Clone HD to smaller SSD for Linux

[Daikini]

Hi Folks,

I recently bought a 64GB Kingston SSD + migration kit. It came with Acronis cloning software, and an external enclosure with USB cable.

What an ordeal it's been to get it moved over! I read article after article about shrinking my HDD (80GB) to fit on the new SSD (64GB).

I kept hitting roadblocks, so I'm going to explain how I accomplished what I wanted with the hope it benefits someone here.

First, and most importantly, the space I was using on the HDD was less than the 64GB capacity of the new SSD.

If you're looking for instructions on how to shrink your HDD to move it to a smaller drive, I'm sorry I can't help.

What I ended up doing was booting into PartedMagic's Live CD. You'll need to read up on burning iso's (Brasero can do this with ease) after downloading PartedMagic http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=downloads.

From there, I opened GParted with the HDD in the external enclosure, connected via the USB cable (that I wanted to clone FROM) and the SSD took the place of the HDD inside my notebook.

GParted allowed me to see the used space on the HDD (Be sure you select the correct drive; ie sda/sdb/sda1/etc). By clicking on the partition with the OS (LM 10 Julia).

I then simply dragged the slider bars to only envelope the used space on the HDD.

From there, apply the changes after double and triple-checking your selections.

After completing this one step, I was able to use Acronis' wizard, which came with the SSD, to clone the HDD to my new BLAZING FAST SSD!

(Can you tell I'm excited?)

it worked like a charm, but only after way too much reading that lead me nowhere.

So, resize the partition to less than the destination drive if you can. It makes cloning drives SO much simpler.

Good luck!

[goinglinux]

Nice overview Daikini.

An alternative would be to use something like CloneZilla Live. You will need an extra external drive for this, but it eliminates the need to resize partitions. CloneZilla makes a compressed backup of your larger drive onto the external drive. If you "restore" the backup to the SSD drive, Clonezilla will deposit the "image" onto the smaller drive without complaint. (Bonus: You have made a backup of your system as part of this process!)

For details on using the CloneZilla Live CD, you can go to this article I wrote about CloneZilla: http://goinglinux.com/articles/ClonezillaLive.html

[Daikini]

Thanks goinglinux,

I'll have to check that out. I read about Clonezilla, but there were several folks who didn't like it in the reading I did.

But, that'll teach me to try it then decide!

Take care!

[YeahMan]

Sorry to semi-gravedig... but this thread is showing with google-searches.

Clonezilla is NOT a solution. Sorry to say, but it's too limited. The web's FULL of people talking about many linux progs, and even some paid windows ones... but what's semi-impossible is finding many people who have ACTUALLY done it! Start to finish, and giving the full details (ie: Not painting a pretty picture, when it's actually harder).

1: SSDs are smaller, and most software stops the minute it sees that. Clonezilla being one of them. So, need another prog to first resize the main partition.
2: Win7 installs involve multiple partitions (not to mention restore partitions, on Dell/HP etc.), so you can't just copy-across a partition
3: Many progs STILL aren't all in one. So messing-around sucks, but pick-your-poison.
4: Alignment. You might get it all on there, and MAYBE with one program, but they usually won't align. PartedMagic seems to be THE complete solution

So-far, I'm finding the quickest free & working solution involves double-handling. PartedMagic is the key. For those who don't know (and linux noobs like myself)... It's not a program, but a collection of them. But you can't just do what you want straight-up. You need to shrink the main partition with Partition Editor (that's what they call it). Then with Clonezilla, create an image of the DISK (not partition/s) on a USB external drive (which only needs space for the bits/bytes that contain data). Then restore to the SSD, and resize (extend) the partition to full size (prob just do with Win7 built-in).

The only sure-fire, no messing-about, guaranteed solution involves buying & installing software. Even then, trying to find the right one is "fun", and they keep changing (getting better, thankfully). Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite 2011 is the only one I've found that's complete, turn-key. No extra modules & money, like Acronis (who I've used a LOT before SSDs). Standard price of $50, not sure about coupons etc. but it's the whole shooting match. If you want to cut corners, you can buy just the "Migrate OS To SSD" util on its own (almost impossible to find this link!), but it's still just one piece of the puzzle.
http://www.paragon-software.com/technol ... OS-to-SSD/

So... we're still stuck between linux & paid software. I'd pay for working linux "Live" solution! No installs, No need for all the hardware movements & multiple machines.

[itsme4401]

I fully agree with Yeaman but I would take an additinal precaution before doing this:

You need to shrink the main partition with Partition Editor (that's what they call it). Then with Clonezilla,

and so on.

At first make an image of the HD you are going to "torture" this way; might something go wrong, you can "happily" start over again.

[Kumna-Tar]

I had got a similar issue:
I wanted to clone my 500 Gb HDD to a 256 SSD.

I used Foxclone, which I had read about in other searches in internet. The same live USB of Foxclone can be used to get a Linux partition smaller than the SSD, using GParted (part of the Foxclone live USB).
Then I used Foxclone to clone the disk and everything was done perfectly without any problem, Now I have the same Linux in the SSD instead of the HDD.

I would recommend the use of Foxclone.

Regards.

[AndyMH]

I would recommend the use of Foxclone.

Thank you

Cloning from a larger drive to a smaller drive is a non-trivial issue, I am looking at how the next version of foxclone might do this.