Is it possible to backup windows 7 and install it on a new SSD?

[Miguel2013]

I have windows 7 installed on a HDD since 2012 and I just got a new trion 150 480GB SSD supposedly 10 times faster. I want to continue using my well maintained system on the faster drive.

Can I just just copy all the system files that is c:\windows\ and c:\program files\ and have it ready to go with a minimal boot loader reconfiguration on the new drive or am I missing something?

 

[Toothless]

Image it

 

[okidna]

You can clone your old drive to your new SSD.

I use EASEUS To Do Backup (free version) to backup my drive and sometime clone it if I need it and it works really well for me so far.
Here's the software website link : http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

 

[Kursah]

You're better imaging the drive over, I have used AEMOI Partition Assistant as it has a "Copy to SSD" function that will allow imaging from a larger HDD to smaller SSD. Been a while since I've done one...there are other tools that work well.

You want to migrate to an SSD: http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

+1 to EASUS ToDo Backup Free...works well.

 

[slozomby]

I have windows 7 installed on a HDD since 2012 and I just got a new trion 150 480GB SSD supposedly 10 times faster

even the slowest ssd makes the fastest spinning disk look bad.
while I understand you're interest in keeping your windows installation. sometimes a fresh install is worthwhile.

as for cloning tools.
macrium reflect has a free version.
and driveimage-xml worked well on my laptop.

 

[de.das.dude]

If you have atleast one WD hard drive in your system, then WD give you Arconis Utility for free. Use it to clone. Its simple and easy. I did it for my laptop when swapping out the HDD for a new one.

I didnt have any WD hdd on the laptop so i connected one via a USB as external, and even that worked haha.

so you can borrow a friends WD external drive for this as well.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, @Ubuntusario !

Regardless of the cloning utility you use, make sure you do a backup of your system somewhere off-site (an image of the whole system or at least a backup of your most important files). This is the surest way to avoid any potential data loss. Otherwise, you can simply plug the SSD in your system and begin the cloning procedure with any of the tools mentioned above.
However, there are few unfortunate situations when the cloning procedure is not completed successfully and thus you are unable to boot from the SSD. Make sure you don't panic and simply repeat the process, if you encounter such issue.
Anyway, keeping a copy of your most precious files somewhere else as well will definitely give you some peace of mind! Better safe than sorry, right?

Cheers,
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Toothless]

Hey there, @Ubuntusario !

Regardless of the cloning utility you use, make sure you do a backup of your system somewhere off-site (an image of the whole system or at least a backup of your most important files). This is the surest way to avoid any potential data loss. Otherwise, you can simply plug the SSD in your system and begin the cloning procedure with any of the tools mentioned above.
However, there are few unfortunate situations when the cloning procedure is not completed successfully and thus you are unable to boot from the SSD. Make sure you don't panic and simply repeat the process, if you encounter such issue.
Anyway, keeping a copy of your most precious files somewhere else as well will definitely give you some peace of mind! Better safe than sorry, right?

Cheers,
SuperSoph_WD

Man we need you here more often.

 

[Miguel2013]

Hey there, @Ubuntusario !

Regardless of the cloning utility you use, make sure you do a backup of your system somewhere off-site (an image of the whole system or at least a backup of your most important files). This is the surest way to avoid any potential data loss. Otherwise, you can simply plug the SSD in your system and begin the cloning procedure with any of the tools mentioned above.
However, there are few unfortunate situations when the cloning procedure is not completed successfully and thus you are unable to boot from the SSD. Make sure you don't panic and simply repeat the process, if you encounter such issue.
Anyway, keeping a copy of your most precious files somewhere else as well will definitely give you some peace of mind! Better safe than sorry, right?

Cheers,
SuperSoph_WD

what do you mean by repeating the process? you mean boot loader issues? how to fix those in windows? and what about sector size 512bytes for HDD vs 4kb for SSD new industry standard, will cloning affect my performance negatively contrary to installing a new os on the trion?

 

[slozomby]

what do you mean by repeating the process? you mean boot loader issues? how to fix those in windows? and what about sector size 512bytes for HDD vs 4kb for SSD new industry standard, will cloning affect my performance negatively contrary to installing a new os on the trion?

rarely will a clone fail. but it happens sometimes. 99% of the time it will succeed. 99% of the time retrying will succeed.
4k sector sizes are preferred. but it'll run with 512. the difference is iops. you'll commit more writes to disk with the smaller sector size. its not a massive performance hit but it'll be there if you look for it.

personally after 4 years of installing/uninstalling stuffs I opt for a fresh install. but I get that sometimes finding all the software you installed or rather the license key is sometimes not worth the effort.

 

[Aquinus]

What I do is just backup my stuff and nuke the OS. Half of the reason of having separate OS and Storage devices (in my case, my RAID 0 and RAID 5 respectively,) is so if the OS explodes, I can nuke it without losing my stuff.

rarely will a clone fail. but it happens sometimes. 99% of the time it will succeed. 99% of the time retrying will succeed.

Happened to me at work last week. It happens more often than you think. Simply put, backup your stuff and make sure your backup is complete.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Man we need you here more often.

Hey @Toothless, I'm sorry that you don't see me so often lately. Took some days off during the summer and didn't see much of an activity in the storage section lately. However, I'm back and I will do my best to monitor TPU on daily basis.

what do you mean by repeating the process? you mean boot loader issues? how to fix those in windows? and what about sector size 512bytes for HDD vs 4kb for SSD new industry standard, will cloning affect my performance negatively contrary to installing a new os on the trion?

Hey there again, @Ubuntusario!

What I meant to say is basically what @slozomby explained. It's highly recommended to do a clean install if you have that option. This would prevent you from transferring any redundant system files from your previous OS installation.
As for the cloning procedure, I can't really say why it happens but sometimes, it does fail! I've seen this with a lot of users using different cloning utilities, so I'd not blame it on a specific software. However, I'd recommend you check your Disk management and make sure you have cloned the partitions right after cloning process is completed. Either way, the best way to prevent potential data loss is to keep a system & file backup off-site while changing/upgrading the storage configuration in your system.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Clone "drive to drive" with Norton Ghost Or Acronis True image
Make sure partition is set to active after Clone -Disk Management

 

[RejZoR]

You can clone your old drive to your new SSD.

I use EASEUS To Do Backup (free version) to backup my drive and sometime clone it if I need it and it works really well for me so far.
Here's the software website link : http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

EASEUS is cool, but has a really weird habit of shortening partitions. You can select all the space possible, transfer it and it'll leave some unpartitioned space for whatever reason. I don't know why it's doing that.