Disk Cloning Question

[GullyFoyle]

Here is my system:

Boot drive - 64 GB SSD w/Win7 Pro 64 bit
500 GB 7200 RPM drive with three partitions:
- 20 GB Windows XP (I can dual boot to it)
- 100 GB old pre-SSD Win 7 install
- 3xx GB for games, Steam
1.5 TB Green drive for MP3's, pictures, backups, etc.

Well, the 500 GB games drive is running out of space. So I bought a new 7200 RPM 2TB drive (Seagate) to replace it.

I would simply clone the new drive from the old but for one thing, the partitions on the 500 GB drive are not aligned.

I put the new drive in to my system and used Win 7 disk manager to create three approximate sized partitions (a little bigger than the old), and tested the alignment and its all good.

My questions:

What (free) software will clone partitions without wanting to destroy and rebuild the destination?

Can I just copy the contents?

Any solutions I am overlooking?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

[MontyAC]

Parted Magic is what I use.

 

[Diogenes2]

For the destination partition to be bootable, it will have to be re-built ..

You can use MacriumFree to clone the system partition - then you can just copy the contents of the other partitions using Explorer..

 

[GullyFoyle]

I'm going to attempt to use Macrium Reflect Free, as I have it already. Supposedly it store the Master Boot Record on every partition backup.

I finished making the backups the other day, I'll to restore the XP partition tonight.

 

[corkyg]

When I clone with Acronis bootable media, partitions are always aligned. My rule of thumb is never to clone from within Windows - always use bootable media.

 

[GullyFoyle]

I had the new disc set up with three aligned partitions. I used Macrium Reflex free to load my backed up partitions on to the new drive, it messed up the alignment.

I tried Pinnacle Alignment Tool 2.0 to fix it, but after the first few minutes, the interface stops showing progress, and when I finally give up and reset the machine, I check the drive and it was OK, and aligned. Tried it on the second partition and same result.

Decided not to waste my whole weekend waiting because they were consecutively larger partitions, and reformatted.

Went out and got the latest version of Seagate's Discwizard, which is a cut-down version of Acronis Trueimage. They have a clone disk function. I saw no settings related to alignment, but I said "f$#k it, just try it, it's gotta be faster that Paragon Alignment Tool."

I asked it to copy all three partitions from the old disk to the new one. Surprisingly, it even allowed me to downsize one of the partitions since it had free space. That's not a common feature in backup/restore tools. Took a nap, came back and it was done. Checked the alignment and it was all green.

So, final score: Macrium Reflect Free :thumbsdown: Seagate Discwizard :thumbsup: