Cloning Windows

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wove
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Cloning Windows

Post by wove »

My IdeaCentre has a 500GB NVME SSD which came with and still has Windows installed. It also has a second 240GB SATA SSD which at the moment has Pop OS installed. The NVME currently has 450GB free, because I do not do much Windows, while the SATA SSD is 2/3rds full (lots of virtual machines). I would like to swap Linux and Widows around.

I created restore media, which Lenovo says can install the initial configuration to any HD installed in the computer, so I could go that route, but it would be nicer to just clone the current Windows setup to the SATA SSD and then reinstall Linux on the big drive. I so not have any experience doing that. I am familiar with Gnome Disk Utility and GParted, which I think can do cloning, but I have never used them for that. I looked at a couple disk cloning packages you finds on the internet, but they all wanted me to buy them if they are to be used to put a bigger HD on an smaller HD. Any suggestions on the fastest slickest way to get this done would be appreciated.
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crosscourt
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Re: Cloning Windows

Post by crosscourt »

I use Minitool Shadowmaker free and it works very well. The site is www.minitool.com . Slide down the page till you see Shadowmaker, then click and see what you think. It works fine going from a larger HD to a smaller HD assuming the total data amount isnt larger than the smaller drive.
After installing, click on tools then clone drives and youre off an running.
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wove
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Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

Re: Cloning Windows

Post by wove »

Thanks for the pointer. It worked great. I moved the Windows install to the 250GB SATA SSD and installed reinstalled PopOS on the 500GB NVME SSD. I restored home folder from my backup and everything is running well, thanks again.
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crosscourt
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Re: Cloning Windows

Post by crosscourt »

Its a great app that Ive been using with clients for quite awhile. Glad it worked out.
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