320gb hdd to 128gb ssd problems

Ok so I deleted enough info on my hdd to make it 109gb. Tried to clone onto a 128gb ssd but easeus wouldn't do a full clone of the hdd as it is a 320gb hdd to a 128gb hdd. Went to the partitions, copied over just the c:/ drive then swapped the hdd for the ssd. It did not work. I installed the windows 7 recovery disc I made earlier and run repair program. 3 hours later... nothing.
Am I missing something? I was told that copying to ssd was easy yet 2 days later I'm still trolling the net and other than getting a phd in computing have no idea what to do. Why is this so complicated and hard?
Beginning to regret trying this at all. It's too damn convoluted. I do not have an original windows installation disc, only the one I made from the directions given online and easeus sucks balls. I hate the idea of forking out another 40 quid on Acronis as there's no guarantee it will work either.

 

You have a phd and you're asking on an Internet forum? No wonder the world is going to crap!

You ALWAYS fresh install on a SSD, forget transfering from HDD to SSD no matter what anyone says.

 

Sorfrfy meant to say I practically need a phd to do it.
and how do I do that?

oh yeah, so all my games, mods and stuff have to be reinstalled? surely not... I have read that there isn't much difference when cloning anyway as the ssd doesn't suffer much with this kind of transfer.

 

You burn a Windows 7 disc and you fresh install it so that it automatically configures/aligns itself with the SSD.

 

You'll find the clean installation route much.. cleaner

See my sig.

 

seriously? I was joking about the phd thing I do not have any computer skills. I just want to use my ssd as a boot drive for windows 7 and a few games I play. I'm seriously thinking of sending it back as it just looks nigh on impossible to do unless you are a command master. I'm not and do not want to be. I bought the hard drive and want to use it as my primary boot disc. Is that so hard?

 

Not at all.

Just make a DVD or USB boot disc/key, install Windows 7, activate using your OEM product key.. call it a day.

 

I have a repair disc for windows 7 64bit in the drive and the ssd in my A:/ drive. The C:/ drive is my hdd. The C:/ drive has been fully copied to my SSD now. I can access all files and the games will load etc but my HDD will be the boot drive until I can get my ssd to be the boot drive. Any ideas on how I can make this happen?

I dont have oem product key. second hand laptop with no discs.

 

Change boot options in BIOS.

OEM product key is located on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

If this isn't the case (and you wish to do a clean install) just save your current key using 7Tokens.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/backu...-oem-and-mak-activation-with-7tokens-manager/

 

ok so if I did a clean install (I have no windows 7 installation disc) how can I go about it. I'm so tired now, this was suppose to be my days off work but am more stressed and will have to go back to work for a break at this rate.

 

Follow the links in my sig.

(Download your version of Windows 7 (most likely W7 Home Premium 64 bit) and then make a key using MS's utility).

 

try eading all that on your link you're a better man than me. I am thinking about paying for acronis, will this solve it?

what if I format the ssd? clear it all?

 

It's never worthwhile to pay for something and not learn anything over manning up and learning to do it yourself.

Just follow the links.. easy as Pi.

Acronis will not solve your problems; it's a backup/recovery utility.

Formatting the SSD will clear all the data (and the OS) that you duplicated onto it.

 

right it's formatted. it's blank and showing on my computer as A:/ drive. Its clean and showing 119gb free. What happened to the other 9gb?

 

Drives are always smaller in capacity than advertised.

Why is my hard drive smaller than the advertised capacity? - [H]ard|Forum

 

Fresh start. I downloaded the win 7 dvd/usb program. It's now asking me for a file... Thought that was the point of it being downloaded? What a pain in the . All I wanted was an easier, faster computer but all I can do is still use the hdd. Pointless.

 

Did you download an ISO?

It seems that you're not reading all the directions.

 

yeah went to the page and there are about 50 different versions, none saying "if you have win 7 64 this is for you". I clicked on one and the link was dead, removed or something.
Appreciate your help so far anyway don't want you thinking I'm ungrateful. I just wanted to upgrade my hdd to something faster but am having to spend days off working on my laptop. Not my idea of fun. Would much rather play games than try to understand the inner workings of laptops. I have two hard drives installed in my laptop. One is the SSD and the other is the HDD. Would have thought there was an easy way to get the SSD to be the boot drive. how depressing.

 

First post of the first page of this link:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit


I'd suggest that upon completion of creating your key, you physical take out your current boot drive (HDD) and then install Windows 7 on the SSD.

