Clone win7 os to ssd
I have Acronis TIB 2015. I want to clone the os partition to a blank ssd (formatted ntsf). The os drive is a 1Tb drive partitioned into two 500 gig partitons (C,D). (Win7 64) I need to clone the C partition to the new SSD. The SSD is 480gb. The C partition has about 400gb total. The Clone option wants to clone the whole drive (C and D). Of couse there is not enough space ont the SSD for both partitions. I have made a full backup of the C drive but I am not sure what "FULL" means. OS? Data? Settings? Boot sectors? I want ot be able to boot from the SSD as if it is he same as the C partition.
So in essence, I want to Clone the C partition to the SSD complete with OS and Boot sector.
Terry


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Terry,
Launch Windows Disk Management and examine the layout of your disk. You probably have other hidden partitions (like system reserved, etc>), in addition to the user partitions C & D. Print a screen shot of the Windows disk management console for future reference). Take a note of which partition is marked active if any.
Perform an "entire PC" backup of your computer if it has only one physical disk (C & D are partitions that might be on a single disk).
Then, put the SSD on the same connector as your old disk, remove the old disk
Boot the computer on the Acronis recovery CD.
Restore each partition separately in the same order they were laid out previously, except the D partition. No need to reboot between restores. Don't forget to mark the right partition active.
Then reboot the PC.
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I looked at this but I was wondering if it was possible to do it a little different. Can I backup the whole thing as you suggest then just copy the Hidden partition that holds the operating system to the SSD. Activate the hidden partition and reinstall the computer to it's original condition. Then just copy things from the backup up I made that I know I want. The idea is to clean up the system. This way I won't be copying any excess to the new drive (temp files, possible Trojans/viruses etc.).
Ideally I would like to just install the OS then recover what I have in my backup as needed. I have no use for all the excess software that comes with the recovery partition. Any way to just backup and restore the OS Only?
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You cannot restore the OS only. Microsoft developed a platform where OS, apps and their settings are completely intertwined (unlike the Apple OS for example). It kinds of culminate with the Windows Registry for example.
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