SSD to Small for OS

I’ve discovered that in the last 20 months or so, my 64 gb SSD is now full enough that some updates will not run for lack of overhead during install. I have several hard drives for everything else and intended the c: for windows only. My Cubase installation has its own SSD . The project drives are 2 - 500 gb WD Black and there is a 1tb WD black for sound libraries as well as a 3tb network drive.

I am going to change the c drive SSD to a 128gb or 256 gb operating system drive, since the prices have dropped in the last year. Is there any way to migrate the information from the existing c drive to the new one thru simple copy commands or is it best to just start over? I can re-install win 7 if need be but there are other things that found their way onto the old SSD that I would try to keep. Additionally, any other d: drive installations will be gone from the registry once this is changed. Thank you in advance…Al

think they might have a free version…

Paragon only has a demo software.

GParted is a free software that can clone partitions.
Try it in Bundle with PartedMagic (http://partedmagic.com/doku.php).

Best regards
Chris

Clearly things have advanced in the last many years in this area. I probably should have known better and gone larger but my initial OS overhead was not even half the original disk size.

Thank you both…

I would use Acronis True Image with the extra Plus Pack for this. Back up the old SSD, stick in the new one in the same SATA slot. Restore. You’re done. But Acronis is not free.

Thanks for that information as well, I am not all at concerned with free. Since the process of the swap is more involved, I would prefer having the option of a copy to the bigger disk and then simply have the added space.

I have an original DVD for windows 7 and key plus most of the other software but, the last 25 years of making these upgrades has always cost me something in data or software that I can’t find or can’t download. If I click on something that is no longer listed in the original registry, I could have more trouble than I am prepared for even though the information is sitting on the disk in the next slot.

So, thank you for all of the information that I can use to make this as simple as possible