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    Cloning SSD on W520 - migrating to another SSD

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by andy789, Jul 5, 2012.

  1. andy789

    andy789 Notebook Consultant

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    Hi all,

    What is the easiest and correct way to migrate to another SSD?
    I have Intel SSD 320 series 160GB as a primary drive and am thinking to upgrade to Samsung 830 256GB.

    Can I use Acronis to clone the drive? How can I avoid partition aligning problems? i assume Intel and Samsung should have the same align settings, correct?

    If I use Acronis true image, will it preserve the partition starting offset (1,048,576 bytes in my Intel SSD)?

    I cloned standard HDDs many times, but never did it with SSDs.

    Thanks!
     
  2. soccrstar

    soccrstar Notebook Enthusiast

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    why not just do a clean install and migrate your personal files over?
     
  3. andy789

    andy789 Notebook Consultant

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    Just wanted to save time as I have too many applications installed. it will take me about 2 full days to re-install everything from scratch.
     
  4. tranle

    tranle Notebook Enthusiast

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    The cheap way of doing it is:
    1- create a repair disk. It is an option next to windows backup.
    2- Use gparted (free) to copy the System partition, and C Drive.
    3- Disconnect your original drive (important so it does not get messed up).
    4- Use the repair disk to fix the new drive, this should repair the boot record and boot partition.

    The other more expensive way to get one of the paid software like Acronis Disk Director or Easus or do the system re-install.
     
  5. andy789

    andy789 Notebook Consultant

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    I have Acronis true Image 2011. Will it maintain partition alignment when cloning from SSD? i have seen many conflicting reviews about that...
     
  6. JohnsonDelBrat

    JohnsonDelBrat Notebook Evangelist

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    Did on mine. I still have my 1mb offset on the first partition.
     
  7. yrc

    yrc Notebook Consultant

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    Acronis should work. If your Samsung is a retail pack, it will include a CD with samsung utilities and a copy of Norton Ghost, which has a drive copy (clone) feature that runs in Windows 7. I have helped a friend use the included version of Ghost do such a clone (moved from 500GB spinner to 256 GB Samsung) and it did the trick.