How do I back up a Hard Drive with Windows on it???

[NYHoustonman]

Anybody have any ideas??? I just got my RMA'd HD, Tried copying everything over, some files wouldn't copy and I can't do a repair of Windows. Are there any (hopefully free) programs out there that will do this? Or am I looking at a definite fresh install? And why is Windows so ghey? Yes, naturally, someone is going to try to pirate Windows by getting duplicate computers and copying it over!!! It all makes sense now...

 

[johnjkr1]

Even if you copied over all the windows files, it wouldnt boot. You could try ghosting using one of several ghost-type programs, but ghosting a dead or dying hard drive doesn't install me with a whole bunch of confidence.

 

[NYHoustonman]

What exactly would that do? Would that give me my fully-functional old system back just as it was?

I'm guessing at this point that a reformat is in my future...

 

[johnjkr1]

A ghost program creats an "image" of your current drive. It creates an exact copy of your drive, and clones it to your new drive. Just moving the folders over does not bring the boot information, hidden files, etc. Problem is, if your old drive has bad sectors or platters, the clone can not fix those, so it might miss some important information.

Think of it like making a cd backup of some game or program. If you use a cd copier, you get an exact duplicate of the other disc, it autoruns, same structure, etc. If you just copy the folders from a cd to another one, it probably wont autorun, or let you do install the program or copy all the hidden files.

 

[Richard98]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
Anybody have any ideas??? I just got my RMA'd HD, Tried copying everything over, some files wouldn't copy and I can't do a repair of Windows. Are there any (hopefully free) programs out there that will do this? Or am I looking at a definite fresh install? And why is Windows so ghey? Yes, naturally, someone is going to try to pirate Windows by getting duplicate computers and copying it over!!! It all makes sense now...

Assuming that Windows works properly on the drive you're currently using, download the utility software from the manufacturers web site. The manufacturers software will have an option to copy from one drive to another. If you have a Western Digital, get Data Lifeguard Tools:
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[heyzeus]

i just used seagates diskwizard program (which can be downloaded free from seagate) to copy my windows, and have been using the copied drive ever since. of course if your drive isnt seagate i dunno if it will work.

 

[bldckstark]

You have to use the program offered by the manufacturer of the hard drive or it won't run.

 

[NYHoustonman]

I'll probably try WD's utility at some point tomorrow.

 

[NYHoustonman]

And it worked... Thanks .

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
And it worked... Thanks .

I know I'm jumping into this kind of late, but another free option is to boot off a linux live CD and use the "dd" command to do this. While typing something like "dd /dev/hda /dev/hdd bs=8192" in a terminal window isn't the most user-friendly way of doing things for your typical Windows user (who is used to wizards and menus and buttons), it's simple and it works well.