Replace (C:) drive

mrjay100

New Member
i am wanting to replace my slow hard drive with faster and larger hard drive. I am thinking of putting in the new hard drive with the old hard drive at the same time so i can ...

- take all data off of old drive and put it on new one
- make new drive my main and only drive

i don't want to mess up my comp in the process so some directions on how to do this correctly would be appreciated
 

My Computer

1. Save an image of your C: drive onto an external e-sata hard drive (or usb) by using something like Acronis True Image;

2. Turn off your PC, unplug the old drive (leave it in place since you want to keep it in later) and install the new HDD;

3. Reboot with Acronis boot CD; restore the image onto the new drive and boot to check all is okay;

4. Turn off your PC again, reconnect your old drive and reboot in BIOS where you will set the boot sequence with your new HDD as the boot drive. Save and exit. Reboot in safe mode; in safe mode delete the old partition C: which will have another drive letter by now anyway.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    self-built
    CPU
    Intel Core2Quad Q9650 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    4 x 2 gigs Patriot DDR2 6400 5-5-5-12
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA SC GTX 280 (for graphics); Asus en8800GT (for PhysX)
    Sound Card
    on-board SoundMax 7:1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung SyncMaster T240
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 (each)
    Hard Drives
    4 x WD320 (YS) SATA2 HDD and 1 x WD500 (AAKS) SATA2 HDD set as AHCI
    PSU
    Silverstone OP1000-E
    Case
    Antec Nine Hundred
    Cooling
    OCZ Vendetta 2
    Keyboard
    Unicomp spacesaver (with buckling springs) hey hey!!
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518
    Internet Speed
    Down: 6700 kbps; Up: 800 kbps
Or, instead of going via a compressed image of the current system, you could do a direct disk to disk clone. That's a simpler process, and there's less to go wrong, and you don't need an extra external disk to hold the image file.

Connect the new HD as well as the old one. There are many programs which will copy everything from the old disk to the new one, such as the free Seagate DiskWizard (which only runs if you have at least one Seagate or Maxtor brand of HD connected) or Acronis TrueImage or any good partition manager such as Paragon Partition Manager or Acronis Disk Director (not Partition Magic which is incompatible with Vista).

If the new disk is bigger than the old one, you could either resize one or more of the copied partitions larger, or use the extra space for an extra partition for storing data files. Some of the programs listed above let you optionally resize a partition larger during the copying process. Otherwise you can do it afterwards.

Then you can remove the old HD (keep it unchanged until you are sure the new one is working well) and the new one should boot OK.

There is a small possibility the new one won't boot (whether you go via an image or do a direct clone). If so you can run a boot repair using the Vista DVD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    home assembled
    CPU
    Intel Q9450 quad core
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Pro, Intel P45 chipset
    Memory
    4GB : 2 x 2GB G.Skill DDR2 800MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte 9600GT
    Sound Card
    Realtek onboard the mobo
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ 24"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    2 of Samsung HD501LJ SATA2 500GB
    and a few IDE hard disks on USB for backups
    PSU
    Corsair TX-650 and APC UPS
    Case
    Antec P180
    Cooling
    OCZ Vendetta2
By the way, there would be an extra complication if the old hard disk is IDE and the new one is SATA. If so, let us know and I'll add some extra instructions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    home assembled
    CPU
    Intel Q9450 quad core
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Pro, Intel P45 chipset
    Memory
    4GB : 2 x 2GB G.Skill DDR2 800MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte 9600GT
    Sound Card
    Realtek onboard the mobo
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ 24"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    2 of Samsung HD501LJ SATA2 500GB
    and a few IDE hard disks on USB for backups
    PSU
    Corsair TX-650 and APC UPS
    Case
    Antec P180
    Cooling
    OCZ Vendetta2
Or, instead of going via a compressed image of the current system, you could do a direct disk to disk clone. That's a simpler process, and there's less to go wrong, and you don't need an extra external disk to hold the image file.

Agreed. Acronis TI can do that.

1. Install TI and new would be C drive.
2. Mirror original C dirve to new drive with TI.
3. Reboot upon prompt when mirroring is finished.
4. Smile.

Then you can unhook or format the old drive for what ever you like it to be.
I think some one posted that TI is $9.99 couple days ago. It is a steal; get it.

Good luck and let us know how things turn out.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    E6850
    Motherboard
    EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 680i
    Memory
    4 x OCZ Platinum 1GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
    Sound Card
    SB X-Fi X Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 23" 5MS
    Screen Resolution
    2048 x 1152
    Hard Drives
    2 x Barracuda 7200.10 320GB RAID 0 / 1 x 500GB Maxtor
    PSU
    Seasonic 600W M12
    Case
    CM Centurion 5
    Cooling
    air
    Internet Speed
    100Mbps
And what about simple copy? Connect the new drive,boot from BartPE CD (or something similar with file manager) and just copy everything from the old drive to new one. I don't see why it should not work...
 

