Member Avatar for ED9

Hi there. I am new to this forum - but I wonder if someone may be able to help.

I have a Sony Vaio notebook running Windows XP SP2. The hard disk is getting full and my PC is running slowly. The disk runs at 4200rpm. I would like to clone my hard disk to a new faster 7200 hard disk - which I understand should speed things up. I can clone the partitions that Windows can see - without problem. However Sony has set aside some ?7Gb of my hard disk as a hidden Recovery Partition.

I have three questions:

(1) Are there any (preferably free) programs out there which will clone a hard disk, sector by sector allowing me to copy my entire hard disk to a new external USB drive?

I have found loads of programs that will clone / copy partitions - but they won't allow me to copy the hidden Recovery Partition.

(2) Is there any way to make the Recovery Partition visible to Windows, temporarily? My plan would be to make this partition visible - clone the hard disk - and then hide the Recovery Partition again. Might this be possible?

(3) I have created Recovery DVDs many years ago when I bought my Sony PC. Do I actually need to clone / copy the recovery partition? Will Windows boot / my PC work without it?

I would be grateful for any help / suggestions that anyone may be able to offer.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Best regards,


ED

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Short answer for (and ): use a sector/bit‑level cloning tool so the hidden Sony recovery partition and MBR are copied intact. Bootable Clonezilla is a reliable free option that supports disk-to-disk (device-device) cloning and preserves hidden/OEM partitions and the boot record. (clonezilla.org)

Free and practical options

  • Clonezilla (boot from CD/USB): disk-to-disk mode will clone the whole drive including hidden partitions and the MBR. (clonezilla.org)
  • dd from a Linux live CD/USB: true bit-for-bit copy (powerful but unforgiving if you pick the wrong device). Example: 
    sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=64K conv=noerror,sync status=progress

    (verify device names first). (gnu.org)

  • Macrium Reflect (Windows GUI) is a common Windows-friendly cloning tool that can clone whole disks and create rescue media if you prefer a GUI. (reflect.macrium.com)

About making the recovery partition “visible”
Windows Disk Management or DiskPart can assign/remove drive letters for normal volumes, but OEM/recovery partitions are often protected (you may not be allowed to assign a letter). Using DiskPart to assign a letter can work for ordinary partitions, but it won’t always work for OEM partitions and changing partition attributes is risky. If DiskPart refuses, don’t force a type change—use a full-disk clone instead. (learn.microsoft.com)

Do you need to copy the recovery partition?
If your recovery DVDs were correctly created and bootable, they provide the same factory restore capability as the hidden partition, so you don’t strictly need the on-disk recovery partition — but verify the discs boot before you remove anything. Best practice: make a verified full-disk image (or clone) and create rescue media, then swap drives and test that the new drive boots. (howtogeek.com)

Note: pointed you to backup tools — that’s useful for file backups, but for preserving the OEM recovery partition exactly, prefer a sector-level clone (Clonezilla or dd) or a tool that explicitly copies the whole disk and MBR.

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Member Avatar for nadigo

hi, looking for the same, any news ?

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