Buying a Raptor HD

[Rumple]

I am going to purchase a 150gb Raptor drive in the very near future and i dont really want to reinstall Vista X64. What i would like to do is copy my OS and other programs over to teh raptor and then reformat my old 250gb hard drive and use it for storage. My question is how do i do this? I have read about HD cloning software. If thats what i use what program should i use? Im not afraid to purchase a program to achieve this but free is always better.

Are there any potential problems doing this with Vista? Like activation problems or anything? I have an OEM copy of Vista but i am not changing nor have i changed any parts in this pc since i built it.

 

[NoelS]

Rumple,

Since the Raptor is a WD HDD, the retail version should have a CD with it that has a clone program included. If you're buying it OEM, then go here: http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1 and on the left dialog box scroll down to Raptor. On the right side select the Data Lifeguard Tool for your OS and download it. Run and it should include a cloning tool. Clone your current HDD to the Raptor and clean the old one off to use as a second drive. You'll have to have both HDDs hooked up into your computer so you can recognize both and navigate the clone tool to follow the prompts.

A clone should be an exact duplicate, so no need for re-activation. Just like putting a backup on a clean drive.

Good luck, Noel

 

[boomerang]

I installed OEM Vista Business on a spare HD to keep my XP intact before I finalized my move to Vista.

When ready, I cloned the Vista to the Raptor that had XP on it using the latest version of Acronis TI. I did not activate it until after I'd done the clone. No activation issues for me.

After cloning, Vista would not boot. I booted off the Vista DVD and did a Startup Repair and all was well.