acronis true image software

[Shemiroth]

Anyone know how to use this program? I am trying to clone my old harddrive to a new SSD but the harddrive and ssd show up greyed out only my little usb memory stick is showing up available.

[Azza ☠]

What brand is your SSD? If it's Samsung, they have their own magic tool to do it for you.

Else, just note with Acronis, you probably can't do it while running Windows itself. Rather you create a bootable Acronis Rescue Media - such as on USB or DVD. Running Acronis on the booting up.

Beforehand uninstall a bunch of stuff on your Windows drive, if required, firstly making sure the size of it will fit on the SSD before actually attempting any clone.

Also note, the new SSD drive needs to be on the SATA cable the old HDD which had the Operating System on, in order to boot from it after the clone.

[Shemiroth]

It is a crucial SSD, I am thinking it won't let me clone because my HDD is dynamic and needs to be basic. So if I create a USB and change the hard drive sata ports it will reinstall all my stuff onto the new SSD?

[Azza ☠]

You are a bit limited there with that software. Acronis True Image can only clone basic disks, both MBR and GPT. Acronis True Image also does not allow to clone a single partition; only cloning of an entire disk is possible.

You would need to convert it:
https://www.disk-partition.com/help/convert-dynamic-disk-to-basic.html

After converting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TxmRQIU20

(It appears the software will restart for you, if you don't have a boot USB)

Honestly however, it maybe better (well cleaner) to create a Windows USB boot and just clean install a new Operating System onto your SSD as a fresh start (removing the old drive temporary, with the SSD on it's SATA cable - then afterwards optionally adding the HDD back in as a 2nd drive, ensuring you have all your data off it and formatting that copy). This will mean you have to update it all again and reinstall from stratch on the SSD, but you won't have to mess with SSD vs HDD sector size changes, partitions, matching the space sizes, etc. Up to you, what you are confortable with and consider the time to take (depending on your current data, emails, licensed software, or whatever else you might have).

If you want to go that option instead:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

(make sure you have a license available however to activate it - depending on what your previous one had, if it was a past version upgraded with digital entitlement or a full retail copy)

[Shemiroth]

Yeah I jsut tried installing fresh, I chose windows 10 s which I think was the wrong one because I was only allowed to install stuff from windows store.

I have a problem because my windows 10 was an upgrade from windows 7 on a previous PC. I then kept that HDD and put it into my newly built computer. Not sure how the license will work when puting it to a new SSD

[Azza ☠]

Windows 10 s (streamlined)? You would be limiting yourself with that.

What version is your Win 7? Home or Professional? OEM or Retail? Still have the license key available and on hand? You can still get Win 10 free, Home or Professional version accordingly...

Use the "Microsoft’s Windows 10 media creation tool" as mentioned/linked in the previous post.

When you’re asked to enter a key, enter the Windows 7 serial key. Head to Settings > Update & Security > Activation and you should see that your PC has a digital license.

This is because previously, you activated that key as digital entitlement on their Microsoft activation server. It will check the hardware is the same (if OEM), but still accept it, due to motherboard and network card hasn't changed, etc.

[Shemiroth]

I bought a second hand pc in 2015, it had windows 7 on it. Later I had an option to upgrade to windows 10. Then I chucked that PC out but kept my HDD with windows on and placed it in my new PC. So it still runs the same.

[Azza ☠]

İlk olarak Shemiroth tarafından gönderildi:

I bought a second hand pc in 2015, it had windows 7 on it. Later I had an option to upgrade to windows 10. Then I chucked that PC out but kept my HDD with windows on and placed it in my new PC. So it still runs the same.

So you don't have the license key on hand then?

If you are still booting from that drive, consider "Magic JellyBean" (free version) to grab your license key(s) first: https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

[Shemiroth]

I've killed my computer. Won't boot anymore

[Azza ☠]

İlk olarak Shemiroth tarafından gönderildi:

I've killed my computer. Won't boot anymore

Stay calm, check the cables (power/data) and boot order under BIOS.