Looking for free cloning software that works on a laptop

[DaveB]

Trying to do a favor for someone and upgrade their Samsung laptop from a 640GB slow hard drive to a 240GB Mushkin SSD. So far none of the free stuff works. EaseUS Todo Backup seems to do the trick, but after a 5 hour clone the laptop can't find it to boot off of it. The files are there for whatever that's worth. Acronis Easy Migration is a total bust as are any other free program I've tried. Most have the features needed for cloning disabled or severely limited in the free versions. Anybody know one that will work going from a larger hard drive to a smaller SSD. The hard drive has less than 100GB on it so it really shouldn't be an issue. I've used EaseUS before successfully, but not with a laptop. After two 5 hours useless clones with it, I'd rather use something else.

 

[Janus67]

tried macrium reflect?

 

[DaveB]

Yep, a total fail.

 

[wagex]

the easus todo should work you have the MBR selected to copy as well? if not you might have to boot to a windows disk and restore the mbr that way.

 

[EarthDog]

Any that work on a desktop would be fine for a laptop. Not sure why those wont work for you...These guys have the drtails..

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

I vote Macrium Reflect as well.

Very odd it "failed". Did the clone just stop or something?
Maybe your 640GB drive is near death..

 

[Dermen]

I always have better luck if I shrink the partition to something smaller than the new drive so that the software doesn't have to deal with resizing anything. To shrink it I just use windows built in disk management. To get it small enough you generally have to disable hibernate and pagefile.

 

[dejo]

the hirens boot cd 10.6 has a functional version of norton ghost. the newer versions dont

 

[mimart7]

Instead of cloning with Macrium, try imaging. That is how I make my backups. I have only had one instance of actually needing to restore from an image, and it worked flawlessly.

 

[EarthDog]

That is how I do it as well (Acronis - not free, sorry). Works flawlessly.

 

[DaveB]

For some reason EaseUS is not copying the System files even though everything is selected. Macrium Reflect claims there isn't enough space even though there is plenty, and instantly aborts. It displays the Recovery volume in red. So I copied the system files only with Macrim and although they are now there, it still won't boot. Booting the Win 7 DVD shows no operating system on the SSD.

Put both drives in another computer and tried cloning with EaseUS - same result. This time EaseUS created the System Volume and copied the files. But it still won't boot. WTF?

 

[DaveB]

OK, just for the hell of it, I connected the cloned SSD into a different computer (my X79 rig) and it booted right up. Won't work in the laptop it was made for but works in an old desktop.

 

[bob4933]

Is there some compatibility issue with the SSD on the laptop?

 

[DaveB]

That's what I'm wondering. It's a Samsung with an i3 2350M circa 2012. The SSD is a Mushkin 240GB - I've had a Mushkin 120GB for several years and it was on sale so I bought it from Newegg. The laptop can't see the SSD at all for some reason. I never liked laptops, but this is my daughter's and it runs like a dog with the slow mechanical drive so I thought I'd speed it up a bit.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

AHCI mode? IDE?

 

[Dermen]

I had a problem recently with a Crucial SSD not being recognized in a laptop. The Crucial SSD said 2.0A on it, the stock HDD said 1.0A. I put a 1.0A SSD (Intel) in and it booted no problem.

 

[Dlaw]

I use System Rescue CD for all of my data management, except for cloning entire drives (I use EASEUS Todo Backup for that). SRCD has a tool called GParted, which will resize partitions on your drive. I would use that to resize the Windows partition (usually the second on the drive) to a couple hundred MBs more than the data on the drive. Then try one of these free cloning programs again. If it works, you can go back into SRCD and use GParted again to resize the partition to take up the empty space.

I'm pretty sure the software is simply seeing that the source partitions are larger than the new disk, and won't successfully complete the clone.

Also, I suggest a secure erase on the SSD before trying again. May not make a difference, but it never hurts.

 

[trents]

I use System Rescue CD for all of my data management, except for cloning entire drives (I use EASEUS Todo Backup for that). SRCD has a tool called GParted, which will resize partitions on your drive. I would use that to resize the Windows partition (usually the second on the drive) to a couple hundred MBs more than the data on the drive. Then try one of these free cloning programs again. If it works, you can go back into SRCD and use GParted again to resize the partition to take up the empty space.

I'm pretty sure the software is simply seeing that the source partitions are larger than the new disk, and won't successfully complete the clone.

But he said the cloned disk works fine in a desktop.

Also, I suggest a secure erase on the SSD before trying again. May not make a difference, but it never hurts.

Some cloner software will not complete the operation if there are corrupted system files or bad sectors on the source disk. From an elevated command prompt, run "chkdsk /f /r" and then "sfc /scannow" (without quotes) on the source drive in the laptop. Each of these can take several hours to complete. Then try cloning again. I would also check the SMART drive data with CrystalDiskInfo.

As far as free products go, Macrium Reflect gets my vote. However, I normally use Acronis True Image because it automatically resizes partitions on the target drive.

 

[Janus67]

updated BIOS/etc on the laptop? Just trying to rule everything out at this point.