Error while restoring system to SSD drive

Hi tedescom,

The recovery disk can only restore to a disk that is of the same capacity that was configured at the point of sale. You will need to reinstall Windows from the installation disk on the 256GB SSD.

An alternative to using the Dell Recovery Disk is to use disk manager to shrink the OS partition as much as possible and then use "Backup and Restore" to make a " Windows System Repair Disk" and a "Windows System Image" which you can use to restore (clone) this image to your SSD.

Note if you first disable "System Restore" and "Page file" (if you have 8GB RAM), you should then be able to shrink a clean Windows7Pro partition to less than 40GB, but if you have lots of user data, move this user data to a backup drive before you shrink the OS partition.

Then after the system image restore, you can do some minor SSD customization to get the best from your SSD. Here is one SSD optimization guide and here is one How to clone HDD to SSD guide.

Hello Rajath, that's what I'm trying to do, but it doesn't comes with reinstallation disk, I needed to create one with Respawn and so I'm having this issue.

tedescom, if you still have the original HDD and the OS is still on it (that is you haven't wiped the original disk), then reinstall the original HDD into your system and boot into Windows. Then save all your user data to an external usb backup HDD and then shrink the volume as i suggested. Use "Backup and restore" which is available on xp, vista, win7 & win8 and save a System Image to an external usb backup HDD. Note that the Windows Backup and restore tool automatically saves the system boot partition (hidden) AND the OS partition (your c drive) AND if you specify, any other Dell 'special' partitions (though not really needed**). Also create a System Repair disk CD!

Then remove the HDD and install your clean SSD and boot using the System Repair CD. Perform a 'recovery' pointing to your usb backup HDD (where you saved the System Image). After the reboot, extend the system volume (c drive) and perform an SSD optimization using the links i specified.

All this can be done using tried and tested Windows tools and it is the simplest and quickest option short of a clean install (using Windows installation media). Normally the complete process (shrink, image, restore, extend, optimize) takes about 1 hour which is quicker than a reinstall.... Identifying your data and saving it elsewhere takes some added time... This is all mute if you have wiped your original HDD !!

** there may be a special Dell boot loaded that allows for the Dell specific F12? restore process to work but i'm not sure. In any case, if you use Windows backup & restore and keep an updated System Image, you will always be able to recover so there is no need for these special partitions. It seems many OEM's develop their own restore methods to differentiate themselves from other OEMs and to make their support process simpler (= tell user to hit F12 and reinstall the factory image if there are issues {and support sometimes don't highlight that user data is wiped in this process} ).

Hello Rajath and Skylarking!

I created the a system image and also recovery point using Windows backup on an external HD and tried to restore it to the new SSD. I shrunk the partition to ~42Gb + all hidden and service partitions, but got an error while trying to restore it to the SSD using the recovery media boot+system image. "Unable to recover".  I don't have personal data on HD, so, it is easier.

I'll not spend more of your time and shorten the story (of course, unless you need more details for a KB), I did it using Acronis (after many retries). Its running ok on the new 256Gb SSD! BUT, since it was a disk clone I tried to recover to factory defaults using Alien Respawn, just to be sure I'll be able to recover the system anytime on the future and I still get the message that I need at least 465Gb to do it. Any ideas?

Thanks again for your help! :)

** the F12 key is for the boot choice on this mx14