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    Program to clone my drive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by dsmithmd, Dec 30, 2012.

  1. dsmithmd

    dsmithmd Newbie

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    I am getting to embark on my first SSD upgrade. I have a new Asus N56VJ and have already upgraded the RAM to 16gb with no issues (unlike some of the other members as outlined in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=617075

    I have also purchased a SanDisk 240gb SSD. I have an external 1TB disk which I was thinking about using to clone my laptop hard to and then switch out the hard drive with the SSD and then re-clone from the external drive back to the laptop.

    Does this sound like a reasonable plan and is there a preferred software to help this transition go smoothly (and inexpensively or free if possible)?

    Thanks!
     
    dsmithmd, Dec 30, 2012
    #1
  2. OtherSongs

    OtherSongs Notebook Evangelist

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    Your above link doesn't work.

    1) That's a lot of extra writing to the SSD, and 2) if your external 1TB HDD is USB 2, it'll be very very slow; even with faster USB 3 or eSATA or firewire external HDD, it'll still be very slow.

    If your laptop is ASUS N56VJ-DH71, then it has a DVD drive?

    Given it's 15.6" and spec'd at only 5 lbs, odds are that something got sacrificed?

    Anyhow if yes on the DVD and it easily pops in and out, consider buying a caddy and an extra 2.5" *internal* 7200rpm HDD and pop that into the 2nd bay as needed for clone backup; it will do the clone backup at full SATA II speed which is faster than USB 3 and/or firewire and/or eSATA. And don't even have the "brilliant" idea that a SATA III HDD will go any faster than a SATA II HDD because 7200rpm drives do not exceed SATA II speed limit when doing a thing like backup.

    For backup program, consider using the free Clonezilla program at it's .org site location. Namely: Clonezilla - About
     
    OtherSongs, Dec 30, 2012
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  3. miro_gt

    miro_gt Notebook Deity

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    AOMAI Partition Assistant, get the free version and use the "migrate OS" to clone your OS installation onto the SSD that you bought. It is said that this option will align the partition on the SSD automatically as well.
     
    miro_gt, Dec 30, 2012
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  4. ellalan

    ellalan Notebook Deity

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    I second that, I have used it and very nice program, they have released another program Backuper.
    AOMEI's free data backup software for disk, partition, system and file backup & recovery for Windows Oss.
    Aomei Partition Assistant - Download
     
    ellalan, Dec 31, 2012
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