My Computer

Acronis allows you to image from one drive to another. They give a 15 day full trial.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    pair of Intel E5430 quad core 2.66 GHz Xeons
    Motherboard
    Supermicro X7DWA-N server board
    Memory
    16GB DDR667
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA 8800 GTS 640 MB video card
    Hard Drives
    SAS RAID
Or you could put your files from the C: drive and input the new harddrive so it's D: or whatever the next letter is, and drag'n'copy.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Pentium 4 OC'd to 3.0GHZ and a Pentium Dual Core E2180 @2GHZ
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-***** and a ASUS model
    Memory
    768MB DDR1 / 2GB DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    RADEON 9800 PRO / NVIDIA Geforce FX5200
    Sound Card
    Intel built-in AC'97 Audio / Realtek High Def Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 913V/213BW / Acer X193
    Screen Resolution
    12**x10** / 10**x7** / 16**x10**
    Hard Drives
    1: 320GB SATA
    2: 20GB SATA
    3: 40 GB SATA
    4: 150 GB SATA
    PSU
    Not sure
    Case
    ASUS ASPIRE / HP Pavilion 754n / Custom
    Cooling
    Not sure
    Keyboard
    NeXXTech Office KeyBoard / Acer Keyboard / UNITECH
    Mouse
    Razor DeathAdder / Logitech Wireless / Acer Wheel mouse
    Internet Speed
    100MBits per second
    Other Info
    Happy right now ^^
You dnt get what I'm saying, WHO NEEDS PROGRAMS? YOU JUST NEED A MOUSE , TWO HARD DRIVEs, AND SOME PATIENCE!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Pentium 4 OC'd to 3.0GHZ and a Pentium Dual Core E2180 @2GHZ
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-***** and a ASUS model
    Memory
    768MB DDR1 / 2GB DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    RADEON 9800 PRO / NVIDIA Geforce FX5200
    Sound Card
    Intel built-in AC'97 Audio / Realtek High Def Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 913V/213BW / Acer X193
    Screen Resolution
    12**x10** / 10**x7** / 16**x10**
    Hard Drives
    1: 320GB SATA
    2: 20GB SATA
    3: 40 GB SATA
    4: 150 GB SATA
    PSU
    Not sure
    Case
    ASUS ASPIRE / HP Pavilion 754n / Custom
    Cooling
    Not sure
    Keyboard
    NeXXTech Office KeyBoard / Acer Keyboard / UNITECH
    Mouse
    Razor DeathAdder / Logitech Wireless / Acer Wheel mouse
    Internet Speed
    100MBits per second
    Other Info
    Happy right now ^^
That is exactly the problem, no patience hence free program, relax sit back and have a coffee.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5920gmi notebook
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800 x 4294967296 colors
    Internet Speed
    crawl
Hence whats the difference from going into C:\ and then copying all folders and such and dragging and dropping?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Pentium 4 OC'd to 3.0GHZ and a Pentium Dual Core E2180 @2GHZ
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-***** and a ASUS model
    Memory
    768MB DDR1 / 2GB DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    RADEON 9800 PRO / NVIDIA Geforce FX5200
    Sound Card
    Intel built-in AC'97 Audio / Realtek High Def Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 913V/213BW / Acer X193
    Screen Resolution
    12**x10** / 10**x7** / 16**x10**
    Hard Drives
    1: 320GB SATA
    2: 20GB SATA
    3: 40 GB SATA
    4: 150 GB SATA
    PSU
    Not sure
    Case
    ASUS ASPIRE / HP Pavilion 754n / Custom
    Cooling
    Not sure
    Keyboard
    NeXXTech Office KeyBoard / Acer Keyboard / UNITECH
    Mouse
    Razor DeathAdder / Logitech Wireless / Acer Wheel mouse
    Internet Speed
    100MBits per second
    Other Info
    Happy right now ^^
Big problem comes when you have everything set up with an OS that you want to mirror exactly - drag and drop does not do it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5920gmi notebook
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800 x 4294967296 colors
    Internet Speed
    crawl
Pfft Whats the point in that, can't he just re-install windows and keep his personal files?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Pentium 4 OC'd to 3.0GHZ and a Pentium Dual Core E2180 @2GHZ
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-***** and a ASUS model
    Memory
    768MB DDR1 / 2GB DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    RADEON 9800 PRO / NVIDIA Geforce FX5200
    Sound Card
    Intel built-in AC'97 Audio / Realtek High Def Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 913V/213BW / Acer X193
    Screen Resolution
    12**x10** / 10**x7** / 16**x10**
    Hard Drives
    1: 320GB SATA
    2: 20GB SATA
    3: 40 GB SATA
    4: 150 GB SATA
    PSU
    Not sure
    Case
    ASUS ASPIRE / HP Pavilion 754n / Custom
    Cooling
    Not sure
    Keyboard
    NeXXTech Office KeyBoard / Acer Keyboard / UNITECH
    Mouse
    Razor DeathAdder / Logitech Wireless / Acer Wheel mouse
    Internet Speed
    100MBits per second
    Other Info
    Happy right now ^^
Each to his own;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5920gmi notebook
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800 x 4294967296 colors
    Internet Speed
    crawl
OMG man, of course you need something more, because you cannot copy your system while it is running! If you knew something about windows, you would know that many files are locked thus cannot be copied. And of course the system should be copied in its shut down state which can be done only if you boot from something other and not your system disk you want to copy ;)
 

My Computer

:devil::D
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5920gmi notebook
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800 x 4294967296 colors
    Internet Speed
    crawl
Pfft Whats the point in that, can't he just re-install windows and keep his personal files?
Hey people if you don't have an advice, then at least don't write :) It's about keeping registry and thus all settings. Also keeping windows search index may save weeks of hard drive crunching (this is how long it took on my system until my drive was fully indexed and finally stopped). Anyway, I will probably reinstall my system because I will change motherboard, so I guess it would be better choice then :-]
 

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