Hi,

I've used DriveImage XML to clone several harddrives but now i'm facing a problem.
I need to clone 12 GB of data from my 80 GB SSD to my 32 GB SSD.
DriveImage won't let me.

How can I clone data from a HDD to a smaller HDD?

Have you looked at the XCOPY command? If you're using XP it's relatively simple, but not so much with later Windows. There are a number of additional flags you need to set to copy all system and hidden files.

If the other drive is a Seagate or Maxtor then you can use this free Seagate tool in Windows : http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/suppor ... discwizard

No I haven't looked at the XCOPY command because I don't know it.
I'm using XP. Please let me know more about this.

DiscWizard won't work if neither of the disks are from Seagate or Maxtor?
The disks are from Intel and Mtron.

I believe DiscWizard is a Seagate rebadge of Acronic TrueImage that you can use for free if you are using it with a Seagate drive. Otherwise it will not work. But you could just buy TrueImage. Note that I do not know for sure if TrueImage will let you clone to a smaller drive, but I am pretty sure I have done this in the past with an older version (2003?) version of Norton Ghost.

Is the disk formatted with the NTFS filesystem?

If so, it is possible to use ntfsclone under Linux to copy the data. However, if it is your Windows partition this is NOT a good idea: Windows internal bookkeeping freaks out if the restored image is on a different size disk. This can be overcome, but then the entire procedure becomes an excercise in pain.

Open a DOS command prompt (DOS window).

Type in help XCOPY

The flags you want are probably
/E
/V
/H
/K
/O

You need to decide exactly which flags you want.

You probably can hook up this drive as something other than the C: drive and format it in XP as you desire. Include copying system files if that's an option. See computer managment/disk management. You will be creating a primary (bootable) partition in any case.

Do Seagate tools really care who made the disk? Just asking.

Well i'm not gonna buy it if i'm not sure.
I'll give DiscWizard a go later.

Yes it's NTFS.
Yes it's my windows partition that needs to be cloned. Cloning the windows partition to a different sized drive hasn't caused my any trouble what so ever.

Well i'm not going to be able to use XCOPY if i'm cloning my windows partition, right?
Could I just hook the HDDs up to another PC and simply copy the entire drive to the other?

Both Western Digital and Seagate have branded versions of Acronis TrueImage. Both Seagate's Disc Wizard and Western Digital's Acronis True Image WD Edition are free downloads. They both validate by checking if you have one of the company's models of disk drive in the system. The qualifying drive does not have to involved in the clone or other operations.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?l ... 04090aRCRD

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp

NOTE: Don't insatall Seagate's Disc Wizard and Western Digital's Acronis True Image WD Edition at the same time. They mess each other up ?!?!? and that is why I will stick with Ghost.

Probably yes. (You're copying the C: partition, not the entire drive. If the drive happens to be only C: then functionally that's the same thing.)

I'm afraid not. Another poster has said it already - this is a free version of Acronis and is set by Seagate only to work with their own drives.
If you want to pay for a copy - Acronis will sell you an upgrade that works with any drive. Have a look at their website.
The Seagate version has to be installed first but it doesn't have to be "working" for the upgrade to work.

"DiscWizard won't work if neither of the disks are from..."

Temporarily install a qualifying drive.
or
Temporarily install your drives on a PC with a qualifying drive.

"an upgrade that works with any drive"

http://www.acronis.com/promo/wd/

http://www.acronis.com/promo/seagate/

Wouldn't it be possible to use DriveImage XML if you resize the partition first?

The program says it can't restore to smaller partition, so by resizing the partition you avoid that problem (and it should be possible anyway since your amount of data is small enough).

Using the computer management console in Windows it should be possible to resize the partition (it's possible in Windows 7, don't know for sure in earlier versions).

Please note that restoring your boot partition can lead to all kinds of "interesting" problems (see e.g. the FAQ of DriveImage XML) with the boot manager and that the partition needs to be primary and boot capable.