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46151
August 19th, 2014 05:00
XPS 8700 swapping HDD for SSD
Just received brand new XPS 8700 and wanted to immediately swap the factory installed 1 TB HDD for a new Samsung 256 GB SSD. Since Dell did not provide a Windows a backup DVD, I removed the HDD and I tried to clone it to SSD using another computer running under Windows 8. However, neither Samsung SSD software nor EASEUS Todo Backup Free would allow me to clone the whole HDD, as the SSD is smaller.
EASEUS has the option of shrinking a selected partition so I could try to clone only the main system partition which is 940 GB but contains only 40 GB of data, mainly Windows, drivers, and other software, but I am afraid that if I don't clone other partitions, including the Recovery ones, I won't be able to recover the system in future.
Dell technician told me to use an OEM Windows 8 disk for clean install on SSD but I don't have one, and am afraid may lose whatever Dell installed on the HDD.
Should I continue cloning attempts using other software that allows shrinking partitions if they don;t contain data - which one? Or boot XPS from HDD as it is, then make a system backup/image disk, then restore it to SSD?
Help will be much appreciated!
osprey4
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August 22nd, 2014 17:00
The Dell Recovery partition cannot be easily removed without rendering the system unbootable, so my suggestion would be to leave them alone.
osprey4
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34.2K Posts
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August 19th, 2014 17:00
Hi Rycho123,
Please refer to the Windows installation guide I've linked to below for instructions, including information on downloading an ISO of the installation media.
rycho123
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August 20th, 2014 05:00
Osprey4, many thanks for your reply and these useful links, especially for the Windows installation guides containing a wealth of information regarding Dell's products and software (this is my first Dell product).
In the meantime I think I solved my problem by using another cloning program, DriveClone from Farstone Technology (a trial version). It allowed me to clone the entire factory-installed 1 TB HDD into the 256 GB Samsung SSD by simultaneously shrinking the 940 GB system partition (to 100 GB). When I inserted the Samsung into the XPS 8700, the system booted and started installing (I didn't have time to proceed but will see today).
I am only not sure about Dell's Recovery partitions. They were cloned fully, but elsewhere on this website I have read that they are encrypted so cannot be cloned. Is this right? If it is, I will remove them and make the SSD just one system partition.
rycho123
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August 25th, 2014 02:00
Osprey4, thanks. Yes, you are rigt. The system booted from the cloned disk, Windows got configured, and everything is working perfectly, but Dell's Recovery partitions in fact seem to be encrypted and cannot be cloned. When I tried to use the Restore function, the system said the restore partitions are damaged. So I will keep the SSD as the system disk, while using Dell's original 1 TB HDD as secondary data storage. So in case something goes wrong, hopefully I will be able to restore the system from it.
Cheers!