Upgrading primary hard drive

[IHateMyJob2004]

I want to upgrade my primary hard drive which is an 80 gig model. I figure I'll be going 500 gig or so.

I have never done this. So, how do I take the existing hard drive and put all the contents onto the 500 gigger (including OS) and seamlessly get things up and running? Do new hard drives come with upgrade software?

 

[VirtualLarry]

If one of the drives is a Seagate, then you can get Diskwizard (which is a reduced-functionality version of TrueImage), and then do a partition- or disk-clone operation. Just make sure that after you clone, that you disconnect the old drive before booting up with the new cloned one, or Windows will get confused.

Otherwise, if you have a bootable floppy or a bootable USB stick, you can use the DOS version of Norton Ghost 2003 to do a partition- or disk-clone operation. That's what I use.

 

[taltamir]

gparted and clonezilla could work.

I would not recommend just doing an image. Make a clean install of windows on the new drive, then copy over all the DATA from the old drive.

Also, burn the new drive in first. Do a FULL format, and then fill it with data (even duplicates of same data) and let it spin for a couple of days. I'd say there is a 1/10 chance of it failing then, but if it doesn't fail from that, it should last many years. If you don't do that, you are risking it failing after you moved all the data over and formatted / sold / discarded the old drive.

 

[Billb2]

All new driver now come with cloning software, but taltamir's suggestion is a good one.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Originally posted by: Billb2
All new driver now come with cloning software, but taltamir's suggestion is a good one.

Only the retail boxed HDD come with that software. OEM drives do not come with the software. If you purchase from Best Buy or a similar store then you will be getting a full retail box. If you buy online chances are you'll be getting an OEM HDD. OEM just means it doesn't come with the cables, software and 3.5" to 5.25" adapter brackets that the retail version has.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I was probably going to hit up Best Buy. So, I'll just make sure anything i buy tehre comes with cloning software.

Cool. THANKS!

 

[jdkick]

If you're looking at retail drives, check the warranty coverage as it will most likely be less then if you bought an OEM drive without the software.

And if you're after cloning software, there are quite a few solutions that are readily available. I tried out PING (http://ping.windowsdream.com/) when I built my DVR and it seemed to work well.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: jdkick
If you're looking at retail drives, check the warranty coverage as it will most likely be less then if you bought an OEM drive without the software.

Not true. WD is three years, seagate is five years, for retail-boxed drives. WD Caviar Black series is also five years.