IMPORTANT question about copying hard drives

[blurredvision]

I recently bought a 40GB hard drive, and I want to completely copy everything from my old 8GB to a 10GB partition on the new drive. First off, can I simply do this by using something like Windows Explorer, and just copying and pasting?? Would it work like that? Second, once I copied everything from my old drive, which is currently C:, to the 10GB partition, which is D:, can I ultimately switch the drive D: to the letter C: after I take out the old 8GB?? Thanks, you're input is GREATLY appreciated.

 

[MadMaximus]

Unfortunately, you can't simply copy from one drive to another and expect to boot fine from the other drive (due to hidden system files). The easiest way is to use a disk cloning utility such as Norton Ghost (symantec product) or Imagecast. Since such utilities fdisk and format for you, all you would have to do is a disk to disk clone. (you won't have to worry about changing drive letters) I think norton has a trial version you can use; check out their site (www.symantec.com) ? The ugly alternative is install your new hard drive as a primary, reinstall windows, and copy docs/files to it from your old drive. But you would also have to reinstall all apps as well.

 

[blurredvision]

Thanks for the info MadMaximus. I couldn't find a trial of Norton Ghost on Norton's website. Can anybody provide a link to where I can get this trial version, and can I atleast do a normal copy without any restrictions with the trial?? Also, who makes Imagecast, and is there a link?? Thanks.

 

[woodie1]

Many (WD, Maxtor, others) Hardrive makers have a utility on their sites which will format and copy any partitions from the old drive to the new. All you need is a blank floppy. As long as one drive is WD or Maxtor or whatever you can use their software.

 

[rb56]

You might try here😉, I use ghost and it works very well, one of the best software purchases I've made.

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

if all you want to effectively do is copy one partition to anorther and have it working like the original try a little program called filecopy.

look for it Russ's site under download and utilities, i think.

it runs in windows and is really easy to use.. 🙂

i copied over a couple of hard drives with it myself and is really useful 🙂

 

[RickH]

I second the free software on the drive manufactures sites..MaxBlast etc. It partitions ,formats and copies the drive. Works great.

 

[blurredvision]

I actually ended up using the Norton Ghost trial, which worked perfectly.

 

[overmars]

<< Thanks for the info MadMaximus. I couldn't find a trial of Norton ghost on Norton's website. Can anybody provide a link to where I can get this trial version, and can I atleast do a normal copy without any restrictions with the trial?? Also, who makes Imagecast, and is there a link?? Thanks >>



ImageCast is made by Storage Soft: Product info

They have a free trial you can d/l here: http://www.ics-iq.com/downloads.cfm

I've actually had to use Image Cast to deploy software across multiple hard drives and it's pretty easy to use.

marc