New PC HDD

[eakinsme]

hey guys.. i think i have an 80gb hdd in my PC but i am thinking of taking it out and putting in a 200gb hdd...
my question is that if i wanna do this will i be able to just copy my entire 80 gig hdd to my 200gb, then take out my 80 and run soly off my 200 gig? if so what software will i need and do u guys recomend i do this?

[Big Country]

Not with Windows XP you can't.

[eakinsme]

so theres no software that i can just clone my drive? i was possitive there is..
anyone?

[Big Country]

There is lots of software to clone your drive but Windows XP will not boot up with a new hard drive even if it has Windows on it. You have to do a fresh install for Windows XP. It was made like that so you couldn't load Windows and register it and then make copies of your HDD for other computers. You get the blue screen when you try to boot it with a new hard drive. Tried it a hundred times. Don't know of anyone that has done it.

[Big Country]

If someone has succeeded in doing this I too would like to know how. It is a pain to reload Windows every time I get a bigger HDD. Am at 250gb and it's almost full again.

[stalks]

Norton Ghost will let you do this. Costs $70, buy it at your local store or here (http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/) [symantec.com].

[eakinsme]

and your sure that norton ghost will allow me to put my 80gb hdd into a 200gb hdd and will boot like normal?
thanks

[TylerDurden]

Interesting.




Tyler!

[Grumpy]

I use Norton Ghost regularly as i dont like the Windows System Restore and find it is a lot more reliable. But I cant say i have ever tried to Ghost an image to a larger drive! Nowhere in the Ghost help does it say you cant do it tho! At worst, the way I see it, it would copy the 80g to the 200g as an 80g partition (maybe) then I presume you can just allocate the free space (the remainding 120g) or create other Partitions then merge them together.
What will work for you is making a backup (or ghost image) of your 80g drive and copy it directly to dvd's. This will take a few hours tho and a few dvd's, expecially if you only have the one drive as Ghost can not save the image to the drive you are ghosting.
I have 2 harddrives, when I ghost one drive I copy to the other. Then I copy the created ghost images to dvd's. When I want to restore the ghost image of my C: I just copy the Image from the dvd's back to my d: then ghost it to my C:. I sounds like a lot of work but it really isnt and you get a nice clean fresh install again of windows. And doing it this way the whole process takes approx 20 minutes!
Do you have a spare smaller drive? That way you can backup your 80gig then say using a 10gig have a go a ghosting the 10gig to the 80gig. If it works then you know you are safe to do the 80 to the 200. ;)
But I also think it will work.

[eakinsme]

well i dont have a smaller drive.. but, if i do it using dvd-rs then the only problem is with installing.. i have had a few problems with software running if i just make a data dvd-r! is there any software that will backup all my files and just tell me to instert x# of dvd-rs and then i can run that on the new hdd and reinstall everything perfectly?
thanks

[stalks]

If I got a new HDD I would take the oppurtunity to reinstall Windows and get myself a fresh installation. Like an early spring clean :cool:. It doesnt take all that long to reinstall games and programs, and having your 80gb plugged in you can copy saved games, or important documents accross in no time.

[khafan]

Maxtor MaxBlast 3 duplicates your hdd easily for free. get the windows version of MaxBlast 3 from here:
http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads/ATA%20Hard%20Drives&downloadID=58
Run it and go to drive-to-drive copy and select source & Destination partition, hit start.
there's also a dos version of this utility but it takes ages to duplicate hdd under dos mode.

[eakinsme]

to use that maxtor tool, do i need to know an understanding of partitioning? i dont know that much or anything about hdds...
will this work with me knowing next to nothing about partitioning?

[khafan]

ok I think you have only 1 partition on your current 80GB hdd, goto my computer and you should see only 1 hdd drive there (C: ), so the path to source partition will be "C:\" , when you add the new 200GB hdd and format the hdd, another hdd drive will be added to my computer (D: ), so the path to destination partition will be "D:\".
But first make sure that you currently have only one drive (C: ) in my computer.

[eakinsme]

in my computer i have 2 drives, both C: and D: drives!
would you recomend that i just put the new hdd in slot one then install windows and put all my stuf from the 80 gig onto the 200 gig? will it work that way?

[khafan]

Are you sure the drive D: is a hdd drive and not your cd/dvdrom drive?

yeah you can just install the windows on new hdd and then copy your files from old hdd to new one. but first disconnect the old hdd from pc then install windows on new hdd.

[eakinsme]

ok so ill prolly end up doing it that way..
yes i am sure they are both hdd drives! and with the way u say to do it will i need to redownload/install SP2! i have dial up and downloads are a b!tch (no broadband here)!
thanks

[Big Country]

Yes, you will have to reinstall SP2. You have to also reinstall all your programs as you can not copy them from one drive to another. They have to actually be installed as it puts a lot of files in the windows directory. The only stuff you can copy over from your old drive to your new drive are saved game files and other files such as in your my documents folder. Actual programs will not run even if you copy the entire folder over as windows does not have the files it needs to run it.

Remove your old drive and put in your new drive as your primary master. Load windows on it and update it with the SP2. If downloading takes too long you can order a disk from Microsoft. It's free. Add your old drive as a slave and then reinstall all you programs from the disks. You can then copy over all your saved files from your old drive such as your internet favorites and all your document files, as well as any saved game files you have. Keep that old drive as your slave untill you know for sure you have all the files you need transfered over. Could be a few weeks till you know for sure. If you run programs like Turbo Tax or Quicken make sure you copy over the files you need from those folders. I always go through the old drive and start deleting files and folders I know for sure I don't need. Then when your old drive is empty you can remove it.

[eakinsme]

what if i copy over my system registy files also? i really dont want to reinstall all my files, most are paid downloads which take a long time to download! if i clone my drive will i be able to run all proggies?
thanks

[eakinsme]

ok guys.. i bought my 200gb maxtor today.. just woundering what peoples final thoughts are to what i should do to get it to work correctly? should i clone it or copy over files?

[RK]

if u must, clone it

but if u can, format and reinstall - will be guaranteed to work

[Big Country]

Like I said before. Windows XP will not boot from a cloned HDD. Try it and find out.