Clone Windows 8 from HDD to SSD

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blackbeaSSt

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bought a samsung lapper that has windows 8 on it. looking to throw a 256gb ssd in place of the 750hdd. i used the acronis software to clone it but it gave me a warning that i will not be able to boot from the destination drive once the clone is complete (i tried and it didn't)

with that said, how can i copy over the almost virgin W8 to the ssd and boot from it?

or worse case where can i download a legit copy and start fresh?
 
If its virgin W8, just download the ISO to a USB stick and re-install to the SSD. The user license should be somewhere on/in the laptop.
 
ob1 said:
If its virgin W8, just download the ISO to a USB stick and re-install to the SSD. The user license should be somewhere on/in the laptop.
Click to expand...
I had the same situation and used license # on the Windows label at the bottom of my lappy. Got an error when I tried to activate. I don't remember what exactly the error massage was but I couldn't.
 
ob1 said:
If its virgin W8, just download the ISO to a USB stick and re-install to the SSD. The user license should be somewhere on/in the laptop.
Click to expand...

does MS offer a free iso d/l of 8?

Elpee said:
I had the same situation and used license # on the Windows label at the bottom of my lappy. Got an error when I tried to activate. I don't remember what exactly the error massage was but I couldn't.
Click to expand...

thats another problem. i see that some laptops don't have the COA/key on the bottom anymore. and that they are built in to the bios? can belarc find it for me?
 
fukkin samsung said "After installing the new hard drive, you need to send the laptop to re-image the OS. It will cost you $39 for re-imaging"

thats a laugher there!
 
If you can get your hands on a Windows 8 Installation disk. I am reading in various places that it will just skip the prompts and activate windows. I am also reading that you can even use a Pro disk to do the installation. It just won't activate as a Pro installation.
 
Is this just a W8 thing? I used Acronis this weekend to transfer W7 from a platter to an ssd without any issues. After a day of use W7 asked to activate, let it hit the web and it was done.
 
Lost-Benji said:
Samsung Pro's come with transfer software, same with Intel Pro SSD's.
Click to expand...

well the kingston drive did too.....the acronis which doesn't work.

but lemme ask this. could the problem be im going from a 750gb to a 256gb drive?

these damn companies these days not giving you the option to make a bootable media. i can't believe there is no option within 8 to make a bootable recovery disk
 
I just did a fresh install of Windows 8 on a laptop with an embedded key to make sure it would work. All you need is a Windows 8 RTM disk. Install the SSD, re-install windows and it will just activate its self using the embedded key.
 
OP, are you only cloning the C: partition or are you cloning the entire drive? Laptops with Win8 and embedded keys have a hidden partition which is where the Windows 8 Basic installer is located. If you want a fresh install that uses the embedded key, you must clone the hidden partition too.

spankit said:
I just did a fresh install of Windows 8 on a laptop with an embedded key to make sure it would work. All you need is a Windows 8 RTM disk. Install the SSD, re-install windows and it will just activate its self using the embedded key.
Click to expand...

How do you acquire a Win8 RTM disk?
 
evilsofa said:
OP, are you only cloning the C: partition or are you cloning the entire drive? Laptops with Win8 and embedded keys have a hidden partition which is where the Windows 8 Basic installer is located. If you want a fresh install that uses the embedded key, you must clone the hidden partition too.
Click to expand...

i'll take a screeny of what acronis has tomorrow and post it. i wasn't aware of a hidden partition. i just know that when i select the destination drive in acronis there is a ! that basically says your destination file will not boot once completed. not sure if/when i unhide the partition if that will change things or not.
 
evilsofa said:
How do you acquire a Win8 RTM disk?
Click to expand...

We had one at the office, the retail Windows 8 Pro upgrade disk is what I used. The retail version of Windows 8 Pro first installs a vanilla version of Windows 8 and only once the Key is entered does it become Windows 8 Pro. I can provide proof tomorrow if there is skepticism.
 
spankit said:
We had one at the office, the retail Windows 8 Pro upgrade disk is what I used. The retail version of Windows 8 Pro first installs a vanilla version of Windows 8 and only once the Key is entered does it become Windows 8 Pro. I can provide proof tomorrow if there is skepticism.
Click to expand...

I'm not skeptical of what you did; I'm just saying it won't work for the OP if the Windows 8 that came with their laptop is Windows 8 Basic.
 
