Drive duplicators that can downsize

[YeOldeStonecat]

We have the Startech SATDUP11IMG duplicator to cloning a hard drive to another. Works very well, we love it. Great for doing SSD upgrades...nice and small and portable.

https://www.startech.com/HDD/Duplicators/sata-hdd-duplicator~SATDUP11IMG

However, it has to clone a source drive to an equal size or larger destination drive.

We're doing many "spindle to SSD upgrades". For those computers that have a 500 gig drive...these days with 500 SSDs being quite cheap it's not a big deal price wise. A couple of years ago it was, as 500 gig SSDs were expensive, we always wanted to do 256's. But with 500 gig SSDs under a hundred bucks now no biggie.

However we do come across 1TB source drives, and 1TB SSDs are still a bit up there. So...looking for a hardware based drive duplicator that can downsize...say a 1TB spindle to a 500 gig SSD.

We do have our "bench rig"...a computer with its side panel off, boot from Acronis and that will allow a downsize on the fly. BUT..it's big and clunky and not something we want to take onsite. The little hardware appliance like the Startech duplicator...we can take onsite..and bang out a bunch of upgrades (I'm ordering a few more). Just curious if someone knows of one that will downsize.

 

[marley1]

We just have a bunch of docks. Boot off macrium, clone onsite and go.

Haven't found a cheap unit to do what you want

 

[Markverhyden]

I've looked into this off and on for a couple of years and have not yet found anything. I'm sure part of the issue is the process needs to partition and OS aware. As in GPT vs MBr, etc. These stand alone dup devices have always been sector level.

Maybe look at some micro AT based platform. Many of them have 4 SATA ports so you could have a boot SSD and then ports for source and destination. Some models will accommodate an external power brick.

 

[SAFCasper]

Last time I done a bulk on-site upgrade I took a bunch of Macrium Reflect bootable USB drives and some spare SATA cables/splitters. Hook up the new SSD alongside the HDD > boot to Macrium and clone > remove the HDD

Worked really well for me. Falls on it's face when you hit a laptop though.

 

[carmen617]

I just buy Samsung drives and use their migration software along with a dock. I keep the Samsung software on all my USB drives. Works great, reasonably fast. I have found, however, that one of my docks just doesn't work with the Samsung drives. Not sure why, but it took me a while to realize what the problem was. Labeled that dock to make sure I don't use it with Samsung, and haven't had a problem since.

 

[Sky-Knight]

That's how I do it, except I carry around Samsungs Data Migration Wizard, and WD's Licensed Acronis.

 

[HCHTech]

I just buy Samsung drives and use their migration software along with a dock. I keep the Samsung software on all my USB drives.

This is what we do, but use the standard SATA-to-USB adapters to mount the SSD before cloning. We try to use USB3 ports, or if it's easy, we'll just plug the SSD into a spare SATA port on the motherboard - gets a bit more speed in exchange for more work upfront.

The USB adapters don't take as much room as a dock in our go bags. I did a 12-workstation company recently, found I could do 3 workstations at a time moving between them. I did two Saturday sessions to get them all done.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I carry around Samsungs Data Migration Wizard, and WD's Licensed Acronis.

Which version of Acronis is that? (I thought they were not licensed for use on customers' computers, but I could be wrong.)

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Larry Sabo https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=119

As far as I'm aware, there's no commercial vs residential limitation. As long as the imaging process is moving data to or from a WD device, it's legal. The software itself works as long as a WD branded drive is attached to the system.

 

[lcoughey]

It seems that this question gets asked at least once a year.

Hardware imagers do a sector-by-sector copy. Sector 0 goes to Sector 0 and sector 1,000,000 goes to sector 1,000,000. It completely ignores the file system. Now, with Startech, they have a feature that reads the MFT and is able to load the partition bitmaps and then targets only the sectors used according to the bitmaps. But, every sector copied goes in the exact same location on the destination. If the destination is smaller than the source, any sectors that exist in a range beyond the max capacity of the destination will be lost.

Software imagers have an interface which allows you to resize partitions on the fly. This only works because they are not doing a sector-by-sector copy. Instead, they are doing a file-by-file copy for this to work.

When to use?

Generally speaking, hardware imagers are best used when the condition of the patient drive is unknown and your goal is to get the drive cloned as quickly as possible, while getting a feel for its health based on the number of read errors you are getting.

The smart copy included with Startech is nice if you are going to an equal size destination and want to image the used sectors fast. (I've seen it go at 188MB/second, if not faster)

Software imagers with partition resizing are best used when copying from known good patient drives with the intent of shrinking or expanding the partition sizes on the fly.

 

[Larry Sabo]

The software itself works as long as a WD branded drive is attached to the system.

Doesn't work on my system with its WD 250GB SSD for some reason.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Doesn't work on my system with its WD 250GB SSD for some reason.

Is the 250gb SSD brand new? I've had issues where there needs to be an MBR partition table on the disk for the software to properly ID it sometimes. So just make the thing MBR with 1 huge blank partition and try again, it should work.