 

cheers found another link on a different forum. That's downloading now. Only another 40 minutes to go. I should be able to create a sturdy noose by then and make sure I do it properly. goodbye cruel world .
Here's how it should be done.
"You have secondary drive installed,"
"Do you wish to use this as your primary os boot drive?"
"yes"
"this will migrate os system to new drive, do you wish to do this"
"Yes"
"Migrated successfully, restart with SSD drive as boot"
"Now choose which programs you wish to migrate"
"All complete"

Oh how I wish...

 

Best of luck.

Also, a headsup: If the ISO you are downloading does not include SP1, be wary of the many updates that will be heading your way once you successfully install Windows 7.

 

Nope iSo didn't save, another hour wasted. Joy. The link you sent makes me have to get registered with windows etc a

 

Download an iso version of Win 7 Home Premium SP-1 (x64)(English) here. It's slow, but it's free and it works.

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-58997.iso

Burn to USB stick (8 GB recommended) using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, available from here: Microsoft Store Online

Then boot from the USB stick to install Win 7 on your new SSD. Fairly simple process.

 

burned to usb stick. restarted computer but it booted back into hdd again. Anything in between turning it off and on again that I need to do in order for this to boot using usb?

 

At the boot screen (large Alienhead), press/tap F12 repeatedly to launch boot menu, select USB and hit enter. It should then boot from the Win 7 installation USB stick.

 

yep did that I got it freeze on me 7 times and a blank black screen all the other times. I now have two options upon boot up of windows 7 and only the bottom one works. so thats mashed my hdd a bit now.
I'm not joking about lack of computer knowledge but I have done everything as best I can and it still screws up. Sometimes the usb installation gets to 13% and freezes or 14% and freezes. Sometimes it gets all the way to the finishing installation screen and then reboots, shows the windows logo and then "blank black screen". No explanation for it.
Is the file for 64bit win 7 home premium?

and it's now froze at 2%...
3 days now. 3 whole days, this is beyond a joke. Thanks to you guys for your help anyway it's much appreciated but the whole system is convoluted and the more I read the more confusing it gets. I have had to take out and re install my hdd so many times I'm getting sick of it to be honest.
Installation was cancelled but hasn't done anything for about 5 minutes now.

ok it finally installed but the calibration of screens is all wrong, no alienware centre, no controls for the volume buttons, nothing like my old laptop at all. Tried changing resolution and everything has become squashed. Any recommendation for settings? At this rate I am on course to getting nowhere fast.
Oh and no internet connection at it says no hardware installed. Seriously?! No drivers for anything?!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

right old hdd has been put back in can access the files but don't know how to migrate the settings across to the new ssd.

It won't even let me load games from the hdd to play. I have officially lost the will to live.

moved hdd back to the 0 module and running off that (still got problems but is at least working... keeps asking which version of windows 7 I want to use). I am not going to bother with this it has already done way too much damage to my computer and it should be a simple installation.
What I wanted to do was transfer everything over to my ssd and run windows off of that plus a few of my favourite games. Why is that so hard?
Has anybody done this successfully?! Anyone able to help I'm at my wits end now. The clean installation means starting and building my computer FROM SCRATCH. Not something I'm willing to do.

 

just went to hell and back as well cloning my 750gb hdd to my 256gb ssd.. what happened was everytime i would boot, after i enter my password, it would say not genuine windows.. and all i get is a blue screen.. had to redue the cloning a couple of times, thought that was the problem.. finally googled a solution, which was to go safe mode and change drives in regedit.. it took me 3 mins, do'h.. and everthing is good to go.. after spending almost 12 hours trying to get norton ghost 15 to work on my samsung ssd.. 3:30 am now and everything is working as it should.. this ssd thing is fast..

 

I wish mine took 3 minutes. I just want my laptop copied to ssd and start using it. I get the feeling that even after that the dual hdd option will continually cause complications. Really regretting buying this thing now, can't find a decent solution anywhere. Everyone who tries to do it doesn't usually have a massive gaming spec laptop or additional settings software like alienware do.
I installed a very basic version of windows 7 on the ssd but it is only my secondary drive at the moment as I do not have the drivers or anything installed on it. Worth it? Nope, not at all.

 

Chill out. gogul1. You'll be fine. The problem you have at the moment is that the generic Win 7 installation has not yet been customized to your R3. You need to install drivers for your R3.

First, be certain that you are booting to the SSD, which will require changing the boot order in the BIOS (F2 at the boot screen) to Second Drive if you put the SSD in the middle drive bay (Port 1). Then copy the Folder "Dell" from the old HD to the SSD. This will let you avoid downloading all of the required R3 drivers from Dell; however, they then have to be installed for your new Win 7 setup. Go to c:\Dell\Drivers to find the driver packages and install each in the order shown here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html.

