How to copy system drive to a new smaller hard drive

You could put both drives in a desktop and use proper partitioning software to copy the data over, but I highly recommend that you re-install Windows and your programs on the SSD. Copying over a hard drive file system can cause problems with some SSDs.

hi--- i just found '''PC Disk Clone X 11.5''' as a possible solution.... i have no desktop avail .... i will keep watch over the posts ... thnx

Did you use Windows backup to create the system image? I tried to restore to a new hard drive (larger than drive image was created from) and could not get it to restore using Windows Backup. May be an issue to prevent piracy. I ended up doing a clean install and reinstalling all the software. The machine is running fine with no problems now.

hi ken --- i , at first did make a MCSFT SYSTEM_IMAGE and tried to put it on the smaller SSD -- it did NOT work (i find thru GOOGLE searching that both drives MUST BE THE SAME SIZE) ..... but i finally WON THE BATTLE ... i found ACRONIS 2012 (.com) ... it CAN CLONE to SMALLER AND BIGGER destinataion drives. i am up and running with the new SSD (and battery life grew from 3 hrs to 4-5 hrs ... i am happy). (oh yes-- be sure to DEFRAG and push everything to the bottom of C: .... i think that way the only thing chopped at the top are zeros) .... thnx everyone.

Don't defrag the SSD after copying the file system over to it.

thnxs---- i didnt. what i did was defrag the larger one before CLONING it ...

has anyone used CLONEZILLA or PCDISKTOOLS ... i just wonder if they work good too.

Clonezilla can not clone to a smaller volume.

I don't recommend EaseUS Disk Copy Home Edition 2.3.1 when cloning to a smaller drive.

It would be better if you do would not transfer the data on that drive. Its better if you re-install Windows again over there. Because while transferring everything along with system files, there could be some damage to system files. Moreover, the Windows might crash.

What I've done in the past is to use Disk Management to shrink the drive partition to smaller (or the same size) as your backup drive before doing a backup, and then restoring to the backup drive from that image. Then you can extend the partition back to where you had it before.