how to clone a windows 7 boot partition (C drive) to a new hard disk
Hi I am new to the Acronis True Image Home 2011 software, so please forgive me for my ignorance. Right now I have a partition of Windows 7 installed in the C drive of one of my hard disks, and I wish to clone just the Win 7 partition into a new SSD and make sure it boots up and runs just like it is right now. Could anyone please guide me on what I need to do?
fyi, my current Win 7 partition is 150gb, and the hard disk it is installed in is 1tb. The new SSD which I intend to clone the Win 7 partition into has 240gb, that's why I want to clone the Win 7 partition only.
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How do I find the system reserved partition?
Also how to restore the mbr+track0?
If I intend to keep the current C drive in the HDD intact for sometime just to make sure that the SSD works fine, I think I need to edit the registry with regards to the drive letters. Am i right?
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You may have one, or you may not. Search for "create and format hard disk partitions", this will show a picture of your partitions. If you have only a C:\system partition, no worries. Just restore it, and mark it active, primary. If you have other hidden partitions, include them in the backup and restore them in the same order they were, withou resizing them.
To align your SSD, make sure that the first partition has a space of 1MB before.
You will see the option of restore the MBR+track0 in the list of items to restore.
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I am abit concerned about the system reserved partition, because when I tried to back up my Win7 partition, one of my other drives was also box-checked and when I unchecked it, a pop up message appeared saying that it is recommended to include system reserved partition in backup. So I presume the system reserved partition is in the other drive (in my case S: drive), which does make sense because according to disk management, the S: drive is the system, primary partition while somehow my Win7 partition C drive is a boot,pagefile logical drive.
But it's capacity is 195gb and I don't have enough space on the SSD to copy both C and S drives. Based on the pop up message, does it mean that I definitely need to backup S drive as well?
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Apologies again for being long winded, but pls let me recap what I need to do, just to be on the safe side.
First I'll need to backup the entire hard disk containing the system partition and the system reserved partition and all other data partitions it has (entire 1TB capacity of the disk) into an external disk.
Then, I need to create a bootable form of Acronis True Image in a bootable drive (eg USB pendrive). Boot up with the USB running first boot device to run ATI under DOS condition, and check if the backup partitions exist in the external disk. If all is fine, remove the HDD and insert new SSD.
Again boot the ATI, click add new disk, then SSD. First, create a partition of 1mb. Then backup the system reserved partition, then finally the C:/system partition. Then restore MBR+track0 and disk signature. Is it necessary to create another 8mb unallocated space just like when you first partition a fresh HDD?
Did I miss out anything?
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revan89 wrote:Then, I need to create a bootable form of Acronis True Image in a bootable drive (eg USB pendrive). Boot up with the USB running first boot device to run ATI under DOS condition, and check if the backup partitions exist in the external disk. If all is fine, remove the HDD and insert new SSD.
To check that you can browse to the backup you just did and quick of the restore wizard. Just don't proceed at the final step...
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Again boot the ATI, click add new disk, then SSD. First, create a partition of 1mb.
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No. Restore the first partition you had on your original disk. Probably the system reserved partition (this one is active). If you don't have a system reserved, the c:\system is probably the active one. Check this information on your current disk with the disk management console.
When you restore the first partition, leave a 1MB space *before* the partition.
Then backup the system reserved partition, then finally the C:/system partition.
You meant restore, not backup.
Then restore MBR+track0 and disk signature. Is it necessary to create another 8mb unallocated space just like when you first partition a fresh HDD?
No, you don't need to.
Remember you will have a full backup of your original disk, and your original disk will be out of the computer. So there is no risk you can damage your data or your new SSD.
Make sure you take note of the steps you took when you restored, so that we can help you in case something doesn't work.
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