Storage Solutions Upgrading laptop HDD to SSD - Need Help!

[Neo-N]

Hi Guys...

I have been using a Lenovo S405 for a while now and decided it was time to upgrade the 500GB HDD to a 256GB SSD (I use less than 100GB disk space including the OS installation at any point). HAve a lot of useless data on my drive (mostly backups for friends) that will be deleted and so 256GB seemed enough.

I got a Samsung 830 series 256GB SSD (OEM one for cheap) and also a USD 2.0 HDD enclosure for the cloning of the drive.

My queries are as below:

1) My lappy came with Windows 8 which got an upgrade to 8.1 and is now on 10. I need to absolutely retain this installation.

2) As I am moving from 500GB to 256GB, what are the cloning precautions I should take? Sorry... Complete noob in this cloning part!

3) I am unsure as to which parts of my existing drive I should clone... On Disk Manager, it shows me multiple hidden partitions. Should I clone all except the data dump partition that does not house the OS?

Have attached a screenshot of the Disk Manager. Any help and guidance is much valuable.

Thanks so much!

 

[nRiTeCh]

Disk Cloning tools will work but main query remains whether the surrounding- Recovery/efi/oem etc. partitions will also be recreated as is on new clones.
Cloning of just C:\ will be pretty easy though.
And this procedure cannot be performed on current live windows it must be done by removing your hdd and attaching it to another pc and then also connect that ssd.

Else if bootable linux os works then cool!!

 

[bssunilreddy]

Use the following Cloning Software:http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html

 

[Neo-N]

Thanks for the replies guys. Got a new laptop with DOS and used the SSD there with a fresh OS install. Works like a charm!

After using various cloning utilities I realised it was better to leave the original installation and use the SSD in another laptop.