New HDD install - Clone or fresh Install?

Hi all,

Got a new laptop (Samsung) which contains 2 x HDD.

I want to swap 1 for a SSD and then use that new drive as the boot drive.

Question is what is the easiest way to do this without using a CD? And I dont have a optical drive to burn a DVD.

Is it best to use a clone software like Acronis? Can that be done to clone 1 drive to another whilst in windows?

Or can I download a Windows 7 ISO and use Deamon to install onto the other disk and then swap out the disk which used to contain the boot?

Very slow internet here so dont want to download something I dont need so would appreciate your thoughts.

Kind Regards

 

do you have a Windows 7 installation DVD ?

 

No, and as mentioned dont have an optical drive to use either way.

 

ah, so your system is mostly like mine where you can F4 to bring up a special copy of Samsung's backup/restore system.

I would say use a disk clone to preserve this functionality unless of course you don't want it and want to do a fresh install. I don't know if your OEM key would work if you just find a retail copy of W7 installation disk though. Some say it would.

 

And OEM key will work just fine on a retail Win7 disk.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation about a good clone software?

 

1 - Use a USB memory, 4 GB minimum. Quick format it in NTFS.
2 - Copy either a 32-bit, or a 64-bit version with Unetbootin.
Edit
3 - Delete /sources/ei.cfg VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 - Install, use your key.

Using a clone software can be a bad idea, SSD's are sensitive to how they're installed, it's all about the partition is aligned.
I dunno if that's the case for all models, but the best way in general to succeed is to install Windows 7, and only have one single partition on the SSD,
as in don't touch the partition size, just let it be whatever it says.

 

me, I would just use unetbootin and install a copy of ubuntu on a USB then launch a command shell and do a :

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb

Acronis is a paid version of the above mentioned combination with a 'Windows' like UI(and some helper wrappers), mainly for the Windows users.

But the problem of HDD -> SSD is that it is usually larger -> smaller and tools like Acronis would screwup alignment that badly hurts the SSD.

So it may be better to just reinstall a new copy. You lose the samsung backup/restore feature and need to use Windows 7's builtin one.

 

Is that link for Windows 7 or vista ? it is under /msvista/... but I don't know there arrangement.

 

Can I download a windows 7 ISO and install from 1 HDD partition to another or does it have to be done by making a restart DVD or USB?

 

You can easily make a Windows 7 ISO file into a bootable USB Windows 7 installable media then install(and recover) using that. Doesn't need an optical drive of any sort.

I just revitalize a Dell D410(no optical drive) this way.

and no, don't try the two HDD situation if you don't want trouble down the road.

 

I dont have a USB drive here - currently in a different country so not got the usual equipment etc. I can buy if needed but hoping to avoid doing that.

 

I do have a 4GB Sandisk SD Card if that helps.

 

noop. I haven't come across a SD reader is bootable.

Given you situation(and you don't want to buy an USB key), unetbootin with ubuntu would be the only way to transfer the content without paying a dime.

edit
i was wrong. you don't have an USB key then you can't even boot into ubuntu.

 

Ok, thank you Chimpanzee.

 

7

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

 

Get ONE DVD and burn. What does it cost? $1? You save yourself a lot of trouble. Read up how to burn correctly.
Remember to remove /sources/ei.cfg Very important!!!! See my last link.

Or maybe you have a SD to USB adapter.

Or, borrow a USB memory.

Or, try Windows 7 System Image, but I doubt it will align the partition correctly. Or it might complain that the SSD is smaller than the HDD, but that depends on how big C: is.
But this is really the last thing I'd do, because of alignment.
The reinstall is also good because you get rid of all useless stuff that's preloaded, and it's best to do it while it's brand new, the longer you wait, the more stuff to reinstall.

 

Windows 7 System Image preserve the alignment as it basically copy the partition table and the system drive verbatim.

That means if the original drive used more space than the target, it would refuse to restall. It is not just the c: but also any parition after and before it. Basically, the total allocated partition space must not be larger than the target then the system image restore would work perfectly.

This however would not restore the hidden samsung partition though.

 

As I said, it's a bad idea..