System recovery after replacing hard drive

[Robert135]

Hi, I would like to replace the hard drive in my laptop to an SSD drive. How can I recover the system if I do not have a recovery disc or even a CD/DVD drive on my laptop?

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@Robert135 

To answer your question simply, basically, you can't.

But there is an alternative you should consider ...

You should acquire an SSD now and "migrate" your setup to it; that way, when you swap the SSD with your HDD, your system will be up and running without losing anything.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
2) Connect the new drive to the PC using a USB-to-Hard-Drive drive adapter (like the one illustrated below)
3) Follow the instructions in this link: http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Cloning+a+disk
4) Shutdown the PC when done
5) Swap the drives and reboot the PC.

NOTE: To do this easily, the SDD has to be the same capacity as the HDD.  IF you get an SDD that is a lot smaller, then before you do the cloning, you have to shrink the largest partition on the HDD (usually the OS partition), to the size such that it, and the other partitions, fit easily on the SSD.

You should boot from the new drive without any problems.

Typical USB-to-Hard-Drive adapter:

Good Luck

[Robert135]

It makes sense...

Many thanks.