My old computer comes with a feature where I can factory restore reset it BY PRESSING ALT+f10 like new again with the preloaded bloat ware and factory drives and programs, I just bought a SSD to replace the HDD can I clone the hidden factory reset software to the SSD soo when I press alt+f10 my new SSD will function like my old HDD ?
Moving factory reset recovery software from HDD to SSD
23 on 15/07/2015 - 01:23
Last edited 15/07/2015 - 01:24
Last edited 15/07/2015 - 01:24
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Assuming your SSD is equal to or greater than your HDD you should be able to restore a clone without difficulty including the 'hidden partition' If you cloned the whole HDD.
Try Macrium Reflect free version, you boot into it and it should pick up all your partitions. Clone them all in one hit by saving it externally, USB HDD or network, then fit your SSD > see that the bios picks up and all is well> boot back into Macrium and restore the clone. This whole process can take several hours.
If all went well it should all boot up fine then to satisfy your factory reset do it as a test. If you don't want to keep the factory reset just restore the clone again.
Make sure you read the Macrium manual or other cloner you use for there maybe quirks going between HDD to SDD.
Yep, I've actually done his myself. I've cloned the recovery partition to an SSD using Macrium Reflect free, then booted the recovery partition to restore the laptop to factory. Works well.
How would I go about cloning it when my laptop only takes 1 HDD or SSD at a time? Will it fit on a cd I doubt it?
You'll need an external enclosure or usb to sata adapter to do this then.
Thanks, thats informative. can you please clarify this as well?
Assuming your SSD is equal to or greater than your HDD
size of HDD or just C: drive?
Just be aware I HAVE actively cloned a larger hard disk onto a smaller one using Macrium so it IS possible. Macrium does re-map data onto other sectors as required. HOWEVER the DATA size must be less (substantially less) than the smaller drive. Defragmenting before cloning often seems to help also.
You should be able to shrink the partition to get rid of free space inside of windows before you do it then to make it simpler.
'Assuming your SSD is equal to or greater than your HDD'
It means that your new HDD or SSD has to be the same GB size or bigger, For example: If you cloned a 120GB HDD and you want to restore it onto a 120GB HDD or bigger HDD that's fine. However, if you wanted to restore it to a say 80GB HDD then no. Though, in reference to Ramrunner, 'I've cloned the recovery partition to an SSD using Macrium Reflect free, then booted the recovery partition to restore the laptop to factory. Works well.' I don't know if you can just restore the recovery partition then do a factory restore from there. It sounds logical though I don't know if it will work. Try it.
Unless you can clone directly to your ssd using an adaptor you will have to store the cloned image elsewhere. The image can be equal to or less than the HDD or partition depending on compression.
Possible options, all these and more options can be googled:
1 - clone directly to ssd using adaptor then if it worked replace the HDD with the ssd and see if it boots.
2 - clone (store image) to a seperate 3rd drive > replace Hdd with ssd > restore clone to ssd
3 - If ssd is smaller than the HDD try Ramrunner suggestion: Clone only the recover partion to SSD with adaptor or other drive then replace HDD with SSD and restore to ssd and do a factory restore.
4 - If you just want a factory restore and still have the windows key, try and get a cd with your version of windows in it. All you do then is replace HDD with ssd run windows install > enter the laptops key > re-register it with MS.Note: if you are going to sell or give away your old HDD and It's not encrypted with good passphrase then before you do ensure you 'ERASE' the HDD not just delete or reformat the drive. Erasing is not deleting. Erasing will write 1 and 0's all over the drive so that the data is not recoverable.
Should I just clone the hidden recovery partition to SSD or clone all of HDD
Look going to an SSD, in my opinion, even though a direct clone is possible, I think is actually the perfect time to factory reload.
When you are ready to clone to the SSD, remember to set your BIOS to UEFI mode if possible and change the legacy IDE option to AHCI. The first one is just advisable as then it will be easier to deal with GPT partitions, then second one is pretty much REQUIRED for the TRIM command to work properly. Not to mention a host of other performance related things will enable for the drive.
If you clone the full Windows then boot after making the changes, the system will not boot. It will likely freeze or restart. This is because when Windows installs, if the BIOS was not in AHCI mode it will not enable the drivers to work in AHCI mode. Yes, there's ways around this by booting in legacy mode, then changing a registry value, then rebooting in AHCI mode.
BUT
Then there are a host of other things that will be turned on in Windows that are detrimental to SSD. Prefetch, search indexer blah blah blah.
Plenty of sources on the net which will explain how to optimize for SSD. The best I've found is this one:
http://www.disk-partition.com/kb/tips-ssd-optimization-windo…
So, yes, I've done this plenty of times as a technician whose customers hard drives are dead or dying, and/or they want to upgrade to an SSD and they cannot lose their systems as it is running right now for some reason, but I swear, for someone who isn't familiar with dealing with this stuff, you're going to save yourself headaches by just clean installing man…..Seriously.
