Harddrive copying?

My current harddrive is about to die on me, and I am going to upgrade from my current 40 GB to something like 320 GB harddrive. I was just wondering if there was anyway to completely clone my 40GB harddrive, leaving all installs, partitions, and all other things intact. A painless transfer to the new harddrive if you will.

Much appreciated.

 

I have heard a lot of good about True Image, I use it, and the backups go fine, but until now I have never had to do a restore, so can't say if it would work great or not. In the Wilder's forum here on True Image there seems to be both really good and bad experiences.

Hope you find what you are looking for,
HelpFromFrance

 

It seems that Acronis Migrate Easy 7.0 is exactly what I am looking for. Much thanks.

 

Make sure your motherboard can handle the new size drive.
This thread may be useful: Hard Drive Upgrade Question
In particular post 10.

 

I use True Image, which now has the features of Migrate Easy integrated, and have used it for just the purpose you are speaking of several times now with great success. After you get the drives in place, it's just a few mins and you're ready to go. I can wholeheartedly recommend it You can get it for cheap at newegg.com

 

Drive manufacturers, Western Digital for certain, offer copying software for free (if at least one drive is a WD). It copies everything proportionately, so if you had two 20GB on your current drive, you'd have two 160GB partitions on the new drive.

 

Ah. Yes. I have actually been wondering about that. I have a Compaq Presario 5000 series. It's an old decrepit 1.2 Ghz Celeron, but being a poor college kid, I can't really upgrade atm. I'm not sure about the mobo or anything, so I'm not sure if the mobo will detect such a large drive.

How does one check?

 

Subject to limitations of mobo/bios and type of hd
SUggest simple external USB hd enclosure.
CAn get them as basically part of hd purchase v.simple to use

Then;

terabyte : Free : Copy/Wipe.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/copywipe.html#download
Will make bootable copy of hd:

 

The easiest way is to dig up the motherboard manual that came with the computer. Look in the specs for ATA-33, ATA-66, ATA-100. It may be worded Ultra DMA 100, etc.
The next easiest way is to open the cover and look at the motherboard for the model number. Then search the manufacturer's website for online specs or a manual.
The last solution is to call HP (Compaq) and try to get some specs from their tech support. There are about 100 different models in the 5000-5300 series. Even the 5000 has several variations. You can check the computer model number on the back of the computer for the exact model.
Their website didn't have the specs listed or a manual, but maybe you can find more:
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html

It was probably made around 2001 and I would guess that it is ATA-100. You won't know for sure unless you get the specs.

Don't bother with "Drive Overlay" software like "MaxBlast" or whatever they call it now. This software allows you to use a bigger drive on an older system. They ususally cause you trouble down the road.

 

Hi Longboard,

This is a really good idea for people who don't want to get into a lot of the hardware install details (master/slave, which cable connector, etc.) and just copy and replace the drive. Even though the computer is more than likely USB 1, that will only be used once during the copy process. Just copy the drive through USB and replace the drive. If they want to keep the old drive installed then they will need to mess with the details.

 

Outpost.com and Fry's stores are now offering three Symantec programs free after rebates. They are Internet Security, Partition Magic, and Norton Ghost.

In order to get the rebates, you have to send it proof of purchase of one of many readily available Symantec and other programs that your may already own.

Norton Ghost will do this job nicely. I have done it many times in the past.

I own Acronis True Image too but have never been able to get it to restore it's own images. I prefer the program but a 100% failure rate is too high for me. When they fix the program, I will buy and use it again. Their web site has way too many people posting about restoration failures and corrupt images.

 

All that I got out of SiSoftware Sandra was this:

Mainboard
Manufacturer : Compaq
MP Support : 1 Processor(s)
MPS Version : 1.40
Model : 07A8h
Serial Number : 3D1BJXDSV167

I'm guessing that's what you mean by motherboard?

As for right now, I own a ST340810A, which I promptly Googled and found that it is a Seagate U Series 40810, and according to this site is an "Ultra ATA/100".

I'm guessing that 320 GB HDD is out of the question? :T

 

I would try something like Ghost, but I know people who have had problems with Ghost in the past, which is why I am reluctant to use that product as well.

 

sosaiso,
As JW Clements stated, you really do not have to buy any software. Software is included with the drive or you can download their utility (free) which will allow you to copy or clone a drive and allocate any remaining space. It would be as painless of you can get. Most all drive mfgrs offer their own utilities from their websites.

While a 320G would be nice, why not settle on 120G which has a much better chance of success. If you're looking for the easiest and quickest solution, then try the 120G. Watch for sales. Almost every week, one of the major stores has these on sale. Seagate offers a 5yr warranty and while the others are shorter--usually 1 year.

And, our course, another possiblity would be for an external hard usb hard drive. Or, if you have a left over 40G drive, then spend $35 and get yourself a usb hard drive enclosure and insert your old drive into that and use it for additional storage and backups.

