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Best way to transfer data between hard drives

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PCNoob101

Member
I am switching computers with my dad. The harddrive on the computer I am getting is a:

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JB 250GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM

The harddrive I am giving away is a:

Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JB 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM


What is the best way to switch everything on the hard drives so that all windows settings and files and programs are almost identical to my old hard drive (aside from the obvious things like hardware settings). I don't have a problem with reinstalling programs. Just looking for a painless way to get my new rig setup like my old one. Both hard drives are currently partitioned if that makes a difference. I can provide more info if necessary. TIA.
 
I also want to make sure my dad keeps all his old files and settings from his old harddrive (the one im getting) to his new harddrive (my old one I am giving him). Does that mean I would need a third and fourth harddrive if I wanted to clone them?

Also if I clone my current HD and put it on the new one, won't the drivers from my old system conflict with the different hardware on the new system?
 
If you have another PC, the best thing would be to plug in both HDDs there (but keep booting from the one already in there) and mirror the old one onto the new one. This way the complete file structure, settings etc. are preserved. After the mirroring is finished, you may want to extend the partition to make full use of the bigger HDD or create another partition behind the mirrored one. Then you just plug the new one into your dad's PC and off you go.

The best thing is - if you mess up somewhere (as long as you don't write on the old disk), you can try again until it works.

Cheers.
 
Originally posted by: PCNoob101
I also want to make sure my dad keeps all his old files and settings from his old harddrive (the one im getting) to his new harddrive (my old one I am giving him). Does that mean I would need a third and fourth harddrive if I wanted to clone them?
Click to expand...

Dad HD -> Temp HD
Your HD -> Dad HD
Temp HD -> Your HD

As long as nothing goes wrong that is.

Also if I clone my current HD and put it on the new one, won't the drivers from my old system conflict with the different hardware on the new system?
Click to expand...

Um... probably. It will probably boot, and you may be able to just add the drivers for the new hardware. It may or may not be stable.
 
Originally posted by: Henny
Use Acronis True Image and do a disk clone. (ie clone image from source to destination)
Click to expand...

You don't need a freaking 3rd drive as everyone is saying. It's not that hard. I just cloend my 7200.8 drive onto a 7200.9. Im returning the 7200.8 to warranty now.
 
Originally posted by: DLeRium
Originally posted by: Henny
Use Acronis True Image and do a disk clone. (ie clone image from source to destination)
Click to expand...

You don't need a freaking 3rd drive as everyone is saying. It's not that hard. I just cloend my 7200.8 drive onto a 7200.9. Im returning the 7200.8 to warranty now.
Click to expand...

He wants to preserve the data on both drives.
 
right, if the data is not huge on both drives, it can be done..

clone 80 into 250 as a FILE not as a disk to disk

so your 250 will contain 250 data + 80gb drives image file.

clone 250 gb hdd back to 80gb (assuming data is still under 80gb) as disk to disk.
Now your 80gb has a dupe of the 250gb data

now clone the IMAGE file thats sitting in the 80 gb back into the 250 gb as a partition.

Tricky, takes time and storage space.. you're better off buying another drive.. they're dirt cheap..
 
Thanks for the help and suggestions!

This seems like it can be a bit risky. My biggest concern is restoring the settings from my old computer onto the new one, that there will be a lot of conflicts because everything is a lot newer. Should I be worrying about this and is there a better way to achieve my goal that I am not thinking of (Basically upgrading toa new system)? Is a clean install the best way to do this?
 
Yes he can do it with just the 2 drives.
What he will want is Acronis true image software. Load it on both drives. Get an image of both drives.
Image Dad ---Save that on Dads HDD--
Image your drive --Save that on your HDD--
Then transfer Dads image to your drive.
Transfer your image to Dads drive.

---EDIT--- Just put both images on both drives. Then restore the image on the other drive. That is the way you can do it with 2.


Then restore image using True image software on each drive that simple.
I have about 15 images with that thing and have some laptops with their own images and have to restore from time to time. Not the best if you only have 2 drives 3 would be best, but 2 would work. Or if you just copied the image to a CD if it would fit, DVD, or usb drive memory etc.
 
What I meant to say is I'm worried about a conflict of drivers between computers, namely vid card, sound card, MB, etc.

Im not very familiar about drivers and how they work. What precautions can I take to avoid problems or the potential, if there is one, of hosing one of my systems.

 
You can reinstall the drivers... Windows will boot without drivers installed.

But keep in mind that Windows might not boot thought if you are changing chipsets.

You also might want to consider the better (and non-lazy) route of backing up your data to another HD and do a clean install. You will end up with a lot less problems that way.
 
Thanks again for all the feedback!

Here's another idea I had. Say I just want to keep my 4yr old 80gig harddrive and put it in the new system. First of all is it a good idea to put a 4 yr old HD into a new system? Secondly, whats the best way to deal with my old HD being installed into a system with all new components. Should I uninstall certain drivers before putting the old HD into the new system? Should I just install the HD into the new system and see what happens and go from there? Or something else. This is the first time Ive done anything like this, so assume I know nothing 🙂.
 
The last option 😉

Put it in and see what happens, and go from there. You can't damage the drive or the info on it (unless you somehow reformat it) so that would be the best way IMO.
 
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