Cloning a SSD to HDD

Avathar77 · 20 Jan 2012 at 10:51

I got a 128GB M4 SSD and a 1TB F3 HDD.
Currently I have the OS in the SSD.

I would like to know if I can use a drive cloning software to make a clone of the OS drive(SSD) to the HDD.
So there will be 2 OSs in the PC, and I can choose which one to boot from during the motherboard post(Selecting the boot options - F11)

I know some software like Acronis can be used to clone a Hard drive to a SSD, but can some thing similar be used to clone a SSD to a HDD?

Diddyman · 20 Jan 2012 at 23:30

In theory I see why not, but the only issue is that when going from SDD to HDD you will need to make sure certain features in Win 7 that would be enabled or disabled when on SDD should be altered around when running back on HDD.

Check out here a list and details where to check and change them http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?63273-*-Windows-7-Ultimate-Tweaks-amp-Utilities-*

Diddy

kitfit1 · 21 Jan 2012 at 07:45

Apart from the issues mentioned by Diddyman, there is one more as well.
If it is Win7 you are trying to clone, then it isn't just the partition it is on that's the problem. Win7 has a 100mb boot partition that would have to be cloned as well, the last time i tried it, there was no software that could either move the boot partition or clone it.

Diddyman · 21 Jan 2012 at 09:52

I think there should be no issue with the right cloning software and the boot partition.

When I went from HHD > SDD I used Acronis 2011 and it clones both the 100mb Boot partition and main partition to the SDD without any issues at all, so think there will be no issue going the other way.

Going from HDD to SDD the only thing I had to change manually was disabling defrag, so in theory going from SDD to HDD it may be a case of just re-enabling defrag again.

Deponding what I am up to later I might test it out

Diddy

Avathar77 · 21 Jan 2012 at 12:17

I am going to back up my HDD and try this out later today.
I have 4 partitions in my HDD right now and apart from the first, all others have data I want to keep! SO if I am cloning the SSD I dont want the other data partitions to be gone!

As you guys mentioned I may will have to enable the services back.

and I dont have the 100mb boot partition in my SSD. I removed it while installing Win7 in the first time because I dont need the functionally it brings.

kitfit1 · 21 Jan 2012 at 12:46

Avathar77 said:
and I dont have the 100mb boot partition in my SSD. I removed it while installing Win7 in the first time because I dont need the functionally it brings.

If you don't have the 100mb boot partition, then how are you able to boot to Win7 ? Because the boot files are not installed in Win7 itself.

Avathar77 · 21 Jan 2012 at 12:51

kitfit1 said:
If you don't have the 100mb boot partition, then how are you able to boot to Win7 ? Because the boot files are not installed in Win7 itself.

When I am installing windows I will "extend" the 100mb to full SSD space. That way there is no 100mb boot(primary) partition, whereas the whole SSD is the Primary partition.
This way I am not able to use system restore(I think), but I have disabled this feature any way.

Edit:
"The 100 MB system partition is used primarily as BitLocker partition for BitLocker encryption. Additionally, it also holds the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and boot files with boot manager for booting up the computer for troubleshooting when there is no Windows 7 installation DVD disc on hand."

Edit2:
Method 3