I've just tested Macrium Reflect Free (so I could compare
to my experience with the Easeus Partition Master Home Edition tool).
I redid my test setup. I put a "Data" partition on the disk, before
installing Windows 7, to offset the partitions as a test for the
tool chain. After installing Windows 7, I used the "shrink" function
in Windows 7, pretending I was shrinking the partition so it would fit
on my new SSD.
Source disk:
+-----------+------------------+---------+----------------------------------+
| Data D: | System Reserved | Win7 C: | Unallocated (after shrinking C
|
+-----------+------------------+---------+----------------------------------+
Whether I select the convenient "back up stuff related to the OS" option
in Macrium, or, I back up System Reserved + Win7 C:, the results are the same.
1) Files backed up successfully.
2) MBR seems to be preserved. Boot code is present. (Destination
disk was zeroed before usage.) Boot flag set on SR, so it would boot.
What I'd hoped for as a result, was this:
(partition 1) (partition 2)
+------------------+---------+
| System Reserved | Win7 C: |
+------------------+---------+
The actual destination disk looks like this.
(partition 2) (partition 3)
+-----------+------------------+---------+----------------------------------+
| unalloc. | System Reserved | Win7 C: | unalloc. |
+-----------+------------------+---------+----------------------------------+
By keeping the partition slot numbers (the old Powerquest Partition Magic
trick), the BCD doesn't need to be corrected (the equivalent of boot.ini).
Which means, the destination disk did boot correctly, when booted by itself
(as if I was "testing my new SSD").
The alignment seems to have been preserved. I suppose everything was
preserved in fact (as the product name is "Reflect" after all
).
So this one rates a "works better than Easeus Partition Master Home Edition",
but it still isn't perfect, in that it didn't attempt to produce my
"ideal result", like this.
(partition 1) (partition 2)
+------------------+---------+
| System Reserved | Win7 C: |
+------------------+---------+
To use Macrium with the SSD, you might benefit from:
1) Back up source disk before messing with it, to a completely
separate backup disk. On windows 7, the System Image could do this.
After all of this is over, you could insert the original hard
drive, and put everything back on it, as it was before step (2).
This step is also useful, if the whole procedure goes into the toilet on you.
2) Delete recovery partition. Shift SR and C: to the left. Shrink C:
to remove excess space. Make sure the size of SR and C: is small
enough to fit on the SSD:. (Easeus could do that perhaps.)
3) Fire up Macrium. Burn the Linux recovery CD it comes with (15MB or so).
Test that the Linux recovery CD boots, and presents you with a
recovery menu. The Linux disc doesn't handle RAID arrays (or, so it
claims). Using the Linux recovery disc, requires no knowledge of
Linux. The CD boots right into the Macrium GUI, and all the good
stuff happens in there. When you quit the Macrium GUI, the CD will
prompt for a reboot (no escaping to Linux).
4) With your restoration path tested in (3), now it's time to do the backup.
Backup SR and C: to a new external backup drive (separate from 1 for safety).
5) Remove the internal hard drive, install the blank SSD.
6) Boot Macrium Linux recovery CD. Enter the menu. Select the backup
image sitting on your external drive. Restore.
7) Resulting SSD partition table is slightly screwy.
Partition1 <empty> [the old Recovery Partition used to live here...]
Partition2 Copy of System Reserved (100MB), boot flag set.
Partition3 Copy of C:
Partition4 <empty>
To correct that, would require a tool such as BCDedit or EasyBCD,
correct the BCD contents for a boot from partition 1, then use
PTEDIT32.exe (Run As Administrator) to move the partition definitions
down one notch. Then, the setup would be logically consistent.
You don't have to do step 7. If you choose not to do (7), then
at some future date, adding two more partitions would result in the
partition table looking like this (out of spatial order). This is
only potentially dangerous, if you use a partition management tool,
and don't keep this "state of disorder" in mind.
Partition1 (future third partition)
Partition2 Copy of System Reserved (100MB), boot flag set.
Partition3 Copy of C:
Partition4 (future fourth partition)
Since the SSD is so small, I doubt the need for additional
partitions would exist, and leaving it like this would
likely be fine for the life of the SSD.
Partition1
Partition2 Copy of System Reserved (100MB), boot flag set.
Partition3 Copy of C:
Partition4
Still looking for a "perfect" solution
But this is close enough
for me to stop testing now. I could live with the slight mess.
Many things are alright about the setup.
HTH,
Paul
