Cloning drives using 2nd Computer

[yottabit]

Really nooby question but I haven't done anything like this in a while

I want to upgrade a notebook that doesn't have an optical drive to an SSD

I'm wondering if it's easiest to buy one of the "Notebook upgrade" kits and pay a little extra

OR

Just take both the original HDD and new SSD, set them up as slave drives in a second PC, and clone them that way. With SATA drives they all have the same power connectors right?

Thing is I have no cloning software, so I would need a good free option to do that (I think there are some out there though)

I'll also be going from a larger partition to a smaller one

If you had the choice would you use one of those notebook upgrade external enclosures, or do it through a 2nd PC? They usually give the cloning software on a CD, which wouldn't be too helpful for my notebook.

 

[MoInSTL]

SATA drives are the same. Last week I removed the HDD in a cheap Toshiba laptop and popped in an SSD. Who makes the SSD? If it's Samsung, they make Samsung Data Migration Software I don't know about other tools other manufacturers use. You may want to check out EaseUS Partition Master. It includes Disk & Partition Copy Wizard. I don't know how many features there are in the free version. Whatever you do, make a backup first. I use Macrium Reflect and store the images on a HDD in a drive dock. I have it hooked up to my eSATA port on my desktop, but can move it to laptop and use USB. If you live near a MicroCenter they have one with eSATA and USB 2.0 pretty cheap.

I'm sure there will be more posts covering everything else.

 

[Naer]

I recently got an ssd, I want to not take out my old drive and add the ssd and turn that ssd into my primary. How do I do this? It shows up in bios, but it's not there in win 7. help

 

[MoInSTL]

I recently got an ssd, I want to not take out my old drive and add the ssd and turn that ssd into my primary. How do I do this? It shows up in bios, but it's not there in win 7. help

For more visibility, I suggest starting a new thread and include more information like your system specs and SSD make and model. (Look in Disk Management to see if it shows up there). Start, right click Computer, Manage, Storage, Disk Management. It may not be initialized.

 

[Naer]

For more visibility, I suggest starting a new thread and include more information like your system specs and SSD make and model. (Look in Disk Management to see if it shows up there). Start, right click Computer, Manage, Storage, Disk Management. It may not be initialized.

It doesn't show in disk management but I see it in bios. Help

 

[Naer]

I'm doing this f10 and diskpart and list disk trick after emergency restoring it. Think this would work?

 

[Charlie98]

Really nooby question but I haven't done anything like this in a while

I want to upgrade a notebook that doesn't have an optical drive to an SSD

I'm wondering if it's easiest to buy one of the "Notebook upgrade" kits and pay a little extra

OR

Just take both the original HDD and new SSD, set them up as slave drives in a second PC, and clone them that way. With SATA drives they all have the same power connectors right?

Thing is I have no cloning software, so I would need a good free option to do that (I think there are some out there though)

I'll also be going from a larger partition to a smaller one

If you had the choice would you use one of those notebook upgrade external enclosures, or do it through a 2nd PC? They usually give the cloning software on a CD, which wouldn't be too helpful for my notebook.

What kind of SSD is it? (Brand)

Does your second computer have a WD drive of any kind in it?

 

[yottabit]

What kind of SSD is it? (Brand)

Does your second computer have a WD drive of any kind in it?

Haven't decided yet on an SSD brand (part of why I'm trying to figure out if I should get a notebook kit or not)

The PC I'd be using does have a WD Blue drive. Thanks for the feedback so far.

 

[Charlie98]

Haven't decided yet on an SSD brand (part of why I'm trying to figure out if I should get a notebook kit or not)

The PC I'd be using does have a WD Blue drive. Thanks for the feedback so far.

Ok... here's what you can do...

Get whatever brand SSD you want, some will come with data migration software, some won't.

Hook both drives up to the 2nd computer with the WD drive, download the free Acronis disk utility from WD and clone it. The version available from WD should accommodate the different sized drives (as long as the data will fit! ) and realign the partitions for proper functioning.

EDIT: Link

 

[MoInSTL]

Haven't decided yet on an SSD brand (part of why I'm trying to figure out if I should get a notebook kit or not)

The PC I'd be using does have a WD Blue drive. Thanks for the feedback so far.

I sent you a PM that may help with the kit decision although it will take some digging.