Replacing laptop SSD with higher capacity one

Computers & Tech
1

My Windows laptop came with a 512GB SSD. I’ve bought a 1TB replacement and plan to fit it soon.

I’ve done this before, but I can’t remember which software I used to clone the original SSD and repartition the new one to make the extra space usable. Pretty sure it would have been a free app of some sort (I’m a tightarse, and don’t have cause to use this type of software very often).

The plan is to clone the existing SSD to the new one and add the extra capacity to the main partition. Can anyone recommend a free (or inexpensive) programme to achieve this?

With hindsight, I seem to remember using two different apps (one for cloning, one for messing with the partitions).

Cheers

2

I’ve recently done the same thing. For cloning you need Macrium Free.

For partitions you need Mini Tool Partition Wizard.

Step by step guide to the process.

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3

Great. Thanks very much.

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Just curiosity on my part, but can anyone give me an idea of the roles of the various partitions? I know what (C) is for, but how about the others?

5

The FAT32 bit is used for boot bits and bobs that need an easily found and simple to understand bag of stuff.

The next small bit is probably just an area that can’t be allocated elsewhere, and the NTFS (C:) is your stuff.

A very long time ago I used to do this stuff on the ancestor operating system, VMS to WNT (IBM, HAL 9000, sigh, geeks and their clever jokes).

6

Thanks.

What struck me last time I did this, was that the original disc wasn’t accurately ‘cloned’ in the sense that not all of the smaller partitions ended up the same as the original ones. It seemed odd to me.

7

When I did this with the Macrium free software all of the cloned partitions were identical to the originals.

8

OK, that sounds promising.

9

Cloning is underway and will take a fucking long time.

Currently at 9% and I’ve watched it unblinkingly from the beginning.

I really need to get myself tested.

10

OK, cloning complete and extra space allocated to the main section of the drive.

One further question: The original drive is (C), the new one is (D). If I remove the original C drive and replace it with the D drive, will my laptop struggle to boot up?

I can’t rename the new drive as C because there’s already a C drive.

I remember having this issue before, but I’ve no idea how I solved it.

This is what I see:

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11

All sorted. Booting up the laptop with the new drive in it resulted in it being automatically renamed from D to C.

Seems to be working fine.

Thanks to hermit for the advice. Will be keeping that free software for future use.

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