Possible to copy Win2k and entire drive's contents to another drive??

[BillGates]

I just installed Win2k and a bunch of programs onto a friend's computer - now we decided to get a larger/faster hard drive - is it possible to add the new/fast drive into the system first and (while showing all hidden files/folders and protected operating system files) copy the entire contents of the drive with all of the data and every single folder and file to the larger drive, and then switch the big/fast drive as the primary master and be good to go??

I'm doubting this will be possible for some reason but it sure would be nice to save 3-5 hours of our time...

Thanks!

(Man, I'm Win2k pro and server certified, they should have taught us this!)

 

[freebsddude]

Yes, I believe that Powerquest, that make partition magic, have a disk copy/resize tool.
I have used it on Windows NT before. They may have a free 30 day download.

http://www.powerquest.com/

 

[BillGates]

Holy crap!! You've hit the nail on the head - I just checked out the site and that's EXACTLY what I'm looking for! Thanks a ton!

 

[Gantry]

Also check out Norton Ghost, one of the greatest programs ever made...

 

[Zlash]

Aren't these things someone named bill gates should know? =)

 

[BillGates]

I've considered Norton Ghost - I guess I need to read some more about it - for some reason I thought you could only copy between drives of the same size... Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out!

And no, I should not know this - all I do is sit in my office and play with monkeys - my employees make me rich. (I'm the real Bill Gates.)

 

[Thor86]

You should be able to copy it without any problems, and all you need to do is re-create the ntdlr boot on your new c:\partition by repairing the installation with the boot up disks/CD.

 

[dartblazer]

repairing by using what commands? is it fixmbr or fix boot or both?

 

[MJSTech]

This may sound odd, but when I need to ghost a drive (copy all info) I use Maxtors MAXBLAST software.
I boot with bootdisk, fdisk/format new hd, then reboot with the MAXBLAST floppy in. I like it b/c it is very reliable (used it for people about 15 times), and it uses DOS so it is 'less prone' to lock-ups. It works with any brand HD. It is also free.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< I've considered Norton Ghost - I guess I need to read some more about it - for some reason I thought you could only copy between drives of the same size... Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out!And no, I should not know this - all I do is sit in my office and play with monkeys - my employees make me rich. (I'm the real Bill Gates.) >>



Everyone knows that real monkies use OpenBSD

 

[BillGates]

Maxblast would be nice and easy considering I already have it - but it does not seem to support NTFS and on their website they say it is not recommended for use with Windows NT/2k/XP installs. I think I'll take a look at Norton Ghost.

 

[freebsddude]

Drive Image, as indicated before was very much an effortless deal. I recall booting from a floppy drive and ran their tool. I have an older version which was flakey on bigger drives, but 4.0 seemed to work flawlessly!

 

[BillGates]

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions guys - you all rule.

 

[joelmold]

Great Ghosting guide posted here.

 

[littlezipp]

That ghost guide is great!