new hard drive partition

Hello,
I think my hard drive is nearing its end. I plan to get a new hard drive. current one is with 37GB and am planning to get a bigger one say 100GB. I have backed up the hard disk which has only one partition with acronis TI.
I heard lot of bad stories that when you restore image into a bigger disk, the space will shrink.

I want to use disk director to make partitions in new hard disk and restore image.

My questions: I never used disk director before so, some basic questions are,
1. is it necessary to make partitions in new, bigger hard disk.
2. I know people keep OS in one partition, applications in another etc. How to do these.
3. please explain in sequence- like, make the image with TI, remove old hard disk, insert new hard disk, etc.
4. should I install DD in old disk or in new disk.
5. restoring into new, bigger disk without losing data.

Grover and Mudcrab educated me on using acronis TI before, hope they or someone else will help me here.
thanks a lot.

 

You can certainly create the partition(s) ahead of time using DD, if you wish. I frequently do it this way as it's easier to get things setup in the layout I want.

You can also restore your Windows partition with Resize with TI to make it larger.

You didn't state what Windows you're using. I'm assuming XP.

If you want to setup the partitions ahead of time with DD, then I would suggest as follows:

• Use TI to create an entire disk backup image of your current drive -- check the Disk # checkbox (save to another internal or USB drive, etc.)
• Shutdown computer and remove the old hard drive
• Install the new hard drive
• Boot to the DD CD and create the Windows partition the size you want (use NTFS Primary)
• Create the Data partition (if wanted) in the remaining space (NTFS Logical or Primary)
• Apply changes to create the partitions (if not done after each step)
• Exit DD and reboot to the TI CD
• Start TI
• Select to Restore, browse to your saved backup image and select it
• Select to restore just the Windows partition (just check the Windows partition)
• Proceed through the Wizard and select the New Windows Partition on the new hard drive as the destination
• Select to restore the partition as Active
• Proceed to the point where TI asks if you want to restore another disk or partition and select Yes
• Select the MBR and Track 0 option
• Select the New Disk as the destination
• Proceed to finish the restore process

Windows should now be restored to the partition you created with DD and should boot when you remove your DD/TI CD and reboot the computer. Make sure the new drive is selected in the computer's BIOS as the booting hard drive.

You can install DD on the old drive before you image it and then it will be on the new drive when you restore the image to it. You can also install DD to the new drive after you boot Windows on it. It doesn't make any difference.

As for any data loss, if you remove the old drive from the computer and keep it safe, you can always reinstall it if necessary and be right back where you are now with no data loss. If you leave the drive in the computer, you risk accidentally selecting it and restoring over it (this shouldn't happen, but it could).

After you have successfully restored to the new drive and everything is working, you can decide if you want to install the old drive and use it for something else or just leave it uninstalled.

For the data partition, the choice is again yours. Different people use these for different things. I prefer to install all Windows programs and applications into the Windows partition. This is where they default to and some programs have problems if you specify other locations. I use my data partitions for backups, large files, TV recordings and any other files I don't want cluttering up my OS partition. For example, I have a Downloads folder on my data partition where I save all my program updates, downloaded files, programs, etc. This is many GBs of data I don't want to have to backup when I image my OS partition.

 

thank you Mudcrab,
I am using windows xp professional. Inspiron 8600 dell. My c : disk is with only one partition.

They are excellent step by step instructions.

Few questions.
1. You mentioned in the end that, you image with TI the OS partition and leave data partition which is many GBs worth.

I am under the impression, when we image with TI, we want the system to be back to where it was before something bad happened. If I image only OS partition, when I restore I will lose data. I assume, you are saying, image OS partition with TI and store the data files separately with TI or with any other software like Memeo autobackup ( this came with my seagate Ext. HD). Did I understand this correctly?

2. How much space to allocate for each partition. can I change the size of the partitions later on, without losing data? Do we usually create 2 partitions- one for OS and another for data?

3. during restoration, after creating the windows partition, you mentioned select to create another partition and choose MBR and track. when do I select to create partition for data?

4. you also mentioned to create the partitions with DD ahead of time to set the layout. How to decide the sizes of the partitions in the current 37 GB and when I install new 100 or 150 GB, how does the size of the partitions adjust?

thank you.

 

Yes, that's correct. I usually image the OS partition more often than my data partition. Having the separate partitions lets you back them up on different schedules. I also backup my data files and work files with other backup programs so I have more than one backup of my important files.

How much space depends on what you are installing and how big your partition already is. See answer to #4 below.

Yes, you can resize later with DD without losing data. However, it is strongly recommended that you backup your disk before doing any partition procedures as data loss can happen if something goes wrong.

Not "create" another partition. Select to "Restore" another partition. Then you can go back and restore the MBR. If you don't restore the MBR to the new drive TI should replace it with a Generic MBR (which should still boot Windows).

The Data Partition would have already been created using DD before you restored the TI image to the new Windows partition.

If your current Windows partition is 37GB (probably a 40GB hard drive), I would give the new partition a size of 60-80GB to allow room for growth. However, if you know that you're going to copy off 20GB of "data" files to the new Data Partition, then you can include that space in your calculation.

I would recommend at least a 160GB drive for the current price ranges. You may even find a good deal on a 250 for only a few bucks more. If you go with a 160GB drive (formatted @150GB), use at least 60GB for the OS partition and use the rest for the Data partition.

 

thank you very much Mudcrab for the quick clarification.

Acronis also has migrate easy product. To move to a new higher GB hard drive, which one do you recommend, migrate easy or disk director. I have only TI. I am wondering which one to buy for home use.

Any special circumstance for each one.

thank you.

 

I have no experience with Migrate Easy.

Installing a new hard drive and restoring a backup using TI is all that is needed, in this case. You can resize during the restore and use Windows Disk Management to create the data partition. There isn't really any need for any other software. That being said, I find DD an extremely useful program and probably use it more than TI.

 

thank you for all the info. One question remains.

Now in my 37GB there is 17 GB free space. so OS , applications AND data took 20 GB. I want to make partitions with DD beforehand. How can I separate OS and data from 20 GB and put them in their respective partitions.

So When I buy 160 GB hard drive, allot 60 GB for OS partition and 100 GB for data partition, I can restore them into their partitions.

thank you Mudcrab for taking me step by step in this process. I really appreciate this.

 

hi mudcrab
1. please answer my above question.
2. on acronis TI: i have an old hp desktop. Here you cannot boot into external device ( I cannot use ext HD or flash drive ) and my CD-ROM drive is not working. I have Is there anyway I can create or use acronis TI to create image.

thank you.

 

1. To separate the OS and the data depends on how you set it up to begin with. For example, you may want to create a folder in the Data partition for photos or for downloads and then move all your photos and downloads there. Data that's "attached" to a program is harder to move. I'd start with the "unattached" data first (photos, mp3s, videos, etc.).

2. I would recommend you get a replacement CD drive (@$30). If you can't do that and have a free internal drive, you could make it bootable with TI (like you would an external) and boot to it to do backups. You could also create a partition on the existing hard drive and make that bootable. This gets more complicated than replacing a CD drive, but can be done. If you just want to image the drive, it may be easier to take the drive out and connect to to another computer where you can boot from a TI CD and do the backup there. Then put the drive back into the HP.

 

hi Mudcrab.
1. i will start with moving data
2. i think it is simpler to get CD rom replaced.

thank you.