Solved Any Possibilities involving system images and different drive sizes?

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Deleted member 32799

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Hi. The answers are probably no but I’m just hoping something could come up.

1.) A question I’ve had forever. Don’t want to get into details about the hardware issue and all that associated with different tower system image restores etc. Just dying to know, if I had a 500gb drive. And i made an image. And wanted to restore it to a 320gb drive. Is there any way with any kind of software are strategy? I’ve seen the refusal by advanced reset already.

2.) And aside from that. Might as well ask, if you wanted to install a 500gb image, to a 1tb drive. Yes it works but 500gb is not recognized by your os on the 1tb drive. It’ll leave it as if it’s a 500gb forever. Is there any way to reset that in a system, to restore a 500gb but expand it’s c: size on a bigger drive afterwards? Maybe even a cmd? Thanks
 
Windows Build/Version
All

My Computer

System One

Partition sizes for drives can be modified using Windows or third party software.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
Cash, this will depend upon the software that you use to create the image. As an example, the current version of Macrium Reflect can handle both scenarios that you have outlined. You can take an image from a larger drive and restore it to a smaller drive assuming that the smaller drive is at least large enough to restore all the data to, or you can restore to a larger drive and have your Windows partition size increased to occupy the additional space available on that larger drive.

NOTE: If memory serves correctly, this feature may possibly be available only on the paid version of Macrium Reflect.

I know that other disk imaging programs also have this capability, but you will need to check the docs for any other products to verify that the specific program you are looking at has this capability.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 24H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self-built
    CPU
    Intel i7 11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A MB
    Memory
    64GB (Waiting for warranty replacement of another 64GB for 128GB total)
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe SSD
    1 x 4TB NVMe SSD
    3 x 512GB 2.5" SSD
    1 x 4TB 2.5" SSD
    5 x 8TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case
    Cooling
    Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Home Computer Specifications, Configuration, and Usage Notes General Specifications ASUS Prime Z590-A motherboard, serial number M1M0KC222467ARP Intel Core i7-11700K CPU (11th Gen Rocket Lake / LGA 1200 Socket) 128GB Crucial Ballistix RGB DDR4 3200 MHz DRAM (4 x 32GB) Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black CPU cooler Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Corsair LL-120 RGB Fans (Qty. 3)
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    The five 8TB drives and three 512GB SSDs are part of a DrivePool using StableBit DrivePool software. The three SSDs are devoted purely to caching for the 8TB drives. All of the important data is stored in triplicate so that I can withstand simultaneous failure of 2 disks.

    Networking: 2.5Gbps Ethernet and WiFi 6e
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Yes As long as your image is not larger than the drive you are restoring it to, and with imaging software that can do it.. I use Macrium and restore images to disks of different sizes all the time. I can't speak of any of the other imaging apps as I've never used anything but Macrium. I use its resize and/or reorder to partitions. There is no need to size your partitions outside of Macrium as it will do it as part of the restore process.
You just have to tell it what size you want your partitions to be.

For your second question, if you've already restored an image and have unallocated space on a drive, you can use disk management to extend a partition into the unallocated space as long as that space is contiguous(ie adjacent) to the partition you are extending. In other words, you can extend a volume into the unallocated space as long as that space is to the immediate right of the partition you are trying to extend. However, disk management can not extend a partition into non-contiguous unallocated space. Minitool Partition Wizard can though. How to Extend Partition to Non Contiguous Space Effectively - MiniTool Partition Wizard

If you want to post a screenshot of your Disk Management we can advise better and more thoroughly.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 26100.3775
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 nvme+256gb SKHynix m.2 nvme /External drives 512gb Samsung m.2 sata+1tb Kingston m2.nvme+ 4gb Solidigm nvme
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    #1 Edge #2 Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
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