Copying partitions over to another drive

[996GT2]

I just ordered an 64GB SSD for my Thinkpad, and I want to move my Windows 7 and Windows XP Partitions from my HDD to the SSD.

Do any programs exist that allow you to easily move the partitions over and maintain their bootability? The Win 7 partition is about 55 GB, and the XP partition is 10 GB so there would have to be some resizing to get everything to fit on the SSD. Should I re-size the partitions in Acronis Disk Director before I do the imaging? What's the easiest way to move the partitions over?

Thanks

 

[brblx]

use acronis to resize the partitions (it will take a bit because it has to defrag), then get a usb adapter or enclosure and transfer the files. make sure the new partitions are primary (not logical) and the one that contains your boot loader should be set to active.

edit- if you could copy your xp partition onto some free space on your main drive, you can do all your work from there without worrying about files in use (acronis should do all operations without rebooting).

 

[ochadd]

Clonezilla will do it. Free is good.

 

[996GT2]

Are there any negatives to copying the partition rather than reinstalling win 7 on the SSD?

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: 996GT2
Are there any negatives to copying the partition rather than reinstalling win 7 on the SSD?

Not for Vista or i7 but XP should have a partition alignment .

 

[Binky]

If you use a cloning progam, your partition could be misaligned. There are many hit or mis ways to try and keep your partition aligned properly on an SSD. A full Win7 install where it creates and formats its own partition should result in a properly aligned partition.

 

[996GT2]

So the only way to prevent a misaligned partition when copying my Windows 7 Partition over is to do a fresh install of Windows 7?

I don't have to copy the XP partition over...I can just do a fresh install of that. But will the Win 7 main partition become mis-aligned if I clone it with Trueimage?