The screen will remain "scrunched" until you install drivers for your graphics card. Those drivers will be in the drivers directory. Tell us which graphics card you have, and we can direct you to the appropriate driver folder. Alienware Command Center and Alienware OCD are part of the drivers/app package and will reappear in due course. Take you time. When you finish and have finally learned how to install Windows and drivers, you'll have a better understanding of how this all works.

Here's a list of the Dell drivers used in my R3. Yours may differ slightly, but this will help identify which "R file" contains which drivers. Start with the chipset driver (R298407). Open the folder and double click Setup and follow the prompts. Repeat for each driver you need to install. It's not hard. If you get confused, there are many here who can help.

​

 

I may be late in posting here, but I think the mistake you made when you originally tried shrinking your hdd contents to 109GB is that a 128GB drive ends up as 109-110GB when formatted. There is also a system partition that has to be copied over so I think you didn't do enough shrinking -- try a few GB smaller, around 100 to 105GB. To be clear, just deleting the info isn't enough, you have to go into Computer Management and shrink the partitions.

As the others have said, ideally you do a clean install, but I find that to be too much of a hassle and just use Windows Backup.

 

When i format it the drive is 119gb of free space. I can delete a few more but hoped that 109gb would be enough. Easeus doesn't let me copy a 320gb to 128 gb because it only sees the size and refuse to look at the actual memory being migrated. I chose the c:/ drive partition and left the recovery and *: drives alone. This copied over all the files but would not boot on start up as the mbp was not there etc i could access the files if using the hdd as my boot drive but the point is migrating the os so the whole thing is sped up.

Ok I managed to delete a few more files (don't want to delete too much as I do not know what is important and what isn't) seems to be cloning whole drive now though. I will have to see what files are important for windows to run and what programs I can afford to delete so that I can just use the drive for os and games. Do you know what bad boys to chuck out that are just cluttering up the drive e.g pre installed games, microsoft visual studio 8 etc

Revelator... You are some kind of computer wizard. I'm going to give that a go too I reckon. Apologies for spitting my dummy out I just get very annoyed with this stuff. You have to admit its quite full on compared to a clone system. I will struggle with the whole dual hard drives in my laptop as it is.

ok hard drive cloned. There are tons of files and only 10gb of space left. I only have two games installed on it at this time. How can I rectify this and what things can I delete and leave on the old hard drive for regular slower use.

 

Glad to hear you finally have it working your way. Good luck and enjoy your new SSD.

 

Thanks revelator you've been super patient and I am very thankful. Any tips on items i can delete etc?

 

Do you have your data files (photos, music, etc.) on the SSD? These don't need to be on the SSD. If your Windows is now working properly from your SSD, you can wipe your hdd first then copy the data files over.

Edit: I assumed you have a backup of everything somewhere, but as you say you are not computer savvy I thought I should warn you to back up your new installation to an external drive before deleting anything. If you don't have an external drive then you can back up to the hdd for now but go out and buy an external backup drive (and use it!).

 

I only have a few games on there. Its a clone from the hdd so its all on there anyway, I am just curious about what program files take up a lot of space but aren't actually used for the os. There are no pictures or films etc just the barebone files.

Also the boot manager appears when i turn it on and shows me two different files for windows on there. Not sure whats happened.

 

gogul1 - your SSD is never going to perform optimally with a clone of the HDD. Do you know someone good with computers that you can pay to do a clean Windows 7 install and walk you through it so you can learn how? It's not difficult at all, but for someone that has never done it before this can be an intimidating task the first time or two.

You would be better off starting over from scratch instead of trying to sort out what has happened. It sounds like your drive is too full and has files from a previous Windows installation that needs to be deleted.

If you don't have a friend or relative that can help you, please review this thread for further assistance. Watch the third video "How to Format and Reinstall Windows 7" and it may help. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...llation-questions-troubleshooting-thread.html

 

Surprise surprise I'm back to square one again. Now I have two recovery drives A and F and my SSD has gone to be B:/ drive. What the hell happened? Screw this for a laugh!!

I will gladly restart all over again and from scratch now. Can I reformat the drive and start again? I will then do it from scratch like revelator said. I'm tired now been on this for 3 days, haven't slept much trying to do this. Thought I had it but it was all for nothing. I want to reboot my laptop from scratch I will install all programs and stuff from the beginning. Hopefully I can then get it working as it should.

