Forum Discussion
How to Copy OS to another drive - too many partitions ??
I am building new rig.
I do not want to retire my old system until I can confirm the new one is working the way I want it.
Using my old/current computer, I want to copy the whole drive to a my new SSD with USB/SSD-m.2 adapter.
But I have a couple questions. Disk Manager, and Acronis DiskDirector 12.5 both show my OS drive has 4 partitions. My weekly backup program, Paragon backup & recovery 17 CE reports there are 5 partitions. See screen shot with all three screens.
The extra partition is a small, but filled 16mb one.
Why is there a difference between the programs?
Next what free software can I use in win 11 to copy the complete OS boot drive to a new SSD that is simple to use?
Thanks
To copy your OS to a new SSD:
- Partition Differences: Programs like Paragon show hidden partitions (e.g., the 16MB MSR), while others, like Disk Management, simplify the view.
- Best Free Tools:
- Macrium Reflect Free: Clone all partitions for a bootable SSD.
- Partition Master Free: Simple OS migration.
- Backupper Standard: Ideal for drives with many partitions.
- Steps: Install the tool, connect the new SSD, select the source and target drives, and clone. Test booting from the SSD after cloning. Keep the old drive until you're confident the new setup works.
2 Replies
To copy your OS to a new SSD:
- Partition Differences: Programs like Paragon show hidden partitions (e.g., the 16MB MSR), while others, like Disk Management, simplify the view.
- Best Free Tools:
- Macrium Reflect Free: Clone all partitions for a bootable SSD.
- Partition Master Free: Simple OS migration.
- Backupper Standard: Ideal for drives with many partitions.
- Steps: Install the tool, connect the new SSD, select the source and target drives, and clone. Test booting from the SSD after cloning. Keep the old drive until you're confident the new setup works.
Do you want the target disk being bootable or not?
