Migrating Windows 7 to HFS drive with duplicator - safe?

[bmmfc]

I have a conundrum on my hands. I know a fresh install is bestest of all, but I've got tons of software I'd rather not reinstall (video editor and WoWaholic) so migration is the way for me. A friend sold me his mac formatted SSD but I'm on a Windows system. So here is my dilemma.

Is it safe to use a HD duplicator like the Aluratek without preformatting the drive or should I use something like EaseUS and do a migration that way? Is there any danger to the drive if I reformat it to windows (i.e. losing the small partitions used for management)?

SSD specs:
OWC Extreme Pro 3G 240GB

I'm not new to computers, just new to SSDs and don't want to screw this up. I've read several guides and am comfortable doing the migration, but want to double check myself.

Thanks,
B

 

[bmmfc]

Quick update. OWC got back to me today on this:

"Any hard drives/solid states crossing from OSX (HSF+) file system to Windows environments running NTFS still requires formatting. The EFI System partition that comes with Windows 7 which is generally a 100~200MB partition depending on how much information is stored on the system. That partition will always come back when you install Windows 7 on the drive. I've noticed that partition size jumps from 100 to 200MB. But every time that I format a drive to be bootable in Windows 7, the EFI partition will be created by the OS.

Just make sure you back up any information that you have on the SSD that you wish to save before you format. "




Looks like I'll just be doing a migration using EaseUS.