What I would try

- make your Windows partitions smaller than the new disk, (Windows disk management)
- download free Clonezilla, make a bootable CD or USB stick
- boot CloneZille, select clone whole disk (to include hidden partitions)
you can clone hd to hd or hd to imagefile, supports local disks and network shares

- boot new disk and increase size to maximum
 
There isn't a lot of great cloning software when it comes to later gen OS's becasue they still follow same guidelines that have been around for years. If you buy a new drive for OS, do a clean bare-metal load and avoid the BS of alignment, fragmentation and missing files (OEM systems like to put hidden DMI data on OEM HDD's).

If you are worried about missing data, use the Easy Transfer feature.
 
_Gea said:
What I would try

- make your Windows partitions smaller than the new disk, (Windows disk management)
- download free Clonezilla, make a bootable CD or USB stick
- boot CloneZille, select clone whole disk (to include hidden partitions)
you can clone hd to hd or hd to imagefile, supports local disks and network shares

- boot new disk and increase size to maximum
Click to expand...

but from what someone said earlier there's a hidden partition that needs to be copied over as well. does that somehow need to be included?

Lost-Benji said:
There isn't a lot of great cloning software when it comes to later gen OS's becasue they still follow same guidelines that have been around for years. If you buy a new drive for OS, do a clean bare-metal load and avoid the BS of alignment, fragmentation and missing files (OEM systems like to put hidden DMI data on OEM HDD's).

If you are worried about missing data, use the Easy Transfer feature.
Click to expand...

no familiar with that term. does it include having some sort of media in hand to install it on the new drive?
 
blackbeasst said:
but from what someone said earlier there's a hidden partition that needs to be copied over as well. does that somehow need to be included?
Click to expand...

Clonezilla and other utilities like Acronis should be able to copy that. You are talking about the small system reserved partition that is used for recovery / boot?
 
drescherjm said:
Clonezilla and other utilities like Acronis should be able to copy that. You are talking about the small system reserved partition that is used for recovery / boot?
Click to expand...

i have no idea. see post 11. thats the first i've ever heard of laptops having a hidden partition with the installer on it. im just trying to figure out of its hidden then do i need to unhide it before acronis can see it
 
I highly doubt that it needs to be unhidden to copy it with one of these utilities. However I have not purchased a laptop or any other device with windows 8 on it to test.
 
If your going to go the imaging route. My recommendation would be to use CloneZilla. We used to use Aconis Home at the office to do computer imaging but recently switched to using CloneZilla because it kept missing two require partitions. This issue was only apparent when working with Operating Systems installed using the UEFI installer.

evilsofa said:
I'm not skeptical of what you did; I'm just saying it won't work for the OP if the Windows 8 that came with their laptop is Windows 8 Basic.
Click to expand...

The Laptop that I used was a NIB HP 2000-2c60ca. It comes with Windows 8 Basic. The retail Windows 8 Pro disc will work (NOT THE VLK ONE) to re-install the OS.
 
Last edited:
blackbeasst said:
bought a samsung lapper that has windows 8 on it. looking to throw a 256gb ssd in place of the 750hdd. i used the acronis software to clone it but it gave me a warning that i will not be able to boot from the destination drive once the clone is complete (i tried and it didn't)

with that said, how can i copy over the almost virgin W8 to the ssd and boot from it?

or worse case where can i download a legit copy and start fresh?
Click to expand...
Make sure the boot flags are identical on the Target drive compared to the Source drive.

General information about cloning --

1) Common sense: buy a drive that is equal in size or greater, unless you know for certain you can go with a smaller drive (ex. you might have a 1TB drive but a 128GB drive would still work leaving you with 32GB+ free diskspace)

2) Before you clone, keep the Source drive in the machine. Using a partition editor, shrink your C:\ partition as low as you can go (leave like 4GB of free diskspace)

3) After you have shrunk your C:\ partition, then proceed to follow instructions on cloning OR boot to something like PartedMagic and use Clonezilla or the partition management software bundled with PartedMagic to perform a Source->Target clone

4) After cloning is complete, using the partition management software bundled with PartedMagic, check and compare each partition across both drives and make sure that the Target drive's partitions FLAGS match that of the Source drive

5) Reboot and see if boot is successful

6) If boot is not successful, insert the Windows OS disk and boot off of it -- go through the Diagnostics & Repair so that it can automatically detect

7) When you finally get a successful boot, boot back into PartedMagic, open up the partition management software, go to the Target drive, and enlarge the C:\ partition to the maximum possible

^_^
 
Windows can also shrink and expand OS partitions since vista although this is with some restrictions.
 
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