I have a self-built machine.....3.9ghz cpu, 32gb memory, 250gb ssd boot drive, 1 Tb storage, backup etc hd. I 'm beginning to get close to filling up the ssd drive and would like to use a bigger ssd for a boot drive on this machine. Could it possibly be as easy as taking my docking station and using the clone setting with the larger ssd? Is there a down-side to this or a better method? I really have gotten used to the speed of ssd drives. How much bigger does the destination drive need to be (I have 480Gb) and can any of that space be recovered later?
Clone drive to bigger SSD?
- Thread starter M. Stone
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Have you 'moved' the directories such as downloads, documents, pictures, music onto your storage drive to free up space on the SSD? If you haven't that could save space.
The new drive will be bigger...why would you clone to the same size. Doubling the size is good.
You will end up with the main C partition 256Gb larger than it was before. The 2 small partitions ( system reserved and recovery ) will not change in size but recovery will be at the far end of the new drive.
Yes you can easily clone the SSD. I use Paragon free stuff to do this. The only this to be careful of when cloning a boot drive is when you have cloned to then plug the new drive in as SSD 0 and NOT plug in the old drive until you have booted the machine. Windows rather dislikes it if it sees two boot sectors before a reboot in the cloning case
I have a machine like yours, a home made, and I am thinking of a 1 TB SSD for Xmas to replace a 256 as the prices are coming down.
The new drive will be bigger...why would you clone to the same size. Doubling the size is good.
You will end up with the main C partition 256Gb larger than it was before. The 2 small partitions ( system reserved and recovery ) will not change in size but recovery will be at the far end of the new drive.
Yes you can easily clone the SSD. I use Paragon free stuff to do this. The only this to be careful of when cloning a boot drive is when you have cloned to then plug the new drive in as SSD 0 and NOT plug in the old drive until you have booted the machine. Windows rather dislikes it if it sees two boot sectors before a reboot in the cloning case
I have a machine like yours, a home made, and I am thinking of a 1 TB SSD for Xmas to replace a 256 as the prices are coming down.
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You can also download the ISO from Acronis which gives you the option the clone the drive as you like it in regard of partitioning.
http://download.acronis.com/AcronisTrueImage2017.iso
I myself use an much older version (2011) but have cloned drives with it. It is very easy...
Macrium reflect may be another option even though I have not worked with it.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
http://download.acronis.com/AcronisTrueImage2017.iso
I myself use an much older version (2011) but have cloned drives with it. It is very easy...
Macrium reflect may be another option even though I have not worked with it.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
Yes...I have already moved the directories. Perhaps I did not speak clearly enough. I want to clone the 250 to the 480. Is it big enough and will I gain more space (I know that the destination has to be bigger-wasn't sure how much)? Once cloned, I plan to reformat the 250 ssd for more storage on a quick drive. The docking station says it has it's own cloning function....also know that Macrium and Acronis are 2 more well known successful cloners. Thanks for all your help.....everybody-much appreciated.