Migrating one partition to SSD in a way that allows booting?

Question

I've got a Windows Installation, with a partition table that looks like this:

 Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     D                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     E                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 2         Recovery     NTFS   Partition    300 MB  Healthy
  Volume 3     C                NTFS   Partition     51 GB  Healthy    Boot
  Volume 4     H                NTFS   Partition   2742 GB  Healthy    Pagefile
  Volume 5                      NTFS   Partition    450 MB  Healthy
  Volume 6                      FAT32  Partition     99 MB  Healthy    System

I'd like to migrate Windows to a SSD, but the trick is that H: contains all of my files, so I only need to migrate the 50GB C:.

I've tried copying C: to the partition using GParted on an Ubuntu Live CD, and while the files copy just fine, I can't boot from the drive.

I can't clone the whole drive, since it's 3TB and the SSD is only 240GB. So, how can I clone just the Windows partition in a way that preserves the Windows Boot Manager, MBR, etc.

Answer 1

I only need to migrate the 50GB C:

Wrong

Windows needs the smaller partitions.

You can use gparted

Make a bootable CD/DVD/USB

Make the SSD a GPT type not MBR since you have UEFI

You need to copy 2,3,5,6

After booting gparted, and initializing the SSD with GPT

Select the original HDD 1st partition 300MB, right click and copy. Select the SSD and paste.

Repeat for volume 3

Resize volume 3 so there is approx 700mb of free space at the end of the SSD

Repeat for volume 5 and 6, except do not resize them.

Click Apply Wait.......................

On the HDD right click each partition and see what flags are set and duplicate those on the SSD.

shutdown PC

Disconnect the HDD temporarily and verify it boots from the SSD.

Answer 2

Now that you have the SSD with the C: drive copied to it you need to boot from your Windows installation media and perform a startup repair. This will fix the EUFI and MBR to make the drive bootable.

1. Start your device using a USB bootable media.
2. Click Next.
3. Click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-right corner.
4. Click the Troubleshoot button.
5. Click the Advanced options button.
6. Click the Startup Repair button.

For more information see: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-startup-repair-fix-boot-problems-windows-10