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I've a Windows 7 / Linux dual boot on a 512GB SSD (such an awkward size). The SSD was an upgrade from my HP Probook 4720's 500GB HD. When doing the upgrade I was cloning from a smaller drive to a larger drive so there was no issues. Also, I only set up the dual boot after changing hard drives.

I'm now looking to backup the 512GB SSD to a 500GB HD but am having a nightmare. The partitions on the SSD only total 477GB as per this image:

here

I've been trying to clone it using clonezilla. I thought a clone would just copy the existing partitions but it appears it also copies everything outside these partitions. My first attempt last night failed immediatley saying the target disk was too small. I then changed a few settings (think it was apportion based on target size) and the clone began but after 2 hours it said it failed to complete as it ran out of room.

I'm now looking into copying partition by partition which I think means I'll have to create the partitions on the external drive manually first? Is this the way to do it or is there an easier method?

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  • I would usually use gparted from a linux livecd for operations like these. Just make sure the starting sector for the first partition remains the same after the copy and make sure the flags are set correctly, namely the boot flag.
    – Damon
    Jan 6, 2016 at 22:21
  • Use GParted to do what exactly?
    – Al D
    Jan 6, 2016 at 22:26
  • Clone your partitions.
    – Damon
    Jan 6, 2016 at 22:28
  • Didn't know you could use it to clone. I may be in over my head as I don't know what flags are or how to ensure they are set correctly
    – Al D
    Jan 6, 2016 at 22:41
  • Its more daunting in words. From my understanding, you can undo anything if you do it wrong as long as you do not do anything to the original data. If you "clone" a partition and it does not work upon testing, just delete it and try again. Just keep the original data until all has been tested on the cloned drive. Might be harder to download the CD image make a bootable CD than clone the partition. Gparted is pretty easy to use with lots of support out there. And its free! Again, if you have an issue with, it usually is the starting sectors do not match.
    – Damon
    Jan 6, 2016 at 22:46

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