Cloning HDD to SSD

So I just bought a new 240GB SSD to replace my 500GB 7200RPM secondary HDD. However, I'd really rather not reinstall everything as my current internet is very slow and I have a data cap. I'm running Windows off a primary 64GB SSD but I think I only have one other HDD bay which is currently occupied by my HDD. Is there any way to connect my new SSD externally or should I just bite the bullet and reinstall everything?

 

Do yourself a favor and do a clean install.

With a good install on an SSD, this will be the last one for this system ever.

Go to a friends (buy him/her a pizza and some beer!) and use their faster (non-capped) internet and do this once.

Best of all? If you can't get the clean install to work the first time: simply put your untouched HDD back and continue working until you have time to do the clean install right.


Good luck.

 

I've already got my OS on my primary 64GB SSD though. This would just be the secondary drive. Unless a clean install is equally as desirable there?

 

Sorry, didn't catch that nuance.

If you can get a $10 external USB3.0 enclosure and clone (don't move/copy over) your secondary drive to the new SSD that would work.

When the cloning finishes, remove the original drive and replace with the new. The system should boot right up and not know anything is different.

See:
Best Free Drive Cloning Software

 

You probably don't even need to clone it - a simple full copy should suffice for secondary drives, even if they have the Program Files folder (all the important stuff like the registry is on the main drive anyway).

If you have a dual HDD bay laptop, a good method is to create an Ubuntu LiveUSB drive (1GB flash drive or SD card should be fine), then install the HDD in bay 1 and the new SSD in bay 2, boot into Ubuntu and simply copy everything from one to the other.

Edit: You can even clone drives from inside Ubuntu (just be careful with dd and other CLI tools): Top 6 Open Source Disk Cloning and Imaging Softwares

 

Macrium Reflect is a pretty decent free cloning tool if you ever want to clone.

 

^another vote for Macrium Reflect. Simple, easy, and intuitive to use.

 

Sounds somewhat complicated but I'll maybe give it a shot. Got nothing better to do with my evening tonight anyway.

Will check it out, thanks!

Although, to be fair, I'm probably buying a new laptop in 3 months once I move to the US for work anyway. No idea what possessed me to upgrade mine now. Oh well.

 

You could always bring the SSD with you to your new machine, I.e. Order it with an HDD and swap the SSD in after receiving it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Well, it's about as complicated as buying a caddy, installing the drive, copying everything and taking it out to install it in the laptop

I forgot that you have metered bandwidth though - the Ubuntu image is 700 MB, so you need to consider that.