I'm considering upgrading my storage solution. Currently I have two seperate drives:
- 60GB OCz Agility III – Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on 40GB partition and Linux Mint on remainder 20GB
- 1TB Seagate Barracuda – All for Windows, Steam takes up over 60% of space alone. My library keeps growing...
I'm considering upgrading both drives because I'm constantly cleaning and managing space since both are full. The 1TB in particular because it has about 5% free space, so performance is starting to take a nose-dive. The 1TB drive has data on it following me from my previous build, and has the vast majority of my programs installed on it due to space constraints on the 40GB system partition.
For my main drive, I plan to have a 256GB “class” of SSD (so 240–256GB SSD) and my secondary drive I plan to upgrade to a 3 – 4 TB mechanical disk.
Is there anyway to seamlessly transfer, or better yet, “migrate” my data over in a way that preserves my OS and software installations? I'd rather not use proprietary tools (I know some drives are bundled with data migration tools)
I will be keeping my motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc for at least another CPU generation, so this will likely be my final upgrade. My profile has fairy complete specs.
That's nice, but most of the results are on upgrading a mechanical drive to an SSD. I'm upgrading two seperate drives, where one drive has data that is dependant on the other's. I also stated I didn't want to rely on proprietary software.
There is also the fact that Google tailor's results, so my results will not be the same as yours.
All the guides I've looked at seem to use Easeus software, which is proprietary, and I clearly stated (this being the third time) that I didn't want to use proprietary software. I also stated that Google tailors results to what it thinks you might want to find, and for some reason, Google thinks I want Eeaseus software. And there are several differences between upgrading a mechanical disk to an SSD and upgrading two separate drives, the obvious one being settings, especially if the capacity exceeds 2TB (which I also stated). The way the two devices work are fundamentally different, and as a result need difference settings.
IF you're going to be lazy and write a half-assed answer (especially one that is condescending), I'd prefer you actually be completely lazy and don't even reply to the post to begin with.
My biggest concerns with upgrading is dealing with partitions. The last guide I looked at, which went from a mechanical disk to an SSD, was an exact clone, and as a result, they had one partition that didn't use the entirety of the new drive, and they opted to just create a second partition. I'd rather not have to deal with partitions, especially growing/shrinking partitions, as it takes lots of time, and I've had a bad experience with that in the past.
On the other hand you are lazy yourself because you can find alternatives with even white band Google-fu. going above 2 TB doesn't mean a thing. It only excludes FAT32 which you shouldn't be using since WinXP.
Anyways there is Paragon and Macrium. Beyond that Clonezilla and some that are basically linux livecd's. And to answer anything else NO all of those don't come even close to Acronis True Image and yes that is propriety.
omfg...
Attach new drives, Install Windows onto chosen drive, Copy and paste in windows your data. Done.
This isnt rocket science. This is shit you do when you first learn how to use a computer.
I don't know if your version of Windows has a clone tool built in.
There's a programme called Drive Image XML, which can clone a drive for you. You don't have to pay as long as you aren't using it commercially.
Choose the Drive-to-Drive option and clone each old drive to their respective new SSD/HDD. Warning: it takes a long time as the software makes an exact copy of your drives. So go make some tea, or maybe go out for a walk.
Or you could use the Acronis True Image programme mentioned above. I think there is a trial version.
Nice to get second opinions, granted a lot of them are still hostile. As for the laziness, I work 6 days a week between two jobs (for minimum wage) and have very little spare time these days. The little spare time I do have has been going into research for a new motorcycle. I've always manually sifted through and backed up the data I wanted to keep and just did a fresh install - I've never considered using cloning software. Now, I don't really have the time to do that, so I would've liked a simpler solution. I'd prefer a simpler more automated solution, that is free/libre, and doesn't require me to configure partitions or do any sort of optimization, as I have lost data in the past from changing partitions. The last time I looked into upgrading storage, there were several issues with cloning, and it was just better to do a fresh install, especially going from a mechanical disk to solid state. It sounds as though those issues are no longer relevant today.
I also like to understand what I'm doing, especially as a Linux user. Blindly copying/pasting commands and data is asking for disaster (anon). This is also re-enforced through my experience with android where one false command at the wrong time meant turning your phone into an elegant paper-weight.
I'll see how cloning works for me. If all else fails, I'll continue doing the same tried, true, and time-consuming method I've always had.
not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but i personally do not recommend you go up to 3TB-4TB drive. 2TB is as high as i will personally go. for an SSD, i have an ADATA SP900 256GB and i enjoy it. if you buy one, it does come with a copy of acronis. which makes migrating pretty easy if you plan to just "clone" the drives. during the move, i recommend you move the partition table directly across and then resize accordingly after the migration is successful. otherwise it resizes all partitions based on the magnitude of the difference in size. so a 60GB to 256GB would make all partitions to be roughly 4x their original size.