Mirroring the OS partition

I have windows 7 installed on a 60gig SSD drive.

I have a new, 1TB drive, empty.

I want to mirror the OS drive so that I can boot from the 1TB drive instead in case the 60gig drive dies.

When I right-click on the 1tb volume in Disk Management and chose "New Mirrored Volume", the OS drive isn't among the options I can chose.

When I right-click on either of the OS drive's two partitions (the 100MB NTFS System Reserved volume, or the 59 gig C partition), and chose "Add Mirror", I get:

"The operation you selected will convert the selected basic disk(s) to dynamic disk(s).
If you convert the disk(s) to dynamic, you will not be able to start installed operating systems from any volume on the disk(s) (except the current boot volume). Are you sure you want to continue?"

I don't understand what that means. If I do that, does that mean I won't be able to boot from either drive?

(Also, fyi, I've tried using both MBR and GUID on the 1tb drive, and get the same warning.)

thanks

Hi Rotwang! Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums website! (Interesting user name you have there... LOL! )

Download the free version of Partition Wizard, it will allow you to do this with no problems.

There is a feature on it called:

Copy Disk Wizard: Copy the entire hard disk to another without having to reinstall Windows.

Go to this link to download Partition Wizard Free: http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html

I recommend downloading both the software and the bootable CD Image. Be sure to read and understand everything be attempting your transfer. If you click the "Copy Disk Wizard" link above, it will show you a short tutorial on how to do it.

Keep us posted on how it worked for you!
~Nibs

The name Rotwang is from a 1929 silent film, Metropolis, here is the Rotwang introduction scene:


I'll try your suggestion of Partition Wizard. But, as I understand it, that only copies the OS partition instead of mirroring it, right? I'd rather mirror, so that the OS on the 1TB drive is always up to date and identical to the ssd drive. In case of a crash, I would be able to just switch effortlessly. Can Partition Wizard mirror instead?

Well, that was a total faiilure. I downloaded it, did the Copy Disk Wizard, and after it copied, I restarted to the 1TB disk (changed the bios).

My black screen said "j" with that flashing cursor next to it. That's it. just "j".

As if that wasn't bad enough, when I tried booting back into the SSD drive, windows couldn't start. I had though this process wouldn't modify my C: drive at all (it's just coping it), but apparently it did, so I had to have win7 go back to a restore point to get this running again.

Partition Wizard sucks.

Love Fritz Lang's Metropolis! One of the 100 Best All-Time Movies ever made!

Sorry I didn't get the connection...

So you're wanting to make an image or a clone of you're existing hard drive to another? Have you tried a disk imaging program such as Macrium Reflect Free or Acronis True Image Home?

Or try this one: EASEUS Todo Backup (this is free too).

Go here to download a copy: http://www.todo-backup.com/download/




Also Acronis True Image is a very good program for this purpose.