Best way to Clone Windows 7 to a new drive?

[Kelemvor]

Picking up a bigger hard drive for my laptop and I'm wondering what the best software is to use to clone the existing drive to the new one so I don't have to start over from scratch. I've used Ghost in the past but don't know which version I'd need to support Windows 7. I've also heard some programs will end up with activation problems and some don't.

Co-worker mentioned Acronis which I don't have a copy of but might be able to find someone to do it for me. Are there any other free alternatives that might work or would something like Acronis be the best option?


UPDATE:

Used Clonezilla's site to make a bootable flash drive. Booted to it, started the clone and an hour or so later, swapped the drives and booted up. So far, everything is working perfectly.

Thanks all.

 

[Vic Vega]

Ghost 7 or 8 are my choice. They are block level, not file system level so there shouldn't be an activation problems.

 

[timswim78]

If one of your drives is a Western Digital, you can download for free eWestern Digital Acronis True Image.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

Seagate offers a free version of Acronis, but it does not list Windows 7 Compatability at this link: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard

 

[Kelemvor]

Hmm, I think the new drive might be a WD drive. Will have to double check that.

Someone else recommended this Reflect program as well which I might give a look to.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I use Macrium Reflect quite a bit and it is really good. I'd definitely recommend it!

Hmm, I think the new drive might be a WD drive. Will have to double check that.

Someone else recommended this Reflect program as well which I might give a look to.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

 

[bruceb]

Also see this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2106936&highlight=

If your laptop has a Restore Partition then if you don't follow the steps
near the end, you will not see the entire new, larger hard drive.

 

[Kelemvor]

The laptop doesn't have a restore partition. It's a Toshiba and they make you pay for it. Also it came with Vista and got wiped and freshly installed to 7 a while back. So nothing to worry about there.

We'll see when I'll have time to play with this.

Thanks.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Acronis would be a good choice, you can clone directly.

If you want something free, you could just use the Backup & Restore function built into Windows 7. (backup system image to external HDD, then restore to the new drive...)

 

[Kelemvor]

Do Acronis and those type let me clone the drive it's installed on or do I have to hook the old and new drives up to a 3rd computer and clone them that way?

 

[KGB]

Do Acronis and those type let me clone the drive it's installed on or do I have to hook the old and new drives up to a 3rd computer and clone them that way?

You can clone from the installation drive. No need for a third drive.

 

[Steltek]

If one of your drives is a Western Digital, you can download for free eWestern Digital Acronis True Image.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

Seagate offers a free version of Acronis, but it does not list Windows 7 Compatability at this link: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard

I used the Seagate version (Discwizard) once a few months to image a Windows 7 64 bit installation for a friend and and it worked just fine.

BTW, I don't know if it still works, but there used to be a workaround to allow Discwizard to run on a system without a Seagate/Maxtor hard drive.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22732109-Seagate-Disc-Wizard-Workaround

The Seagate version also used offer a $29.99 upgrade to the full version of Acronis True Image, though I don't know if it still does this now.

 

[chaznsc]

Hmm, I think the new drive might be a WD drive. Will have to double check that.

Someone else recommended this Reflect program as well which I might give a look to.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

I used the acronis a few weeks ago on a new WD drive and it was effortless.

 

[sourceninja]

clonezilla works great.

 

[takeru]

clonezilla or ghost 11.5.1

 

[Arkaign]

I can attest that older versions of Ghost are not working for imaging Win7 installs, for whatever reason. I haven't used Clonezilla but heard good things, personally I use an Acronis 2010 boot cd, and it does hdd to hdd with dynamic or manual resizing in a big hurry.

 

[Kelemvor]

Well, trying Clonezilla as we speak. We'll know more in an hour. The CD drive in the laptop is bad so I can't use anything with a boot disk but Clonezilla runs off a bootable flash drive so I'm running it that way. So far so good.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Acronis is my favourite. I hate ghost. I'm forced use ghost at work and find it buggy and limited.

 

[Kelemvor]

Guess I should update this.

Used Clonezilla's site to make a bootable flash drive. Booted to it, started the clone and an hour or so later, swapped the drives and booted up. So far, everything is working perfectly.

Thanks all.