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Copying my primary partition to a new HDD (never done this before).

I

imported_rod

Golden Member
Hey guys.
I just bought a 320GB HDD, and I want to move two of my partitions (one primary and one logical)on my 200GB drive to my 320GB, and expand the last partition(logical) to fill up my 200GB drive. I already have PartitionMagic Pro 7, so I just wanna know if I can just use the copy function and make a new primary partition on the new drive. Is there anything I need to be careful of (like making two primary HDD's)?.

BtW: I already have Partition Magic Pro 7, so it doesn't really seem worth buying Ghost.

RoD
 
Hi, I have Partition Magic 8, but do not use it to CLONE a drive. I think you can use it. You can not just copy the info to the new drive. If you have XP loaded on the old drive, XP has a CLONE feature. Try the Help for that. Drive makers also have clone programs. Maxtor's is called MAX BLAST. It will setup the drive and Clone it. You don't have to set it up if alreadyu done. Some versions require that one of the drives must be a Maxtor. Others don't care. Ver. 1.1 for example. There are lot's of other ways to do the job. I'm sure you will get plenty of good help here. Good Luck, Jim
 
I'd generally suggest using the mfr's software as you have chosen to do. If that can't resize the partitions for the new drive, then you could use PM to do that part once the old drive has been copied to the new.

.bh.
 
PM can shake and bake partitions any way you like. Older versions may not be able to deal with NTFS (or other partitions larger than 120 or so GB), so better to be sure before the attempt.

.bh.
 
Well it handles NTFS, and my biggest partition is 90GB.

Can anyone tell me for sure if 'copying' a partition in the Western Digital tools will clone it? It sounds like it just copies it file for file.

RoD
 
I've copied it with PM, and it didn't work. When trying to boot fram that disk, i get an "Operation System Missing" Error.

Gotta go to Uni now. I'll try the WD tools tonight when i get home.

RoD
 
Hi Again, You can partition first if you make the partition to be Cloned plenty large enough to hold the data on the old one. Partition doesn't have to be the same size as the old one, just bigger. MERGE has worked for me many times. I see no reason for you to have to use it. If you don't partition CLONE will use the entire drive.
Hope this helps a bit, Jim
 
I tried using the copy partition function in both PM and the Western Digital Data Lifeguard software. Either way, i get the same errors:

If I try to boot from the new HDD, i get the error: "Error Loading OS"

When I load from the old HDD, I get an option to boot "Windows 2000 Professional" or " " (the second option is blank). It's fine when I boot-up Windows 2000 Pro (which is on my old drive), but when i load the second one i get the error : "Windows 2000 could not be loaded because the follwing file is missing or Corrupt: <windows 2000 root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe"

Any ideas how to fix this???

RoD
 
Boot to the PM disk and set the primary partition on the new drive to Active. Win doesn't like to have two primary partitions set to Active, so partitioning software doesn't always automatically set new primary partitions to active.

.bh.
 
1- BACKUP YOUR DATA

2- Right click on "My Computer" and click on "Manage".
Click on "Disk Management" in the left pane.
Left click on the new partition that you have created and click on "Make partition as active".
Reboot.


3- If the partition you want to boot to is not the same order as the one you boot to on the old one, you need to edit the boot.ini file on the new partition to point to the right partition.

4- Run Partition Magic
Right click on the old boot partition and click on "Advanced/Change Drive Letter". Change the drive letter. DO NOT APPLY!!!!

5- Right click on the new boot partition and do the same and change its drive letter to the same drive letter the old boot partition used to be.

6- Click "Apply".
Partition Magic will say that it needs to reboot to apply changes. Let it. Cross your fingers (you can pray too if you want)!!!
 
The partition on new HDD was set as active. I figured that if it was set as active, and the other HDD was disconnected, it would work, but it doesn't.

Also, the size of the new HDD is smaller than the drive that it is a copy of!

RoD
 
If you have both drives connected at one point when you create the new one, the new one will be given another drive letter obviously. After you remove the old one, the new does not necessarily change its drive letter automatically. As long as the drive letter is not the same, all the pointers in the OS are pointing to a non-existing drive.

It may be possible to do it if you do the imaging (copying if possible) from DOS.
 
Hi, You can not COPY the data to the new drive. It must be CLONED. If not cloned you will not get all the hidden files and system files. It will not BOOT. Try another CLONE program. Luck, Jim
 
Well, I used the manufacturer tools, like everyone suggested, and that didn't work. Neither did PM.

Why is this so hard!!!

Is there a way to change the drive letters of an NTFS drive from dos/with a boot disk?

RoD
 
2 problems:

1) I don't have any way to back-up 50GB of my photography and home video

2) I didn't have the option to set the drive as active.

RoD
 
According to Disk Management, Disk 0 (the old disk) has C drive which is SYSTEM. The drive I want to load the OS from is on Disk 1 - H drive which is ACTIVE.

RoD
 
Originally posted by: rod
2 problems:

1) I don't have any way to back-up 50GB of my photography and home video

2) I didn't have the option to set the drive as active.

RoD
Click to expand...

Then, I wouldn't do it!
I can tell you how to change the drive lettter. But, there is always the possibility of data loss. I know now some idiot is gonna come here and say "I did it and I have never had a problem since .....". But, you get my point! If you choose to do what I telll you, without backing up the data, you are taking the risk of losing all of those photographs and movies!
 
Originally posted by: rod
According to Disk Management, Disk 0 (the old disk) has C drive which is SYSTEM. The drive I want to load the OS from is on Disk 1 - H drive which is ACTIVE.

RoD
Click to expand...

This means you have skipped step 1 and are done with step 2!

You can now continue to step 3. Needless to say, you will be taking a big risk that I would not!!
 
Originally posted by: rod
1) I don't have any way to back-up 50GB of my photography and home video
Click to expand...

XP Pro has a backup utility included that you can use to backup your data. it will be backed up to a single file. You can direct it to create this backup file on your other (new) hard drive. This is not a perfect backup since you are still working on both drives. But, since the data will be on both drives (original format on the old drive and the backuip file on the new drive, you have diversity!
 
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