Best Way To Transfer Data To New HDD

[ajemm]

I have a new Samsung 500GB on it's way. I would like to copy my XP installation, with all my partitions, from my current WD 320GB over to the new drive. What is the best way to do this? Are there any programs that would simplify this task?
I'm looking to copy everything over, plug in the new drive and be off and running.

 

[John]

Samsung & WD should have a free cloning tool on their website in the support & download section.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

You will need a drive imaging program such as Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. The process is fairly simple with these programs... I'm sure there are many other alternatives--those are just the two that I'm most familiar with.

 

[RebateMonger]

All hard drive makers have free utilities for doing this. If there's an option to do it in DOS or in Windows, use the Windows option, as it's much faster.

 

[Paperdoc]

I agree the HDD makers usually supply a utility. I have Seagates, and their site currently lets you download a trial (15-day) version of Acronis Migrate Easy. It does exactly what you need - partition and format the new drive, then copy eveything over and make the new unit bootable. Then you just swap cables and run. The new drive can be the full 500 GB even though the old one was smaller. Or, you can partition however you like.

 

[Boyo]

I would recommend using Acronis True Image to copy your files to the new HD. You can try a free 14 day trial that is fully functional, so sign up for the trial and use that.

 

[ajemm]

Thanks. I looked on both Samsung's and WD's site and didn't find a utility for cloning. I'll give Acronis a try. I read the user's guide and it looks pretty straight forward.