HDD to SSD clone question

This is a fairly simple question. I've read a lot of discussion threads on the topic but the answers are either vague or impossibly difficult (at least for me) to implement.

 

Q: Is it possible to clone a large (e.g. 1 TB HDD) onto a smaller (i.e 128 GB Corsair) SSD? Ideally, using Corsair or some other free software since, like most, I am not made of money.

 

Obviously, the source HDD data area must be less than the target. In this case, my XP Pro installation is in the ~12 GB range.

 

Seems to me that if the answer is no, there is a significant missed sales opportunity since there are a lot of PCs out there running large hard drives. The cost of cloning to comparably sized SSDs would be prohibitive for most users.

 

I tried doing a Microsoft restore onto a smaller (60 GB) HDD as a test. However, the target drive turned out to be not bootable. None of the repair tools I know about fixed this.

 

Tried doing a clean XP Pro install and then restoring the desired source backup on top of it.... XP wouldn't start. Fooled with it in safe mode for a while but couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong. Obviously, the target has different hardware..

 

I'm building a new quad core PC and want to migrate my XP Pro environment over from a 10 year old Pentium PC. I can obviously (and easily) clone the old 500 GB HDD onto a new 1 TB HDD and be up and running in a flash. But I'd really like to run the OS on a Corsair SSD to take advantage of the speed boost.

 

Just not sure if the SSD software tools are mature enough to perform what ought to be a simple operation. I see that the recently released toolbox has a clone feature (not yet implemented) but according to the documentation, it will only clone to a target that is equal to or bigger than the source drive.

 

Any help would be appreciated. And if this can be done, I'd suggest updating the sticky FAQ. Many thanks in advance!

just download a trial version of acronis. it does make you fill out an email contact form. I did this last month and as long as you clone it within the 15 day trial you will be fine. after the clone is done be sure to uninstall acronis from your new drive. There are other free alternatives but they can be finicky and the learning curve can be high.

Yes, it's very easily done with the right software. Our SSD HDD Cloning Kit does it perfectly.

Thanks for the information. I did look at Acronis but everything I saw on their web site were products that clone to equal or larger targets.

 

Which (home/home office) download will clone or migrate my current ~15 GB environment that lives on a single partition 500 GB HDD onto a bootable 60 GB HDD?

 

Many thanks in advance.

The link you sent states:

 

This kit makes it easy to upgrade your hard drive or solid-state drive to a larger drive.

 

As I clearly stated in my question, I want to clone to a SMALLER drive.

Ok. I just did a test with "acronis migrate easy demo". I copied a 500gb hd to a 240gb ssd. Any questions email me

If you dont got it: http://www.Acronis.com

 

Produkt: True Image 2013

You can clone to a smaller drive with our SSD HDD Cloning kit.

you can also use ezgig4 but the target drive needs to be connected externally.