Making bootable clones under Win 7

OK, I'm struggling for a solution here. I'd like to clone my Window 7 install from a 100 GB drive to a 320 GB drive and have it bootable. On a Mac, this is easy for me to do - use Carbon Copy Cloner. Is there a free/cheap solution for doing so under Win 7? I'd hate to have to reinstall from my Win 7 DVD then go through all the updates, malware software, application installs, etc., etc. That would take the better part of a day.

TIA.

Hmm, I never thought of this. I would be interesting to do a fresh install, get all drivers, programs and settings loaded and then make a clone. Next time you need to re-install just load the clone. I keep all of my non-OS non program data on a separate disk so it would be doable.

Just search for disk / drive imaging software. I believe you could also do this via bootable linux disk which can clone the entire drive.

Your larger problem is that whatever you use to do this will need to handle shrinking the volume / partition, which may be a bit of a challenge.

Keep in mind if you're doing this to use it on another computer, Windows 7 will detect the hardware change and become unlicensed.

I used to use a great app called "Drive Image",. but when Semantic bought Powerquest, they gutted it and "Partition Magic" These two tools used to be the basis of my IT tool kit.


Norton Ghost replaced Drive Image,. it's still available, but costs... and it looks as if Win7 has gone very far out of it's way to make even this $70.00 app have trouble actually succeeding where it used to be quite simple.

The other one that likely will work is Acronis True Image.. might be your best bet.

I looked over True Image on wikipedia and it seems to make disk images but it doesn't clearly state that it can make bootable clones. It seems like there would be an easy solution for this. Is it because Microsoft doesn't want people to clone the OS?

Would making a system image in Backup and Restore control panel not work. I've backed my drive up onto an external, is it not possible to load this image back to a new internal?

Stu

I don't know. I'm not much of a windows user. I have a couple of instruments in my lab that run under Win 7. The hard drive is getting pretty full. What I'd like to do is clone the internal 100 gb drive that's in the computer now to an external USB2 enclosure with a 320 gb drive. After it's cloned, I would pull the 100 gb drive from the computer and put the 320 gb drive in its place as the boot drive.

Acronis should do it;
http://kb.acronis.com/​content/34881


This was a piece of cake with Drive image,. but it also made it easy to "install" that same clone on a dozen PCs... (if you knew the trick in the registry that erased all the record of the hardware)

I think it's all due to the fear of pirate OS copies that this is not as easy as it used to be.
With XP you could still clone your OS install, but XP would look for registration unless you jumped through some extra hoops.

100GB to 320GB... what is this 2003?

My business partners makes bootable clones using Acronis, not sure how well they work though.

Consider XXClone.

I use Acronis True image and swear by it. I have cloned multiple Windows7, Vista, XP and 2000 machines to bigger hard drives. I have cloned HDD to SSD with acronis. It's around $40 but I have used it multiple times. I just clone and take out the old drive and put in the new drive and I'm ready to go.

Acronis can be used to write random 1 and 0 to old hard drives to ensure all data is wiped from the old drive. You can do multiple passes. I usually do a single pass of 1 and then a pass of 0 then 3 passes of random 1 and 0 to wipe the drive.
You can also set it up to backup folders to a external hard drives. Very useful for those who want to create multiple backups from their PC (like photos or videos) to a hard drive for storage.

I've used Acronis to clone drives as well, was really painless. It's been a couple years but I know I didn't purchase, either they had a free trial or just a free version.

Tony-S wrote in post #15528788
OK, I'm struggling for a solution here. I'd like to clone my Window 7 install from a 100 TB drive to a 320 TB drive and have it bootable. On a Mac, this is easy for me to do - use Carbon Copy Cloner. Is there a free/cheap solution for doing so under Win 7? I'd hate to have to reinstall from my Win 7 DVD then go through all the updates, malware software, application installs, etc., etc. That would take the better part of a day.

TIA.

Ideally, you should be able to use Windows Backup/Restore.

I have used Acronis Disk Director to do do exactly what you're wanting to do...in this case, migrate a working system from a smaller to a larger drive (it will shrink or expand the volume size to match the disk contents, if possible.) The only issue is that when you use the clone function in Acronis, it duplicates the NTFS signature on the disk, and you will need to remove one of the drives (the clone or the cloned) before restarting, otherwise the system will be.... confused. You can often get this software as a "bonus package" - I got it for 19 bucks with a Velociraptor from Newegg, if I remember correctly.

Oh - and FYI - since you're using W7, it will also take care of disk alignment, ensuring that your sectors all start and end on a proper boundary, unlike earlier Windows operating systems.

Tony-S wrote in post #15529194
It seems like there would be an easy solution for this. Is it because Microsoft doesn't want people to clone the OS?

It's the opposite of what you think. Windows 7 (built-in) backup and restore is all you need. No 3rd party software needed. Take a look at this.

Note:
I have not done it with Windows 7 but I have done barebone restore on Windows Server 2008 R2. It works absolutely like I would expect it to work. Basically, I did a full image backup of Windows Server 2008. Restart the machine and break the HD array and rebuild it to be sure the data is no longer accessible. Restart it once more to be absolutely sure it can't boot (blank HD). Then I use a Windows setup DVD to boot the machine and chose Recovery from backup. Point it to the USB HD backup where I save the image. Restart and... voila! Fully functioning system.

Windows Server 8 and Windows 7 backup are built very similar (if not exactly the same) so I would expect it to work exactly the same way.

btw, your original post says 100TB and 320TB HDs. I scratch my head trying to think what year it is today. I thought you were from the future.

Doh! I missed the TB/GB. Fixed it though.

So it sounds like there are a few good options in place. I'll try the built-in backup first and see if that works.

Thanks to all for your input.