: drive so all the files are grouped together in very few areas. BUT this still probably leaves some files in odd places.
3. Back up all your C: drive, just in case the next step fails and ruins your data.
4. Find and install a third-party software package that will shrink your existing C: drive's Partition down to the same size as (or slightly smaller than) the SSD you plan to move to. Windows will NOT do this job, although it can shrink Partitions. Windows tries to protect an HDD that contains the OS by refusing to do risky jobs, like shrinking a Partition, on that drive. That is why you'll need a third-party utility to do this.
5. OK. Now that you have your C: drive down to the size of the SSD destination unit, you can use the stand-alone cloner to do that last job.

Now, does that not seem much more complex that simply using a good cloning utility to do the job directly?
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