 

[Larry Sabo]

It's my OS disk, has a little over 1000 POHrs, and is MBR. I was just curious to see how portable the Acronis WD Edition is so thought I'd try it on my main PC. I was surprised when it didn't consider it eligible. So, the system needs to have a WD HDD if one wants to used Acronis WD Edition to clone to a WD SSD. I suppose I could plug in a My Passport just for qualification purposes but that's ridiculous.

Edit: I'm an idiot! I just plugged in a My Passport and re-tried. Said I need to uninstall Acronis true Image 2010 Plus Pack first. Disconnected the My Passport and tried again -- same message. So maybe I just misread the rejection dialogue in the first attempt. I'll reboot and try again, just to be sure.

 

[Your PCMD]

I don't do clones onsite if I can help it, only for a couple select business clients. I have a machine Acronis, Magician and Reflect on it just for cloning purposes at the shop. 99% of the time I'm using Reflect.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Larry Sabo, I was going to say something is wrong there because I've used the WD Acronis to image from a Samsung SSD to a WD SSD. Not to mention all the times I've imaged from a non WD-HDD to a WD SSD.

 

[BO Terry]

We have the Startech SATDUP11IMG duplicator to cloning a hard drive to another. Works very well, we love it. Great for doing SSD upgrades...nice and small and portable.

https://www.startech.com/HDD/Duplicators/sata-hdd-duplicator~SATDUP11IMG

However, it has to clone a source drive to an equal size or larger destination drive.

We're doing many "spindle to SSD upgrades". For those computers that have a 500 gig drive...these days with 500 SSDs being quite cheap it's not a big deal price wise. A couple of years ago it was, as 500 gig SSDs were expensive, we always wanted to do 256's. But with 500 gig SSDs under a hundred bucks now no biggie.

However we do come across 1TB source drives, and 1TB SSDs are still a bit up there. So...looking for a hardware based drive duplicator that can downsize...say a 1TB spindle to a 500 gig SSD.

We do have our "bench rig"...a computer with its side panel off, boot from Acronis and that will allow a downsize on the fly. BUT..it's big and clunky and not something we want to take onsite. The little hardware appliance like the Startech duplicator...we can take onsite..and bang out a bunch of upgrades (I'm ordering a few more). Just curious if someone knows of one that will downsize.

I have two of these and have been very pleased. One of mine is maybe 5 years and the other is a bit older but both work the same way. There are multiple copy modes: Full, Brief and Resize. Resize copy works great when going in either direction. As you mentioned taking a 1TB spindle to a 500GB SSD or taking a 128 SSD to 256 or 500. It handles resizing the partition seamlessly as part of the cloning process. The version I have is a bit clunky if you ever need to update the firmware (you copy the firmware onto a FAT32 formatted drive and then attach it) but I've only had to do that maybe twice. Hopefully, with the newer versions, they have addressed this. A downside to my version is there is no way to work with any interface beyond SATA and IDE (no m.2 for example). Another nice feature is secure wiping (to DOD standard's).

https://www.kanguru.com/duplication/mobile-clone-hd-1-to-1-dupe.shtml

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I have two of these and have been very pleased.

https://www.kanguru.com/duplication/mobile-clone-hd-1-to-1-dupe.shtml

Thank You...we'll order one up!
Looks like it came from the same factory at the Startech ones we have...but I'll pickup one to check it out..and another if we like it!

 

[BO Terry]

Thank You...we'll order one up!
Looks like it came from the same factory at the Startech ones we have...but I'll pickup one to check it out..and another if we like it!

Something I just remembered. I seem to recall there was a maximum capacity drive that it was compatible with. Maybe 2TB? Again, this is on the units I have (5+ years old) so newer ones/newer firmware may have addressed that but wanted to mention it.

 

[Diggs]

standard SATA-to-USB adapters

Not sure which ones you use but I've been through a few of the Startech ones below and find them flaky and unreliable. My USB docks have been good and lately I tend to lean more and more to SATA off the motherboard.

 

[timeshifter]

I have two of these and have been very pleased. One of mine is maybe 5 years and the other is a bit older but both work the same way. There are multiple copy modes: Full, Brief and Resize. Resize copy works great when going in either direction. As you mentioned taking a 1TB spindle to a 500GB SSD or taking a 128 SSD to 256 or 500. It handles resizing the partition seamlessly as part of the cloning process. The version I have is a bit clunky if you ever need to update the firmware (you copy the firmware onto a FAT32 formatted drive and then attach it) but I've only had to do that maybe twice. Hopefully, with the newer versions, they have addressed this. A downside to my version is there is no way to work with any interface beyond SATA and IDE (no m.2 for example). Another nice feature is secure wiping (to DOD standard's).

https://www.kanguru.com/duplication/mobile-clone-hd-1-to-1-dupe.shtml

How is the speed? I usually have a PC handy with USB 3 and an adapter or two and can use Macrium to make a clone from the current spinning drive to an SSD. I could see this device being faster in that I just plug the drives in and push a few buttons. But, what about the overall speed of the full transfer? Does it transfer faster than I could with a Macrium boot disk and a SATA to SATA or USB3 to SATA connection on a decent PC?