What's the best way to dupe a hard drive with Win7 to another hard drive?

[SOSTrooper]

I recently bought a faster/newer hard drive and would like to move my Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit from the old Seagate 7200.10 SATA. New hard drive is Seagate 7200.12 SATAII. What's the best way to do it? Does Norton Ghost still work? Not looking to spend much but IF I have to buy a small software then I just may cave in.

 

[JackMDS]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-012-_-Product

 

[x-alki]

Doesnt the Seagate come with software that will do what you want?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I thought Seagate's tool was very much like Acronis 10...

 

[JackMDS]

I thought Seagate's tool was very much like Acronis 10...

Yeah, and then came v11, and then 2009, and now 2010.

Previous versions might pose a Challenge to Win 7.

 

[RebateMonger]

I've used CloneZilla to clone from smaller to larger hard disks. It's fast and since it's not Windows-based, it shouldn't care WHAT is on the hard drive.

Only thing is, you need to do a bit of reading. There's two "advanced mode" parameters that have to be set to scale everything to a larger disk.

I usually just use my Windows Home Server backups to clone to a new disk, though.

 

[pukemon]

Yeah, and then came v11, and then 2009, and now 2010.

Previous versions might pose a Challenge to Win 7.

I have Acronis TrueImage 11 Home and cloned my 250GB to my new 1TB with Windows 7 Home Premium without any issues. You actually don't need that 100MB partition but I kept it anyway.

I did a 1:1 clone in Acronis, and then extended the 250GB partition to 1TB in Windows (Storage => Disc Management). I found that you can do that in Win7 but not in XP.

 

[SimMike2]

If you have either a Western Digital or Seagate drive, you can go to their respective websites and download a version of Acronis image software that works good. I recommend downloading and creating a bootable CD of the software. Put this disk in your CD drive, reboot your computer and run the imaging software at bootup. Works great. They might call in cloning software, or disk management software. Pretty easy to find the software at their respective websites.

 

[Blazer]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-012-_-Product

+2, you will be glad you did, makes these moves very easy.

 

[tcsenter]

Download Seagate's Disc Wizard for Windows. Its practically a free version of Acronis True Image. You can create a full system image, backups, then restore them using a bootable CD that contains Disc Wizard, or clone drives. Its crazy that it gives you 70% ~ 80% of the same functionality found in the paid version of Acronis True Image for free, but true.

 

[Blazer]

the problem with the free editions from the hd manu is its acronis ti 11, which was iffy at best, not where i would recommend someone go for first time use.

 

[JackMDS]

I worked with all the Acronis releases since v8.

To the best of my experience Acronis TI v11 was the best.

Problem is that with few newer installation of Win7 it might miss handle the Boot with v11.

The best chance with the v11 is to create a Boot CD version load from the CDROM and create a tib backup file on an external drive or to another computer through the Network.

Then use the same CD to boot with the new Drive and recover it back from the tib file that was saved before (The CD Boot can detect the Network and recover the backup to the New Drive).

On the other hand there is a big advandge in buying the v2010 for $23.

If needed the 2010 can be combine with this.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/plus-pack.html

When using this extension the backup can be migrated to a totally different computer.

On the Pro Echo version of Acronis Server it is called Universal Restore.

On 2010 it is called Restore to Dissimilar Hardware

 

[tcsenter]

The best chance with the v11 is to create a Boot CD version load from the CDROM and create a tib backup file on an external drive or to another computer through the Network.

Then use the same CD to boot with the new Drive and recover it back from the tib file that was saved before (The CD Boot can detect the Network and recover the backup to the New Drive).

I did this today after a friend didn't like Windows 7 and wanted to go back to Vista. Before installing Windows 7, I created a complete system image using Disc Wizard (a.k.a. Acronis True Image Home Free) utility and placed it on a separate hard drive, then created a bootable CD with Disc Wizard. Restored perfectly in about 35 minutes.

 

[adlep]

Acronis is a shity software now. Version 10 worked the best, after that - it is a hit or miss.

Edit: The version recommended above did not work for me btw...When trying to execute a scheduled task, it just would not run, it would just state: "Queued"...
Had to return the software and downgrade to version 10

 

[Blazer]

ive used acronis since version 7, 7 never really worked well so they give me version 8 over a year latter, 8 was able to see my raid and it worked well, so did 9 & 10, with 11 you better have more than 1 image, as it may not work, since then i have upgraded to Ti echo workstation, done the install and created the bootable disc and use it as needed, 11 failed more than once so i returned it and got 2009, which has worked well, its what i recommend to my friends for a backup solution, so i dont have to do it.

