Possible to switch hard drives without reinstalling windows?

clicknext

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Mar 27, 2002
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I'm planning on getting a 200GB SATA Seagate drive to replace to my 80GB IDE WD SE. Can I simply copy all the files over and expect it to work? I know that the master boot record and boot sector will be clean on the new drive, but can I use fixboot and fixmbr to write one?
 

zephyrprime

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
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You can easily do this so long as the windows install being copied isn't the active OS. This is because of read permissions on the registry. So you can stick your drives in another computer and do the copying. That's what I do when I get a new drive.

Or, you can use the partition copying software that comes with hard drives to copy the partition. This can be done without an extra computer.
 

clicknext

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Mar 27, 2002
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Originally posted by: zephyrprime
You can easily do this so long as the windows install being copied isn't the active OS. This is because of read permissions on the registry. So you can stick your drives in another computer and do the copying. That's what I do when I get a new drive.

Or, you can use the partition copying software that comes with hard drives to copy the partition. This can be done without an extra computer.

Thanks, what if it's an OEM drive? Can partition magic do the job?
 

imported_Nacelle

Senior member
May 8, 2004
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Most Western Digital Drives come with a floppy that has a program that will do this for you as long as you are transfering to or from a WD drive.
 

fredtam

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
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Originally posted by: clicknext
Originally posted by: zephyrprime
You can easily do this so long as the windows install being copied isn't the active OS. This is because of read permissions on the registry. So you can stick your drives in another computer and do the copying. That's what I do when I get a new drive.

Or, you can use the partition copying software that comes with hard drives to copy the partition. This can be done without an extra computer.

Thanks, what if it's an OEM drive? Can partition magic do the job?

Just d/l the utilities from the manufacturers website
 

TekDemon

Platinum Member
Mar 12, 2001
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Norton Ghost should be able to "ghost" your old 80GB drive onto the new 200GB drive, and even correctly copy over the partitions.

Unless there's something special about the SATA drives in terms of how their partitions work?

 

Davegod

Platinum Member
Nov 26, 2001
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ghost, partioton magic should be able to do it, probably even simple utils from the harddrive manufacturer.

only thing i'm not sure about is wether the programs support IDE->SATA yet.
 

OMG1Penguin

Senior member
Jul 25, 2004
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Never had a problem replacing an IDE with IDE, copying over everything (it does it on a binary level I believe), but never done SATA.
 

Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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I'm sure this is a common problem at this point and you should be able to find step-by-step instructions for moving from PATA to SATA on the drive manufacturer's web sites. It's no time for guesswork... The software you can download there for free should ease the project considerably.
.bh.
 

esun

Platinum Member
Nov 12, 2001
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Originally posted by: TekDemon
Norton Ghost should be able to "ghost" your old 80GB drive onto the new 200GB drive, and even correctly copy over the partitions.

Unless there's something special about the SATA drives in terms of how their partitions work?

Agreed. Ghost works well for this type of operation.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
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Your best bet is to clone the old drive to the new drive- a simple process using TrueImage7 or 8. The new drive will boot exactly as does the old one. TI handles IDE to SATA and other links such as Firewire or USB. Ghost is complex expensive, and obsolescent.
 

Steven the Leech

Golden Member
Oct 16, 1999
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If you dont have drivers for the sata controller you need to install them before you copy/ghost the contents fo your current OS drive otherwise windows may not recognize the new device
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
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Originally posted by: Steven the Leech
If you dont have drivers for the sata controller you need to install them before you copy/ghost the contents fo your current OS drive otherwise windows may not recognize the new device

Exactly. Wondered when someone would say this.
 

Greg04

Golden Member
Jun 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: JackMDS
Another vote for TrueImage7 or 8.

TrueImage is available as Shareware you can give it a Try.

Link to: Acronis True Image 8.0 Build 768

BTW. If it is WinXP you would need to Re-activate after the transfer.

:sun:


Absolutely perfect, juts did an 80GB to 250GB xfer and it works flawlessly. All programs work etc.,
Thanks!