I have just purchased a new WD 3TB HDD to use as my primary data drive. I want to clone the old WD data drive to the new WD drive using Acronis TrueImage WD Edition. I got part way through the process and noticed that after the process is complete my old HDD will be empty of my data. This is causing me some anxiety. Is this a pretty reliable process? Do I run a chance to lose my data? Here's my current setup if it matters... C:drive is a 200GB SSD for OS E:drive is a 500GB Active, Primary Partition for Programs and My Documents I also have another 1TB drive for back-ups I assume I can't simply copy over my data and have the links to my programs work? Thanks for any assistance.
Nothing will be deleted when you clone the drive. No changes are made to the source drive. So, if something does go wrong and the cloning does not finish you will still have all your data.
BCbear I would check the setup (tick boxes etc) for the cloning app carefully before cloning. As far as I remember some cloning apps offer a choice to keep the data on the old drive or remove it.
sdmon - I didn't see anything in the steps that said anything about what to do with the data on the old drive. I did have a choice to use a simpler, standard process or advanced. I chose advanced since I don't need it to be a boot-able drive. Brian K - yes, my old drive is too full. 4% left
If you are worried about Acronis you can use Robocopy (copy/paste my line) from an Admin Command Prompt..... Code: robocopy E:\ K:\ *.* /mir /XD "System Volume Information" Recovery Recycler $Recycle.bin /copyall /dcopy:t /r:0 /log:c:\rclog.txt /v /xj /tee Change K: to the drive letter of your target partition on the 3 TB HD. If K: appears empty after the copy then use this from an Admin Command Prompt after changing the prompt to K: drive. Code: attrib -s -h Your source partition (E:\) will not be altered. I like Robocopy for complex copies.
roger-m - thanks. Found on WD website Drive Cloning - Copies the source drive to a new WD drive, leaving all data on the source drive. I guess I will proceed
After you have copied using Acronis or Robocopy you will need to change the drive letter E: to something else and then change K: to E: Then your programs will work.