 

[SOSTrooper]

Don't mean to bump a slightly old thread, but I want to thank everyone who shed light in this. I went ahead and purchased Acronis 2010 from Newegg, received it yesterday, and was put into use right away. Installed it in my Win XP system, made a bootable USB flash drive within Acronis, and cloned my old 500GB with Windows 7 Ultimate X64 to my new 500GB in a separate system in about 25 mins (only had about 100GB of data). Everything worked out great, new HDD and existing Win7 booted up fine!

Thank you again!

 

[JackMDS]

Everything worked out great, new HDD and existing Win7 booted up fine!

Thank you again!

Which proves how many times it is much better to invest few $$$ (good for the economy too and be done with a task in few minutes,l rather than to find convoluted ways to save few $$$, and lose time and Data.

If One needs to save, cut on the Brews, and the Fast Fat Cholesterol Rich Food. ()

 

[JACKDRUID]

Gparted live bootup cd :http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

Ghost corp edition 10 is still my fav though

 

[alexruiz]

I am still using Ghost 2003, and it has no trouble with windows 7... there are a few tricks though

 

[jaytone1]

I have been using Paragon software for all my backup and copying a hd to another hd
Their tech support is unbelievable if needed. Live person in Calif and answers right away
Their products are excellent
I highly recommend their products.

They have a stand alone Drive copy program or several products that include drive copy and backup all in one.

http://www.paragon-software.com/products/home/

Hope that helps

 

[VirtualLarry]

I am still using Ghost 2003, and it has no trouble with windows 7... there are a few tricks though

I still use and swear by Ghost 2003 for DOS. What are the "tricks"?

I am curious, about doing a disk-to-disk clone, if the HD has that Win7 boot partition at the beginning, what does Ghost do with that? (Is it using a known filesystem type?)

 

[RobCr]

I have used the free Seagate DiscWizard for over a year.
Usually I backup MBR and all partitions (The lot but not Full Metal),
or backup individual partitions.
Recently put Win7 Pro into a clean drive, plus one extra data partition.
Did my usual backup of all (but not full metal).
Then I remembered that when installing Win7, it insisted on reformatting my NTFS partition to a later version of NTFS.
Thus I started to wonder(fret), if restore of my image would work ?
The version of DiscWizard I have been using is ??? (downloaded May 2009).

So I thought better to get Seagate's latest.
I have burned it to a CD (made a bootable CD).
I am still a bit wary, as Googling did not reassure me that even their latest can handle Win7 ?
I decided that this was the time to do a full Metal image (presumably that does not give a stuff, regarding what OS's are present ?)
That did not go well, as the Seagate CD took a wee while to boot, and mentioned some errors.
Then when navigating to select where in my external usb drive, it was to store the new image, it had much trouble displaying the folders on the external usb drive.
That scared me off, so did not make the image.
Instead I have gone back to my May 2009 CD, and I am using that to make a full metal image.

I am open to thoughts, comments, suggestions,
Rob

PS Hopefully Full Metal, also saves me from understanding or finding that 100MB partition thingy

 

[SimMike2]

Windows 7 has built in disk imaging software. It is similar to the version in Vista, which worked fine for me.

 

[RobCr]

Windows 7 has built in disk imaging software. It is similar to the version in Vista, which worked fine for me.

I am wary of MS stuff.
Also noticed that one had to format the storage location into their latest NTFS format (they do not understand how to keep things simple, so no thanks).

PS The 'no thanks' was directed to MS, not to you.
Thanks for responding with a suggestion.

 

[Harvey]

I thought Seagate's tool was very much like Acronis 10...

No. Both Seagate and Western Digital include a brand specific copy of Acronis True Image 11 in their disk tools. The only restriction is that at least one of the drives in the chain (source or target) must be from the maker whose version you're using.

I have used this version to clone Win 7 perfectly between matched drives. As an experiment, I tried to clone between mismatched drives, which had some problems. The cloned drive booted, but Device Manager failed to open, and it appeared that there could be other problems with the cloned drive.

From what I've read, I believe I may have been able to overcome those problems with various alignment techniques, but I haven't gotten that far in studying the problem.