Best way to clone a HDD

tigerstyle

tigerstyle

tigerstyle

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I know this gets asked a lot, but searching through the threads here the options of what I was going to use (Acronis) seems to change a lot with the free trials available. So not sure if what I was reading was 'old' info and still the best way.

I have a notebook installed now with Win7 which I wish to clone to the new drive.

Is doing it through Win7 the best way, using the restore feature and making a drive image, then booting with the Win7 disc and selecting restore ala this guide:
http://www.petri.co.il/restore-windows-7-from-backup-image.htm

I'm replacing a 320gig with a 500gig drive, can the drives partitions be resized after the cloning in Win7 like normal, no lost space?

If there is a free trial of Acronis or another software that can do this I'm open to suggestions!

Cheers :)

Looks like this should have been in the windows forum, ooops please move if so, digging deeper looks like Macrium Reflect is a good tool recommended here, Or the free version of Acronis from Western Digital, however I'm cloning from a WD drive to a Samsung drive most likely, gonna cause problems?
 
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Can't really help you much other than to say that I have used Acronis to make secure, restorable backup copies of new laptops for years without problem. I also use it to make a restorable backup copy of new builds. If the end-user needs to restore following a disaster or virus infection, they can buy a legal copy of Acronis :)
 
I don't think they could have made Acronis any easier to use if they had supplied a technician with it to do it for you. Fantastic program.
 
tigerstyle said:
Or the free version of Acronis from Western Digital, however I'm cloning from a WD drive to a Samsung drive most likely, gonna cause problems?
Click to expand...

no, no problems with different makes from what i can remember. we have different versions of acronis we use at work, but as far as i know, the one on WD site is just the bootable clone version of the app, so doesnt matter what make you use as 90% of features wont be included that you get in the ture image suites.
 
Intel use Acronis as a base for their SSD clone tool that's available from their website, it didn't ask me if I had an SSD when I downloaded it.

I've seen some horrendous reviews of Acronis 2011 saying they couldn't use it, the reviews were from a non technical site though. It is available quite cheaply from some on-line sellers. OCUK don't stock it.

Andi.
 
My favourite so far is dd. Which is also free. It is about as simple as a program could possibly be, and has existed for so long that the chance of bugs still existing are as close to nil as you can get.
 
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