Boot Migration to a smaller SSD?
January 5, 2010 10:02 AM Subscribe
How do I migrate my boot drive from a traditional hard drive to a *smaller* SSD drive?
I've got a 250GB spinning-disk-based drive for a boot drive. I've bought a 32GB SSD. I've gotten rid of enough bloat that there's only actually 21GB used on my system drive at the moment (basic properties dialog box says 60-something, but that's double-counting or triple-counting all the files in the winsxs folder; sequoiaview reports 20.7 GB used). My plan had been to boot up Knoppix and copy everything over, but the file manager in Knoppix choked.
Acronis will only "back up" the boot drive to a larger drive (as in, soemthing more than 250GB!)
Other info: Phenom II, 8GB, Vista 64, all scratch drives/page files/etc on other drives.
I've got a 250GB spinning-disk-based drive for a boot drive. I've bought a 32GB SSD. I've gotten rid of enough bloat that there's only actually 21GB used on my system drive at the moment (basic properties dialog box says 60-something, but that's double-counting or triple-counting all the files in the winsxs folder; sequoiaview reports 20.7 GB used). My plan had been to boot up Knoppix and copy everything over, but the file manager in Knoppix choked.
Acronis will only "back up" the boot drive to a larger drive (as in, soemthing more than 250GB!)
Other info: Phenom II, 8GB, Vista 64, all scratch drives/page files/etc on other drives.
Have a look at SystemRescueCD. I've used it successfully in the past to create disk images and migrate them to other machines. It'll help you resize your partitions, etc. It's like Knoppix in that it's a live cd, but it one purpose-built for exactly what you describe.
posted by word_virus at 10:50 AM on January 5, 2010
posted by word_virus at 10:50 AM on January 5, 2010
I'd be surprised if the machine would boot from the SSD just by moving files onto it, because the drivers needed for the SSD are most likely different. A reinstall of your OS is much more likely to produce a working system.
posted by anadem at 10:51 AM on January 5, 2010
posted by anadem at 10:51 AM on January 5, 2010
Response by poster: Stubborn, I guess - I finally have the system humming along pretty well. All the presets in photoshop, firefox add-ons, etc.
posted by notsnot at 10:53 AM on January 5, 2010
posted by notsnot at 10:53 AM on January 5, 2010
What about ghosting software provided either by your original HD manufacturer or the SSD manufacturer?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:56 AM on January 5, 2010
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:56 AM on January 5, 2010
Best answer: Apparently there is a way of making Acronis work: http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=69961
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 11:18 AM on January 5, 2010
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 11:18 AM on January 5, 2010
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posted by Lifeson at 10:38 AM on January 5, 2010