How to Install a new Hard Drive

Hey guys, please help me! OK, I have a dell laptop with a hard drive that will probably boot about 3 more times and that's it; SHE"S DEAD. So, I now have a new hard drive, a USB external hard drive, and Acronis True Image.

Form searching, it looks like imaging is more reliable than cloning, so I think I'll do that instead of cloning. I have an image on the USB external drive now. My old drive has 3 partitions; the dos one, the main one with operating system, and a dell recovery partition.

What do I do to restore the old stuff onto the new drive exactly how it was with the 3 separate partitions etc Also, I made the image from within Windows. Should I do it from the bootable CD as I read that as well is more reliable. Thanks for any help guys.

 

Make an image to your USB drive of the whole disk. Tick Disk 1 and it will tick all the partitions listed under it. This will also copy the MBR. Validate the archive so you have confidence in it; this would best be done using the rescue CD since it is what you are going to have to use to restore the disk and this will verify that the Linux drivers are happy with your USB drive.

Put the new disk in the machine. Startup the rescue bootable CD and restore the whole disk which will also restore the MBR.

I always make my images from within Windows without any problems.

 

It sounds like you have every thing you need. Boot from your TI CD then restore from the image on your USB drive to the new hard drive in your laptop. Select all partitions in the image when at the given the opportunity. If the new disk is not identical in size to the dying one you will have to accept the option of resizing.
Hope this enough to get you going.

 

So is imaging more reliable than cloning? I guess it's the only thing I can do cause I can't hook 2 regular hard drives to my computer.

I've just read too many threads here where someone images/restores or clones and their system is quirky afterwards! IS True Image more reliable than Ghost?

 

1. I would rather Restore an Image than "Clone".

2. I've tested Acronis on my Spare HD many times. Also, I've tested to 3 other HD's as well. I have Never had one problem with my method. Which is doing it ALL from the "Boot CD". I make FULL Backup Images after booting up the Recovery Boot-CD, and of course....Restore the Image from it as well.

*Tip*
Run "Chkdsk", ...and then "Defrag" (5 or 6 times)...right before you make the Image.

 

I greatly prefer the image/restore method to produce a copy of an existing hard drive for the following reasons.
1. It is a failsafe method as the source drive is not even connected while the restore process is running. There is no need for the two identical drives to ever be in the computer at the same time.
2. Exactly the same method would be used to recover from an image archive following a hard drive failure so it is excellent practice.
3. The image source is only read so if there was some glitch with the restoration it could be repeated or another image could be chosen.
4. In computers with only one hard drive it really is the easier method as one only needs the external image source and the recovery CD.

 

A chkdsk pass would probably be worthwhile but given the original poster has said he has "only 3" boots left in his failing drive I would be far more inclined to get an image made and restored without needlessly exercising the drive doing defrags.

 

Hello Drew99GT,

In case you haven't already done so, use the Acronis Backup Archive Validation Wizard to check the integrity of the image on the USB HD whilst you are still in Windows. If the image is corrupt then you have the opportunity to create another one without consuming a precious reboot cycle. Once the image has been validated successfully in Windows, boot from the rescue CD and validate the image once again before you commence the actual restore.

Regards

 

I see your point; but however, there are people out there that literally have Never run "Chkdsk", and "Defrag" on their HD. Really meant for this to be a helpful tip for future Imaging.

Since the user said it would "probably boot 3 more times", I don't see how running Chkdsk, and Defrag will hurt it. Besides, there is already an Image made.

 

I agree he already had an image but my view is that when your HD is having problems the effort should be first and foremost to get a new one operational. Even though he said he had a few boots left, the real problem he is having was not defined so if he was having general R/W problems, a defrag could create a big mess.

Where I am in total agreement is running chkdsk at suitable intervals on the HD as part of preventative maintenance and before every few backups. If the structure is bad who knows what the TI restore algorithim might do.

 

OK guys, got it done. IT WORKED FLAWLESSLY and I even made the image from within windows, not the boot CD. I tried this morning to remake the image from the boot CD but the ol hard drive wouldn't go.

Before I made the image the first time, I ran CCleaner, defraged, and ran chkdsk and I also did the validation wizard. I am STUNNED! I can't believe how easy and painless that was. Thanks for the help and support guys; I mainly just needed the support because this was the "hardest" thing I've ever done with a computer and it turned out to be the easiest!!!

Oh, and it only took about 50 minutes and that was with a lot of stuff and 3 different partitions. Man o man, I still can't believe how easy that was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a lot of important stuff on this computer. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

 

Congratulations! Glad everything is fine and now that you know how easy it is to make images, I'm sure you will be backing up your system at suitable intervals.