If you're not confident I really suggest clean installing.
Not to mention years of temporary and crap files and installations cluttering up old installations.
I don't understand the need for people to hold on to their running system as long as possible, I actually rejoice when I factory reload every year or so due to the fresh speed it gives. Reload, zip data I need across, install needed programs….done.
Look, the link above will help you immensely and if you get stuck I'm happy to help via PM, but please consider a clean installation…..
I'm cloning the factory reset version of my HDD it's got no personal stuff what I'm going to do is laptop with old HDD factory restore reset that and then clone copy that to SSD when SSD boots up I want to try factory restore again to see if the akt+f10 key works, what I'm just confused is if I can single out the hidden restore partitition drive called "recovery" can I just clone that partition or do full clone of entire HDD which is already factory reset if you get what I mean my HDD is already a clean install I just need to clone that to SSD my question can I just clone the recovery partition to SSD or clone entire hdd
vip69, whatever you do just clone the whole HDD into the SSD. That's all you have to do. The SDD will work exactly the same as the HDD would. You just have to find the cloning software of your choice and the external enclosure to connect the SSD via USB.
1. Install cloning software in the HDD.
2. Connect SSD via the external enclosure into a USB port.
3. Start the cloning and choose the full clone option.
4. Switch off the computer, unplug the HDD and plug in the SSD.
5. Restart the computer.Everything will be the same as before only faster Windows startup and faster gaming.
Thank you soo much dark oz cheers
No worries. Glad to help.
Another thing to remember is don't delete anything in your HDD after you have migrated to the SSD. Keep the HDD as a backup until the SSD is faultless.
Yes, but you will also increase wear significantly doing it this way.
http://www.disk-partition.com/kb/tips-ssd-optimization-windo…
It will also not run at full possible speed due to NCQ and TRIM not being enabled properly.
So, even though "that's all you have to do" is TECHNICALLY correct to copy a HDD to an SSD, it is ill advised.
I've sat through both OCZ and Intel seminars on this so please trust me when I say I know what I'm talking about. Please do yourself a favour OP, read my previous posts. I'm a technician and Intel Gold Partner and have has discussions with Intel engineers on this.
Ramrunner, I totally agree with you. A clean install is the best way to go. However if someone wish to retain the old stuff in the HDD then cloning it is. If cloning fails they can always do a clean install afterwards.
I did a simple clone with Acronis from my HDD to a SSD and it worked perfectly. My 5 year old mobo was able to autodetect and boot up. I did however went into the Bios to fine tune a couple of things I don't remember now. TRIM was one of them.
Yeah, fair enough, but I wasn't JUST talking about my "clean install" post. I was more so referring to the link I've posted a few times on different posts now and you mention also you did some "tweaking".
Without the AHCI features activated which includes TRIM, you'll be killing the SSD speed and wearing it down in the order of double or more prematurely. NAND is a finite cycle of rewrites. That is not to mention aligning it on the 4K boundary so the pages match (Macrium Reflect does this though so if you use recent cloning software this is not a problem). Mis alignment causes the drive to delete two pages for every one it needs to write!
Prefetch will cause unnecessary wear also and is completely not needed for SSD as they address the files required immediately without having to wait for a rotating sector (prefetch aligns files on a spinning platter). It should be turned of.
Indexing is also dubious as the speed of SSD pretty much negates the speed gain of indexing so it can also be turned off.
Likewise everything in the link below needs to be considered as a necessary "tweak"
http://www.disk-partition.com/kb/tips-ssd-optimization-windo…
I really am trying to help so his new SSD actually lasts him the proposed warranty period at least and gives him the real performance boost he's entitled to. If you do not perform the above optimizations, the drive will NOT perform as fast or as long without issues. It's a fact.
On a clean install though, Windows 7 and 8 RECOGNIZE that your are using an SSD and AUTOMATICALLY set up all these things correctly.
It does NOT automatically adjust things if you clone (unfortunately) so I really stress you optimize manually.
@Ramrunner:
No doubting you are trying to help the best you could in terms of optimum performance and possible drive longevity. I self taught myself by doing hours and hours of research on the internet going through links like you have supplied.I don't know how much vip69 knows about bios but I hope he knows enough how to get inside the bios and adjust to the optimal settings after the cloning. I think the SSD user manual had recommended settings where it indicates AHCI and TRIM. That's one thing I admit that I have omitted because I seriously couldn't remember everything I did a year ago.
It is called the Windows Recovery Partition
The last time I asked an offical Asus technician, they say it can't be done. But I suspect they dont want me to touch that hidden partition in the event I wanted to pirate the files.
You can try using Minitool Partition Wizard Free to access all partitions and clone them in the new SSD.