Can I copy OS drive on HDD over to SSD in same laptop?

Windows version 1909.

What happened was... I bought an ex-display "never used" 17" Acer laptop to use for recording video only. It claimed to have a 256GB SSD and 1TB 5400RPM HDD.

After troubleshooting for weeks wondering why it was so slow, I have just** twigged that they've installed the Operating System on the 5400RPM HDD. Drive C (OS) = 1TB HDD and Drive D (data) = 120GB-only SSD.

I have software with quite restrictive licences on the C-drive so I don't want to reinstall Windows (which I'd already done during troubleshooting), so I wonder if I can copy drive C onto drive D - I don't mind losing the data on currently on drive D.

Or... how would you go about fixing this laptop if you were not very mobile or in the best of health? I can't send it back, due to various circumstances.

**Just... because it's a "satellite" laptop, like an external hard drive, and lugging a 17-incher onto my lap is cumbersome & heavy so I examine it at arm's length with squinty eyes, mostly... and it never occurred to me that anyone would install an OS on a 5400rpm HDD these days, especially when an SSD is installed. I tested "health" and then reinstalled Windows at the suggestion of the vendor.

You can "copy" aka clone.

Or you can make an image file of the HDD and restore that image to the SSD. Not a clone per se, but leads to the same conclusion.

Most would recommend using an image file, rather than a clone/copy.

Both methods contingent on how many GB you are currently using on the HDD. If you are using say 400 GB on the HDD, that obviously would not fit on a 256 GB SSD.

You say you don't care about the data on the HDD, which likely means you could delete all of it if necessary, to ensure that the remaining stuff is small enough to fit on the 256 GB SSD. May not even be necessary to delete, depending on current size.

Standard software recommendation to do the job: Macrium Reflect Free Edition

Ztruker said:

Depends, how full is the HDD? Post a screen capture of Disk Management.

See this tutorial: Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of

Make sure you expand the fields as shown so all data can be seen.

I only have screenshots I took this morning, I hope they show there's no problem re capacity, as I've had a dreadful time trying to do screenshots on it without my usual app, which I can't install now because there's work going on.

The current C has only about 44 GB occupied, so you shouldn't have capacity issues.

I'd just make an image file of ALL partitions on the HDD and then restore that image file to the SSD.

Do you have an external drive that has at least say 30 GB capacity? You need somewhere to store the image file.

If you DON'T have an external, I think you could shrink C, and make an E partition of say 100 GB. Store the image file on E and then restore from E to the SSD.

But the simpler method would be to use an external to store the image file. It shouldn't be larger than 25 or 30 GB.

Use Macrium. You could try cloning instead. It might work, but you need to prepare for it to fail. Use imaging if the cloning fails or just go directly to imaging rather than the clone.

Whatever is now on the SSD would be lost unless you have it backed up somewhere.

Tutorials on this site.

Thank you for all that, Ignatzatsonic :) Macrium sounds like the way to go. Pity I can't just copy 'n paste

Would I need to go into BIOS and change the boot order?

I shall let you know how I get on but probably won't tackle it for a while, due to "circs".

clemenzina said:

Would I need to go into BIOS and change the boot order?

No.......you can just use an F key to bring up a boot menu if and as necessary.

General order of operations, briefly:

Install Macrium to C

Immediately use Macrium menus to make "rescue media" on a small USB flash drive so that you can boot from it in an emergency if your HDD drops dead.

Confirm that stick will in fact boot your PC.

Use Macrium menus to make a single image file containing ALL partitions on the HDD. This would include your data if you have data on the HDD. Macrium works on a partition by partition basis, so you need to confirm ALL partitions are selected---which is the default. Just use Macrium defaults and make a "full" image. It will have an mrimg extension.

Save that image file to the external.

Reboot. You could reboot to the HDD or from the rescue media you just made. Either will lead you to the standard Macrium interface.

Look for the "restore" menu and navigate to your mrimg file and select the SSD as the restore destination and reboot when it's complete. You should then be running from the SSD and can do as you wish with the HDD.

The whole deal should take no more than an hour.

Success rate 99 percent plus. Be prepared for failure.

Thank you for all that, Ignatzatsonic :) Macrium sounds like the way to go. Pity I can't just copy 'n paste

Cloning should be straightforward. Macrium might not be the best tool for that.

With Macrium I don't ever remember having a problem restoring a image to a drive. I've had problems trying to clone a drive. I'm not sure why. I just know they wouldn't boot.