Hard Drive Install

[Bikewer]

Just bought a 250 gig HD (Western Digital) to replace the original drive in my rig.

The 40 gig item is original, and I want to make the new drive my "C" drive with the Windows intallation. There is also an 80 gig slave drive in the case.

I thought this was going to be fairly simple; leave the original "C" drive connected, connect the new one to the second IDE cable, and transfer the data. Then swap.
However, all the info I'm looking at on the net wants me to buy some sort of software to "clone" the information from one drive to the other.

Is this more complex than I thought?

[ShowMe]

Is this more complex than I thought?

Afraid so.

While it would be theoretically possible to do a simple copy (provided the copy program you used would do the long file names and hidden files) I think you would be far better off to purchase something like GHOST software from Symantec.

In fact they may have a trail version available on their web site that you coudl download and use, if all you're after is a one-shot copy deal.

Ah, here we go:

http://www4.symantec.com/Vrt/offer?a_id=32763

You should be able to use a bottable disk and run the ghost.exe program, then do a local disk to local disk copy.

Just be darn sure you have the source and destination disks right!

[Bikewer]

Hehe, I was just reading yet another tech article, and this looks like the way to go. Put the new drive in, clone the "C" drive, and swap 'em out.

I'll look for the trial version; I see the program is readily available in ah...Pirated versions.

[a_unique_person]

There is a free linux version that does the same as ghost. Look up G-Part.

[teddygrahams]

The drive manufacturer usually provides free software to clone the drive. Just be sure to download it to a floppy or cd before you put the new drive in.

With XP there is one more thing that might cause you trouble: having a specific drive ID# in the boot.ini file in the root. Look at this file before you clone the drive.

[a_unique_person]

Yeah, Bill is working as hard as he can at defeating this means of being able to configure your Windows installation flexibally.

[Zep]

Don't know why. Any security lock in Windows will usually have the hack available before the product officially hits the streets...

[a_unique_person]

But they just accumulate, and are so damn annoying.

[_Q_]

Acronis True Image 10 can be had in "downloadable" form (real, licensed software, but they don't physically send you anything in a box) for ~$32 from Newegg. I haven't tried it, but I'm using version 9.

Aside from just easing your hard disk install, it can be a mighty nice thing to burn images of your system periodically, and then be able to restore one if things go terribly, terribly wrong at some time in the future.

I bought it after completely setting up a machine (operating system, then updates ad nauseum, then applications, then updates to the applications, then configuring the workspace and the applications, etc.) - then doing it all over a second time just a few weeks later after a hard disk failure. If it pulls the fat out of the fire just once, it will be a bargain.

[Metullus]

Acronis True Image 10 can be had in "downloadable" form (real, licensed software, but they don't physically send you anything in a box) for ~$32 from Newegg. I haven't tried it, but I'm using version 9.

Aside from just easing your hard disk install, it can be a mighty nice thing to burn images of your system periodically, and then be able to restore one if things go terribly, terribly wrong at some time in the future.

I bought it after completely setting up a machine (operating system, then updates ad nauseum, then applications, then updates to the applications, then configuring the workspace and the applications, etc.) - then doing it all over a second time just a few weeks later after a hard disk failure. If it pulls the fat out of the fire just once, it will be a bargain.
That is exactly what I now do. I use Acronis 10 and I have cloned-ready-to-install drives for all five of my machines. This means that when I have a problem I just swap out the drives and I am up and running.

I strongly recommend the Acronis software.

[_Q_]

That is exactly what I now do. I use Acronis 10 and I have cloned-ready-to-install drives for all five of my machines. This means that when I have a problem I just swap out the drives and I am up and running.

I strongly recommend the Acronis software.

One can also, without completely restoring it, "plug" an Acronis image and access it as a logical drive. I've not yet had to use it to solve a real problem, but I can imagine that coming in handy.

[Dogbreath]

Western Digital has a download called Data Lifeguard Tools. I have used it in the past and it has worked fine.

[Bikewer]

Well, I got 'er installed this afternoon. Hehe- didn't go back and check the posts, or I would have noticed the one above. In fact, I did use the Western Digital software, and it worked fine.
It downloaded the little utility that allows the use of large hard drives in XP, and then copied my C-drive files to the new one.
Switched jumper settings, swapped places, and stuck in my old secondary drive.

Everything appears to be working fine.