Restoring image to new (larger) HDD - same system

Hi all - I've read through various threads to get an answer to this question but still have doubts - it's a simple enough question but I'm not a techie & I want to be sure........

Let's say I've created a (TI9) bootable CD and a full image backup onto a USB drive and my main drive fails (or I simply want to set up my system on a larger HDD). If I remove the old HDD and reinsert a brand new HDD in the (laptop) PC is the restore as simple as booting from the CD and running restore on the image file (I assume the CD will enable the USB drive to be seen) or do I have to do something complicated with the HDD before attempting the restore??

Thanks everyone!

Peter

 

Recovery from a HDD failure really is that easy. Upgrading to a bigger drive can be done the same way and it is an excellent test that your disaster recovery actually works. However you will have some extra space unused on the new drive. This can be brought into use by several different methods. I would choose a partition management program.
The recommended Acronis way to upgrade to a bigger Hdd would be to use the clone process during which you could enlarge your partitions to fill the new Hdd.

Xpilot

 

Thanks for youir help xpilot!

 

There is a better way.....

Doing what you outline will result in the new larger drive having the exact same size partition structure as the image from the old smaller drive.

What you really should do is to use TI's disk clone feature to automatically upsize your entire smaller drive's partition structure to the new larger drive.

In order to use the clone feature, you'll need to use a suitable USB external hard drive enclosure to hold one of the two drives while cloning.

Here's how I would do it if I only had my computer with the small drive in it, the new larger drive, and a USB2 enclosure with no hard drive in it:

1) Create the TI Recovery CD.
2) Install the new larger hard drive in my computer.
3) Install the original small drive in the USB2 external case.
4) Reboot with the TI Recovery CD.
5) Clone the small (now USB external) drive to the new large internal drive.
6) Shut down all equipment.
7) Disconnect the USB external drive from the computer.
8 ) Restart your computer with the new cloned large drive.
9) After you're sure the new drive works properly you can reconnect the USB drive and wipe it with TI's Add Disk feature and use it for storing future images of your new large drive.

One reason I would do it this way is because you only need two drive mechanisms to upgrade with and you can really use the old mechanism for something useful when you're finished.

Another reason I would do it this way is that you don't need to use any additional partitioning software and you reduce the risk that by repartitioning your new drive using the old drive image you might introduce an operating problem in the process. As an example, some manufacturers' drives with recovery partitions can't be successfully repartitioned without interfering or disabling the computer's recovery feature.

TI's Disk Clone feature is the way to go for size upgrades. Good luck.