Cannot clone drive to smaller drive

SJMaye said:

Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 2004
Installed on 10/14/2020
OS build 19041.572
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.31.0

I have used Minitool Partition Wizard for several clone jobs. Never had a problem up to now. The thing different is now I am cloning a 500GB drive to a 240GB drive. I have not done that before. I am confident that there is plenty of room on the 240GB drive for the image (checking contents now to be sure).

When I try to clone the drive it states the target drive is too small. When I look at the partitions it shows a huge, full bitlocker partition. I really don't think that partition is full at all. Could that be the problem?

1. Turn off bitlocker first.
2. Use Minitools PW to shrink the C;\ partition down to about 150GB max. (smaller if you can)
2a. Then "move" the 4th partition as far to the left as you can. (right up against the C:\ partition)
3. Then clone ALL four partitions on the 500GB drive to the 240GB drive.

In other words... you have to get Disk1, to look like this, before you try to clone it.





/edit

Here's the plan...

Once Bitlocker is turned OFF, you can right click the C:\ partition and find out how much data is actually ON it.
That will let you know how much you can shrink the C:\ partition.
However much data is ON the C:\ drive, you'll want to add say 50GB to that number. And that's how small you can shrink the C:\ drive.


The "smart" move is to always get a SSD that's "bigger" then the drive you are trying to clone... from.
They are getting really cheap these days.


For example: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (MZ-V7E500BW) - PCPartPicker

Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (MZ-V7E1T0BW) - PCPartPicker

The cheapest 500GB M.2 SSD is $53
Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (CT500P2SSD8) - PCPartPicker

There's also another way to do this...

1. Shrink the C:\ partition down to about 160GB. That will give you ~300GB of unallocated space on Disk1.
2. Then create a new partition from the unallocated space (about 300GB)
3. Then install Macrium Reflect (free) on the C:\ drive. Make the Macrium bootable media. (RE version)
4. Then, make a full image backup of Windows. (this backup will contain all 4 partitions on Disk1)
5. Save the backup on the 300GB partition.
6. Boot from the Macrium bootable media and tell it to "Restore" the backup you just made.... to Disk2.


That's it...all done. Think of it as a "manual clone".


Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free



When making the backup with Macrium Reflect, you will want to choose the option I circled in RED.
This option will make a backup of all four partitions on your Disk1, at the same time.

When you restore the backup to Disk2, you will NEED all four of those partitions.






Ofc your drives will look different than mine, but if you do it this way (instead of cloning), you will need to choose the backup option that I circled in RED.

SJMaye said:

I highlighted every folder on the C:\ drive and looked at properties. Not much there.

Gotta go back to work. Will look at it again in the morning.

Here is a tutorial on how to remove the Windows.old folder...

Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10


You really don't need it anymore. Just follow the directions in the tutorial.