Solved Copy hard drive to a larger hard drive


junieman

Active member
Local time
9:02 AM
Posts
32
OS
windows 11 pro
I have a new dell laptop with a 256 GB hard drive and I would like to copy it to a 1 tb hard drive.
Do I have to copy the recovery partitions when I copy the "C" drive or only copy the "C" partition over?
My system came with Windows 10 and I upgraded it to Windows 11 when I received it.
Also, the Hard drive that I am coping it to contains 4 recovery partitions.
Is there any way to delete these partitions and combine the "Z" partition with the "G" partition?
And the same question combining the blank partition with the "G" partition.
I would like to use the "G" drive or do I have to just get a new blank hard drive?
I am enclosing a picture of the 2 drives from the disk management.
 

Attachments

  • DELL HARD DRIVES.png
    DELL HARD DRIVES.png
    8.6 KB · Views: 3

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 11 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    dell
    CPU
    intel core i7-11700f
    Memory
    12 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3
    Hard Drives
    256
    Keyboard
    wireless
    Mouse
    wireless
    Internet Speed
    50 mb
Its safest to clone the disk and copy all paritions one is a boot and other are recovery one is likley an OEM one
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 10
I have a new dell laptop with a 256 GB hard drive and I would like to copy it to a 1 tb hard drive.
A point of clarification for me, is the 256GB drive actually an SSD/Solid State Drive? My Notebook of Oct. has an M.2 NVMe SSD and my Desktop of yesterday has a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD. Your 1TB is most likely an HDD/Hard Disk SATA Drive but could be an SSD SATA drive.

If I correctly understand what you want to do I'd wipe the 1TB drive of all partitions then create one to use for storage, actually going to do that this evening with my Desktop using a spare HDD.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
First point to understand, you cannot 'copy' partitions and it boot. You can clone one drive to another or you can backup one drive and restore the backup to another.

There are too many unknowns here that you need to clarify. I agree with @Berton. I am fairly certain the disk 1 boot drive is a ssd.
I am guessing disk 3 is a hdd. Is it your intent to make the disk 3 your boot drive? If so, you would be shooting yourself in the foot as a hdd is much, much slower than a ssd. Your OS should be on the SSD.

On disk 1, the 17.35 gb partition is probably the Dell recovery partition which you no longer need, but even if you delete it, that space is unusable until the other partitions on drive 1 are rearranged to be able in include that space as part of C:. This can be done using Minitool Partition Wizard if one understands partitioning rules. Without seeing a full screenshot of disk management, I am surmising the partition following that Dell partition is also a Dell partition that is not needed.

IMO the partition scheme on disk 3 is really messed up for a storage drive. Did it come that way from Dell or is that an old hdd you installed as a storage drive without repartitioning it? A storage drive does not use recovery partitions.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3296
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
To find out which exact drives you have check in Device Manager, also click on "Populate". That would be my first option.
Disk3 ((what happened to Disk 2 ?) was obviously used as BOOT /OS disk and if not used for that it has tons of unused space. One way to reclaim would be to delete all partition without a letter and merge that space with lettered partitions in front of them. Doing that would keep all data in lettered partitions.
Best way would be to backup data from Z and G partitions (if any), delete all partitions and make own partition(s) as required.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 and Insider Dev.+ Linux Mint
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home brewed
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 7900x
    Motherboard
    ASROCK b650 PRO RS
    Memory
    2x8GB Kingston 6000MHz, Cl 32 @ 6200MHz Cl30
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Rx 6600XT Gaming OC 8G Pro
    Sound Card
    MB, Realtek Ac1220p
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x 27"
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    Kingston KC3000. 1TBSamsung 970 evo Plus 500GB, Crucial P1 NVMe 1TB, Lexar NVMe 2 TB, Silicon Power M.2 SATA 500GB
    PSU
    Seasonic 750W
    Case
    Custom Raidmax
    Cooling
    Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360mm
    Internet Speed
    20/19 mbps
First point to understand, you cannot 'copy' partitions and it boot. You can clone one drive to another or you can backup one drive and restore the backup to another.
It is a common held misconception that you can only clone a full drive. All cloning is really is copying partitions.
With Macrium Reflect, you can clone individual partition.

In fact, you only need to clone the efi partition and the main c drive.

Regarding multiple recovery partitions, the easiest thing to do is to run (from admin command prompt)

reagentc /disable

which moves winre.wim to a folder on C drive. Then after cloning run

reagentc /enable.

However, your key point about larger drive being a mess applies.

So you can wipe all partitions not needed on large drive, and keep one you need AND clone OS to it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
I assume both disks are "Internal" drives or if not the old one will be replaced by the new one.

Macrium when copying a disk gives you the option of resizing partitions on to the larger disk -- simply after wiping the "big" disk just copy the Disk in Macrium and make the target Windows partition "usually the C partition on the source disk"the size you want". Then change in the BIOS the boot drive if the computer has more than 1 internal drive. In macrium drag the partitions from the old HDD to empty space on the new one and adjust slider to the amount you want. You can also choose "Fill" where Macrium will resize to the end of available space.

Afterwards (if both drives internal in the machine) use the old drive or data or whatever -- simply in command mode (elevated) use diskpart to clean and re-initialize the old disk.

If external get a SATA->USB adapter and use the old disk for backups, external storage or whatever.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
I deleted all the partitions and now I only have one partition like I wanted.
I Cloned the "C" drive on the new drive.
Everything works great.
Thanks to everybody for the help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 11 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    dell
    CPU
    intel core i7-11700f
    Memory
    12 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3
    Hard Drives
    256
    Keyboard
    wireless
    Mouse
    wireless
    Internet Speed
    50 mb
Back
Top Bottom