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Question Installing new Data drive (my pics,vids, docs)

Paladin

Paladin

Senior member
I need to replace my 1 TB data D: drive where all the Windows folders point to and store data, such as My Documents, My Picture, My Vidoes.... etc.
Got a new 4 TB WD Black drive.
What's the best course of action?
Just thinking, put in new drive, call it N:
Copy D:\*.* N:\
rename D to something, then N to D.
Would all the Windows pointers resolve correctly since the directory names are the same as they used to be?
Or is there a better way to do this?
Thanks
 
It seems to me that you could simply clone the 1TB to the 4TB, then swap them out. Some cloning software provides option to expand the target size of the partition, but I think Windows allows you to expand a drive volume from its Computer Mangement utility. I keep thinking in terms of Windows 7, and I use the Classic Shell add-in.

Look around for a utility you can download or purchase called Mini Tool. Somebody else can prescribe similar software utilities. The Macrium people will tell you that Macrium Reflect will do clones, but increasing the volume size or moving a volume did not seem to be on the list of features in their advisory to me.

But you really shouldn't have much of a problem with this. Wait for more specific info. I'm pretty sure, though, that everything you need is in Mini Tool.

Also, take care, when making a clone, to shut down the computer immediately thereafter, unplug the PSU and then remove the old drive and put the new one on the old one's SATA (whatever) port. I'm thinking you shouldn't even need to fool with manual manipulation of drive lettering.
 
First, as you likely know, use Disk Management to initialize the new drive, partition it and then assign a Letter.
If you" clone" D, the operation will set up the clone with the format, partition and data of the old drive in several clicks within the cloning app. I use Macrium Free
www.macrium.com

Macrium Reflect | Free 30-Day Trial

Macrium Reflect - Incredibly powerful software that allows you to create and schedule effective backups
www.macrium.com www.macrium.com
.

BTW Macrium does allow for expanding the size of the volume of the cloned drive.
 
For macrium, to expand a partition size just make sure you manually drag the partition to be cloned to the empty destination drive and then use the controls there to expand it.

The automatic "clone this drive" option/button will lock out the option to expand it.
 
Macrium Reflect or Macrium "Free" should be the way to go. The other posters had to refresh me on its range of features; if you don't do something very often, it's easy to forget the details.

You could -- as someone else said, just format the 4TB drive -- I would think as GPT -- and copy your folders to it. If I had to wager, I would lean toward it taking longer, but it depends on the number and size of the files.
 
Hi,

As you probably know, the first thing you need to do is initialize the new drive, partition it, and then assign a letter. When you "clone" D using the cloning app, we will set up the clone with the existing drive's data, format, and partition as well as the configuration for the old drive.

Thank You.
 
Whatever you do (robocopy / mir or use different software) I still recommend verifying the copy, i.e. checking that you have made an identical copy.
There are various programs to do this verification, free and paid.
Personally I would recommend mine (free, opensource!) but essentially just to get feedback from a user.
I have nothing to gain.


In your specific case I would not use programs other than a trivial
Code: 
robocopy d:\ e:\ /mir /r:0 /w:0 /nfl /ndl

in this example d: old drive, e: new drive.
PLEASE be very careful, the FIRST is the source drive, the SECOND is the destination!!

/mir => make a mirror (copy everything)
/r:0 /w:0 => do not wait 30seconds in case of errors (ex. system volume informations)
/nfl /ndl => do not show file progress (faster execution)

If you use HDD (magnetic) then you can do a first run with /create, then the second
Code: 
robocopy d:\ e:\ /mir /r:0 /w:0 /nfl /ndl /create
(...defrag E: the destination drive...)
robocopy d:\ e:\ /mir /r:0 /w:0 /nfl /ndl

The /create switch make a first 0-byte copy, so you will get
an (almost) perfectly defragged copy
It's unnecessary finesse, but it's still a useful old trick

AND

a subsequent (fundamental) check.

You can stop the robocopy (control-C) and resume it (this is fine with large quantities) as many times as you like (just run again).

Short version: If you don't check a copy, don't discard the old one
 
For verify the copy you can use this (just an example!)
If you want to check (say) two directories
c:\nz to z:\nz

Code: 
zpaqfranz c c:\nz z:\nz
In this example
c = compare
c:\nz = first directory (master, source)
z:\nz = second directory (slave, destination)

If the two folders are on different devices (two different HDs for example) you can add -all
In this case 2 different threads will be created which will read in parallel from the two folders
Code: 
zpaqfranz c c:\nz z:\nz -all

This is the quick check, i.e. only on file names and length (not on content).
By adding -verify and maybe the hash type (e.g. -xxhash) you can force the verification of every single byte
Code: 
zpaqfranz c c:\nz z:\nz -all -verify -xxhash

In this example
c = compare
c:\nz = master directory
z:\nz = slave directory
-all = make as many threads as directories (in this case 2)
-verify = check the hashes
-xxhash = use XXH3 (very fast and realiable)

Instead of -xxhash you can use nothing (=for default use SHA1, very reliable), -crc32c (=hardware accelerated CRC32-C), -crc32 (highly optimized CRC32) or even -sha256 (the slowest but more reliable)
 
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