Migrating OS from hdd to ssd
Hi,
I have a desktop computer running windows 7 64 on a western digital 500gb hard drive with a 512 byte/sector size. This hard drive uses about 125gb of space and has about 370gb free.
I want to migrate it to a 250gb ssd because my hdd is slowly dying. I want to be able to boot from the new ssd so I plan to install the ssd in the same sata port as the old hdd.
I purchased acronis true image 2019. However reading the instructions I read I can't clone a drive to another drive that has a different bytes/sector size which is my case.
What should I do?
If I use the folder and files option instead of disk and partition in Acronis back up menu will it do the trick?
Thanks.
Most SSD's (other than some of the newer PCIe NVME drives) use sector emulation (makes 4K drives read to the system as 512Kb) so cloning is likely to work just fine unless you have a true 4K drive without emulation (not likely for a regular SSD though).
Please follow all of Steve's advice though and take a backup before you do anything.
Acronis True Image (ATI) 2019 can do online (live) cloning in many instance, but not all and you don't want to get caught with your pants down if it wants to reboot and you continue (not recommended.... just use your rescue media instead!!!)
Alternatively, just restore the backup to the drive and that should do the trick too. That would be my preferred and recommended method. Cloning has more limitations that backup/restore and if you're going to take a backup anyway (which you should to be on the safe side), then why not just restore it to the new drive to avoid the cloning limitations for sector size differences?
https://www.seagate.com/tech-insights/advanced-format-4k-sector-hard-drives-master-ti/
512-Byte Sector Emulation
The introduction of 4K-sized sectors had depended heavily on 512-byte sector emulation. This term refers to the process of translating from the 4K physical sectors used in Advanced Format to the legacy 512-byte sectors expected by host computing systems.
The 512-byte emulation is acceptable in that it does not force complex changes in legacy computing systems. However, it carries the potential for negative performance consequences, particularly when writing data that does not neatly correspond to eight translated legacy sectors. This becomes clear when considering the reading and writing process required by 512-byte emulation.
I have an old version of ATI (2008).
Last year, I used it (from a CD) to clone a Win XP 40 GB hdd to a 128 GB ssd. This was for an old (2003) Dell laptop. Worked flawlessly.
I am soon going to TRY to use the same ATI (2008), again from a boot CD-ROM, to:
1. Clone a 3.5" 2TB internal hdd to a 2.5" 2TB ssd. (Win XP desktop PC.)
2. Clone a 2.5" 500GB internal hdd to a 2.5" 1TB ssd. (Win 7 laptop).
I am expecting success for BOTH clones because of my prev. success.
I am assuming that actual drive-cloning process has not changed since at least 2006.
There could be issues with such an ancient version of ATI. However, you may be OK with the XP desktop as it worked with the previous computer. The windows 7 PC may be more problematic. Whatever you do, make a full backup of the drive before trying to clone to the SSD.
If there are problems, you could try the trial version of ATI 2020; you cannot do a direct clone (which expert users do NOT recommend) but you can do a backup and then recover to the new disk using the recovery media (see here for limitations).
I am assuming that actual drive-cloning process has not changed since at least 2006.
Many things have hanged both under the hood and in the user interface since 2006. PCs have got more complex, as has the operating system, which means that utilities such as True image have had to change also. However, the user manual give rudimentary instructions on how to do a clone, although as I said earlier, the preferred way is to create a backup then recover to the new drive. Sometimes things can go wrong when you do a clone, and you end up with neither the original drive nor the new one being bootable. I have form time to time done a clone without things going wrong (but even then I have always done a backup before doing so).
Ian
Hi Ian/All:
Well, I have used that now-ancient version of ATI (v. 9.0) over a dozen times to clone. And it has pretty much worked flawlessly every time including the tricky boot-up of ATI without CD feature (I think this is achieved by ATI flashing its "OS" to RAM, and starting up with that -- amazing that THAT feature works so reliably .... i.e., w/o a boot CD or other boot media).
I have never used the Image Recovery feature.
About the comment ...
Whatever you do, make a full backup of the drive before trying to clone to the SSD.
Not sure why the "make a full backup of orig. to-be-cloned drive" is so overstated in manuals and instructions???
Theoretically, the orig. drive is ONLY being read FROM during the cloning process. But, as per normal everyday operation, that drive is constantly being read from (and, more stressfully) being written to.
Or am I missing something .... does being read from for the purpose of cloning (which may take a full day) put the orig. drive thru some unusual stress?
Not sure why the "make a full backup of orig. to-be-cloned drive" is so overstated in manuals and instructions???
Making a full backup is only overstated when that backup is not needed to recover from a failed clone operation or an error in selecting the target drive etc. Unfortunately, the key reason why we make this recommendation in these forums is because so many users have come here after cloning has failed or caused serious issues including loss of vital data.
When cloning is being performed using the bootable rescue media, there are some lower risks involved than starting cloning from within Windows where the boot configuration is modified by the process.