 

Yes, please go to the thread that I linked above. Read the opening post, all the linked information and watch the third video on how to install Windows 7. If you have questions about the Windows installation process, please ask your questions on that thread. Start off by deleting all partitions and let Windows do the formatting as part of the installation process. There are screen shots explaining how to do that on the thread linked above.

 

Theres nobody around who I know who can do this for me. I am trying my best but with the whole task being sooooooooo long I have struggled to do this. I don't know about Raid or dimm or any of that stuff. I wanted to plug the ssd in, transfer my os over and play games on it. That's it. I'm not a programmer or computer bod I was told it was relatively simple but each time I start something it gets deeper and further down the rabbit hole til i'm in some kind of over blown computer wonderland of raid transfers, boot screens and error messages.
Why do I have two recovery discs now? How the hell did the SSD stop working. Where's my mum...

 

You'll be a pro when it's over. Take a deep breath, go to the other thread and absorb the info. I know you can do it, man. I know you can. It's not hard, dude. And, if you make a mistake, you can undo it. It's only a machine that does what you tell it to do. Good luck. I'll be looking in the other thread to see how it goes for you.

 

gogul1, dude i feel your pain.. took awhile before i got my ssd to work as well.. when i did the clean install route, it was pretty easy but in the end, i didn't have my drivers for me to connect to the internet.. i bought a refurb m17x r3 and all they gave me was the windows cd.. so i decided on the clone route..

 

ALWAYS download your drivers and store them on a separate flashdrive before you do a system sweep, wipe, and clean install.

 

yeah i know.. couldn't find that option on windows 7.. or do you down those on dell website? haven't done a clean install since xp.. .. usually they provide you with the drivers cd

 

Right the SSD is clean but when I went into the other original hdd I did the clone from there is nothing showing on it. Can try and get the drivers from that if I could access the hdd.

So I have win 7 clean install on ssd minus the drivers.

I do have other computers so can get drivers another way. Just wondering what is next on the list. I'm not sure I can get all the drivers in the right order like revelator has shown (thanks by the way) unless there is an easy way to do this.

Also can I copy the dell folder and put that on there? will it cause any problems?

 

This thread will answer many of your questions:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

 

Don't copy anything. Use the Windows 7 setup to delete all partitions on the SSD and let Windows 7 setup create new partitions and format them. This is explained in the thread I pointed you to earlier.

It makes no different what order you download your drivers. It also makes very little difference what order you install most of them in, but the thread I pointed you to has instructions for driver installation order as well.

Have you gone there and read everything and watched the third video? It's a lot easier than you think. After reviewing the opening post, reading the linked threads and watching the third video with instructions how to do a clean Windows 7 installation, etc. please continue discussion and ask questions in that thread if you run into any problems:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...llation-questions-troubleshooting-thread.html

 

If you can access the old HDD, just copy the \Dell folder to your SSD so that it becomes c:\Dell and install from there. It will contain all the drivers your R3 needs in the c:\Dell\Drivers folder/subdirectory. If you cannot access the HDD or have it otherwise backed up, then the only real alternative is to download the drivers from Dell Support. If you would tell which video card and which wireless network card you have we can direct you to the drivers one by one, but it is sure a lot easier to find and copy that original \Dell\Drivers folder.

 

Awesome i can reboot into the original hdd, transfer the dell folder to usb drive and then drag and drop to the ssd.

 

Great. After that is done, reboot to the SSD. It's going to look weird because it's using the VGA driver, but that will be fixed soon. (If not already done, the boot order in the BIOS (F2 at the boot screen, then go the Boot section) should have the SSD listed first -- if the SSD is in the default location (side slot/bay), the Hard Drive should be listed first; if the SSD is in the middle slot/bay, then Second Hard Drive should be first.)

First thing to be done is to install the R3 chipset drivers. It is critical that the SSD is the boot/active drive when the drivers are installed. This is ordinarily not an issue, but for the time being you have two bootable drives/Win 7 installations in your 3, and you have to be certain that you're using the right one, i.e., the SSD, during the driver installation process. To install the chipset drivers, go the c:\Dell\Drivers\ R298407 folder and run (double click) Setup. Just follow the prompts until finished. After that, install the rest more or less in the order suggested here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html. I agree with Mr. Fox that the installation order is not critical, except for chipset first and Alienware Command Center (R290173) last. Otherwise, I prefer to install the video drivers and the wireless network card drivers early to give me internet access and a better working area from the higher resolution. Can't tell you which folder to use for the wireless card or the graphics driver until you tell us which cards you're using. Sounds like you're on your way.

 

Will check tonight when i go home, i've got the nvidia 560m installed and the wireless card (not the killer one installed - can't tell til i look this evening.