[kwlug-disc] Copying a Windows 7 partition to a new disk

[William Park]

On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 01:26:53PM -0400, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> The question is: How does one go about copying the Windows partition
> from the old disk to the new disk, using only Linux, and make sure
> that it is in the grub's boot menu, and functional as before. Doesn't
> Windows refuse (or used to refuse) to work when copied to a new hard
> disk?

1. Move Windows first:

    - If your new SSD came with "migration" utility (like Samsung), then
      use that to migrate Windows.  Leave room for Linux, of course.

    - If not (like Sandisk), then dd the whole disk.  It gets tricky if
      old HDD has hidden "recovery" partition, because Windows won't
      boot without it.  After dd, you now have 2 "identical" disk.  So,
      you have to remove the old HDD.

    - If Windows doesn't boot, then you may have to rebuild MBR using
      Windows install DVD or USB.  You can download free Windows10
      (evaluation version), and use that to fix your booting problem.
      If it's Windows7, then you may be able to upgrade to Windows10 for
      free.  Here, you get the option of 
	- upgrade in-place, or
	- download ISO or make bootable USB -- choose ISO, that way you
	  have a copy.
    
2. Move Linux last:

    - Using Clonezilla or SystemRescueCD, cp the old root and home
      directories to new SSD.  Then, run your bootloader (grub in your
      case).
-- 
William