Macrium Reflect restore question

I have reflect free (latest version) and have been using it for some time to make backup images of C. I want to restore to a new, smaller (SSD) hard drive. The bootable media will not let me do this (says the drive is too small). In the windows version, it lets me do it easily. Great, BUT....it seems to merge my current folder structure with that on the backup. In other words, when I do the restore, it finishes, new drive boots fine, but I am looking at my CURRENT desktop, icons, etc. Icons for programs newer than the backup don't work, ie, program is missing. THIS IS SO WEIRD. I've used acronis to restore many times, no problems like this. I've searched, read, can't find any options I am missing..can anyone help?

 

I'm not sure whether this is still the case, but I think you need to use RoboRestore to restore to a smaller HDD. (I've never tried as I always do a clean install on any new disk).

There's a walkthrough here.

HTH

philby

 

See if this tutorial helps. Go down to where they talk about restoring to a different size partition. There is also a Youtube video in the article.

 

I tried the BartPE disk (very nice, works perfectly with my wireless mouse), and that SAID it could do the job. It was going VERY slow (1+ hours) however, so I did a fresh install. Using Reflect 5 free to make images of the new install, I really like this program! I did a test restore of my almost-finished (25+ GB) install
of Win 7, IT RESTORED IN 2.5 MINUTES! Holy crap that's fast! Worked perfect too. Man, I remember the days of those crappy tape drives that worked on a floppy interface....took all day, had "errors" and generally sucked. It's AMAZING the free software we have now!