Moving C: partition to SSD (with a complication...)

[poee]

I am tasked with replacing a HDD boot drive with an SSD, and the client (er, my new brother-in-law) doesn't want to reinstall Windows 7 and all his apps. The wrinkle is that his 1TB HDD is separated into two partitions -- 200GB for C: (with only 70GB used) and the rest is the D: partition. Windows and smaller apps are installed on C: while all his docs/media and larger game installs are on D:. (He also has an external 2TB backup drive with the cloned partitions of his main HDD.)

The OS will expect C: on SATA port_0 partition 1, and will expect D: on SATA port_0 partition 2. I need to change the location of C: so that Windows will boot from the SSD instead of the first HDD partition, while still keeping the second HDD partition (that many apps are installed on) so that Windows is cool with everything.

Is it possible to simply move a clone of his C: partition directly to a new 256GB SSD, and adjust whatever settings to tell Windows where to look for the C: and D: partitions? Where are the settings that the OS uses to map drive letters (or the boot record) to physical drives/partitions, and can they be changed without reinstalling the OS? (Disk Management won't allow changes to the drive letter of the boot volume, and I don't know how to change this "offline" using a WinPE or Linux boot CD.)

Oh, complication #2, the SSD is going into a new SATA port on an add-in card (PCI-E to SATA III, as he doesn't want to use the SATA II ports on his MSI P55-GD55.) Assuming I can get the OS to boot from this add-in card, Windows will still be expecting to find the D: partition on the same SATA port as C:, correct? Perhaps I should prep by separating the two partitions onto two different physical volumes, first. But I still don't know how to tell Windows to look for the C: and D: partitions when they have been moved from the same HDD to two separate drives (two different SATA ports).

I am missing something really obvious, I'm sure of it. It's because both the partitions have applications installed to them that I am concerned about his Windows install keeping track of everything even after I've moved things around. I appreciate any advice!

 

[Meeho]

This is how I did it IIRC:
1. backup
2. check if you can boot from the pcie card
3. use Macrium Reflect to clone 100 MB system (if it exists) and C to SSD
4. shut down, remove HDD, boot from SSD
5. connect the HDD via USB (or sata if mbo supports it)
6. use easus partition master to delete the unneeded partitions on HDD (former C and 100 MB system if it exists) and expand the large one to the whole drive
7. assign D to HDD if it is not already
8. create E on the rest of SSD

 

[poee]

Thanks for the reply, Meeho!

What is the "100MB system" that goes to the SSD along with the cloned C: partition?

Also, step #4 would have Windows booting up without a D: partition -- is that possible if Windows has applications installed on D:, as well as the global %temp% folder, the pagefile, "My Documents" and all its sub-folders?

What is the E: partition you are speaking of in Step #8? Should I make two partitions on the SSD (C: & E?

I will try this when I get the chance this Tuesday when I bring the new hardware to his office, using your list of steps as a guide. Thank you!

 

[Meeho]

Thanks for the reply, Meeho!

What is the "100MB system" that goes to the SSD along with the cloned C: partition?

If you've installed Win7 on a blank drive, Windows created a separate partition on the beginning of the drive for system files. If you already had existing partitions, it probably won't be present.

Also, step #4 would have Windows booting up without a D: partition -- is that possible if Windows has applications installed on D:, as well as the global %temp% folder, the pagefile, "My Documents" and all its sub-folders?

You could try to avoid that by cloning the drive with Macrium bootCD and assigning the cloned partition on SSD the letter C, leaving both drives in. But I am not sure what if anything would happen once you booted back to Windows. To avoid any possible problems, you should:

a) leave both disks in, clone with Macrium bootcd (assigning C to the new cloned partition on SSD), then use that (if possible) or another bootcd to delete system and C partition on HDD.

OR

b) temporarily move temp, page file and other system folders back to C and follow the original steps. Applications won't matter as long as you don't run them before everything is finished. If your Documents folder is too big and you would like to avoid restoring from backup later, you can crate a new user with admin privileges and boot into that one during the whole process. It will have its user folders in default directories on C:.

What is the E: partition you are speaking of in Step #8? Should I make two partitions on the SSD (C: & E?

It would be better for easier backup later. That way you could always easily image C: for backup, and leave your games and whatnot on E:.

 

[kimyong]

Hi,
You could use a freeware, called Aomei partition assistant home which has the migration feature, also there is a paid version from Paragon, it will cost about $19. The two software have the same capacity to migrate OS to SSD. These two software is not image tool, it is directly migrating system parts to SSD (of course, contains all the information in your system), see this article from Howtogeek: http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/migrate-system-to-solid-state-disk-by-two-known-software