Using Acronis for second hard drive

Hello,
I am going to put a second hard drive into my computer.
Then move everything from my first hard drive over.
But first things first. I have Acronis 9 and I notice that
it has a part that helps with a new hard drive.
I know how to install the hard drive into the computer, but
I don't know anything about creating partitions and all that.
Will Acronis be good for that? I am buying a Seagate
and I know they have a helper also. But since I already
own Acronis, I thought I would use it.
Is it good for a real novice?
Thanks,
Bill

 

First use the "Add New Drive" function to prepare the new drive. Then use the "Clone" function to transfer everything to the new drive.

Important: After the cloning has finished and before you let the new drive boot, you must disconnect the old drive.

 

A followup on that. I will have the second drive (the new one)
on the secondary cable. After I clone the drive, can I just
open the computer and switch the hard drives?

Thanks,
Bill

 

Sure you can if you want to. Or if your system is set to boot from any bootable device you can just disconnect the one on the Primary cable and the system should boot from the one on the Secondary.

 

I think it's just as good as TrueImage 10. Actually, it is a lite version of TI 10 - if you bothered to install it, you'd see the "Powered by Acronis" logos.

Frankly, I think you should not install it and contiue to use your full version of TI 9 as DwnNDrty described.

 

Hello wayneout,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Let me correct DwnNdrty's reply a bit:

Please note that it is not necessary to prepare the newly installed (target) drive using Add New Disk tool of Acronis True Image before cloning (as well as before restoration), since the cloned/restored drive will have the same partition structure and file system as the original (source) drive. Clone Disk tool of Acronis True Image also allows you to resize the partitions during clone procedure to fit the new drive.

We would recommend that you find additional information about using Clone Disk tool in Chapter 13. "Transferring the system to a new disk" in the Acronis True Image 10.0 Home User Guide.

Please also note that as DwnNdrty said, after the disk cloning is finished you should unplug one of the hard drives prior to booting into Windows for the first time. The point is that keeping two identical hard drives (hard drives having identical digital signatures) connected at the same time is "unpleasant" for Windows and might cause a number of boot and\or drive letter assignment problems. After you boot into Windows from one of the hard drives at least once, please feel free to turn off the computer and connect another disk.

And now you can use Add New Disk tool of Acronis True Image to re-partition the old drive, if needed. The detailed instructions on how to add new disk provided in chapter 14. “Adding a new hard disk” in the respective User's Guide.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Thank you for clarify the part about disconnecting one of the
hard drives.
But I want to make sure before I do this that I am doing it right.
After I install the second drive, the second drive will be on the
middle connector and the old drive will be on the end connector.
Then, I will do a clone of the old disk. (this will add the new disk
to my computer as well)
After the cloning I then have to disconnect one of the drives before
booting into Windows. (does this mean that after cloning, the computer
will shut down?) Then after, booting into windows once, I can
then shut down the computer and and then hook the second drive
back up.
One more question if you don't mind. If the new drive becomes my "C"
drive, then what happens when I hook the second drive back up.
Will it be assigned a new letter?
Thanks
Bill

 

Rephrasing your comment slightly:

You will have to shut the computer down after the clone is compledted. Just press and hold the power button until the system turns off.

I would disconnect the original drive and connect the new drive with the END connector so that it is the boot drive. The system can then be rebooted, and the new drive will be the boot drive with Windows on C as usual.

Yes, if you put it on the middle connector, there won't be any question about which drive you will boot from. You can then repartition the original drive to remove the Windows files, etc. that are no longer needed.

Yes, the original drive will become drive D:.

Let us know how the cloning goes.

 

I know that I am a pain in the neck, but one last thing.
I have installed the second hard drive and I can right click
on "My Computer" and "manage" and then "disk management"
I can see my second drive there. (hooray, I did that right, I guess)
But it says that it is "not intialized."
If I do nothing else other than "clone disk" from Acronis, then
will that intialize the hard drive? Or to I have to use disk management
to do that first. I just want to make double sure.
Sorry, some of us baby boomers can be slow sometimes.
This is my last question before the cloning starts.
Bill

 

Clone Away! You need to do nothing else.

 

Whew! It took 8 hours to clone, but I am now on my
new hard drive. Thanks for all the help.
Bill