 

Ah. I have not bought a harddrive before, so I didn't know there was software included. Hopefully they will migrate painlessly. I've been thinking about getting backup software for a long time now, but it's good to keep in mind.

As for 120GB I was actually thinking that, but a Western Digital 320 GB for only $99 seems to be more bang for my buck. Just checking if it's possible is all.

 

@Devinco & sosaiso

Yes.
I had thought this was implied in the OP.

Devinco's technical expertise and advice should be heeded.
There are many issues with very large HD and mobo/bios support to recognise the drive.
It is often not as easy as it seems, as I found out.
Setting the jumper cables is not hard but critical and occassionally frustrating.
BE careful when booting the new HD for the first time to have other disc disconnected or could cause issues.

I am sorry, I usually assume most posters here have more expertise than me and just try and chime in with helpful things I know a little about. I also tend to rush my postings a bit.

My comment about the external Usb drive was aimed squarely at simple purchase, copy/clone, then replace internal HD with new one, which I have successfully done.

That may sound like a small routine task for some, I was so puffed up with myself, I thought my head would burst. LOL Instant expert NOT.

Make sure you have a good back-up somewhere before trying copy/clone.

There may be another (!!) option for you to look at in terms of softs:
http://www.storagecraft.com/products/ShadowProtectDesktop/

Longboard.

 

mainboard = motherboard = mobo

I still couldn't find an online manual for your motherboard 07A8h.
(although the HP site does have some hard drive replacement tutorials with photos)
If you want to be absolutely sure it is ATA-100, you will need the manual or to contact hp tech support.
It is a pretty safe assumption that it is ATA-100 capable as most mobos of that time were ATA-100.

Save yourself some problems.
Get a Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 (model no. ST3120814A). It's 120GB, 7200RPM , ATA-100, 5yr warranty, and has an 8MB cache (watch out for similar model numbers that have only 2MB cache). Only about $65 OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer, meaning not in a retail box, and no screws, manual, cables, etc. Just the bare drive which is all you really need). If you will use both drives, then you will need screws for the second drive (either buy them separately or get the retail box version).

Can't recommend Ghost past version 2003, haven't actually used it.
The new Ghost is basically a relabeled Drive Image after Symantec acquired it from Power Quest. The older versions of Drive Image have always given me grief. Maybe the new version is better, but I have not been impressed with Symantec products in the past.

I have tried Terabyte Unlimited Image for Windows and Image for DOS (IFW/IFD). While it is not newbie friendly (they could make it much more so with a few simple changes) and has a very plain appearance, if you can get over the short enough learning curve, it is so far very reliable.

 

Bootit NG is a very powerful imaging software that's virtually indestructible. The total software footprint is under 1MB. Bootit combines an imaging/partitioning/bootloader into one program that is operating system INDEPENDENT!

The best strategy is to use Bootit NG to create a small 8MB FAT16 Primary partition at the END of the HARD DRIVE. Install Bootit NG in this partition and use Bootit NG as the bootloader. There is NO need for a boot disc when imaging or partitioning the HDD (including the Primary Active C partition) because Bootit resides it's own Primary partition. One can access the Bootit menu during PC boot via a timed Bootit splash screen.

The imaging speed is approximately 1350MB/min. Image restoration speed is closer to 1500MB/min (Seagate 7200.8 HDD with A64 @ 2.68GHz core speed). The software can write directly to an optical drive or a USB device.

I would avoid those bloated imaging software that runs in Windows. These applications must constantly be patched because of newly discovered faults. Since Bootit NG is OS independent, the chance of software incompatibility is VERY small. I've never come across a BIOS that's not compatible with Bootit NG.

 

Does BootNG works alongwoth instant recovery softwares like FDISR, RollBackRx etc.

 

With FD-ISR only if you're OK with having to pick one program or the other to control the MBR and with managing that choice yourself. If you know what you're doing you can pick which one controls the MBR when -- I do this on my main home desktop.

A good compromise, IMO, with BootItNG and FD-ISR is to let FD-ISR rule the MBR and only boot into BING from a floppy disk or other bootable media.

If you don't have the chutzpah to manage this or feel the least bit comfortable with it, forget it altogether.

 

chutzpah??

 

Yeah. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/chutzpah

 

I'm a power user. That's why I only rely on Bootit NG to backup my OS. Only WXP resides in the Primary active C partition (about 900MB). The pagefile and other non-essential items such as the i386 folder are moved to a different partition. Imaging or restoring time is under 1 min.

Bootit NG uses the PC's BIOS for various tasks. Any imaging software that modify the MBR may cause problem for Bootit NG. That said, if one provides Bootit NG with it's own primary partition at the end of the HDD, then the software should be able to image any partition (primary or extended logical) on the HDD.

I would avoid the layered approach when it comes to imaging software. KISS and go with the most reliable software that works with your rig. Always image the partition when it is not in use for the highest degree of reliability.

Most problems occur because something in the OS was modified or altered. Therefore, one should always image the ENTIRE OS partition.