Bought new hdd, best way to move 30gig drive to 500gig drive

SkeeterUK · 21 Oct 2008 at 08:17

As title i just bought from ocuk a 500gig seagate. I wana move windows c: to new drive when it comes whats the best easiest way to do this. I wana move the old 30gig maxtor drive to it.

Brian Stuart · 21 Oct 2008 at 08:20

Acronis True Image

SkeeterUK · 21 Oct 2008 at 08:23

Does that do the move/clone in windows or dos like norton ghost?

Also as its my first ever sata drive do i need sata drivers or is that only when installing windows properly at the start?

Just a shame my board isnt sata II it would have been nice to pull the jumper out of the new drive for sata 300 speed. Tho still should be faster than current driver ide maxtor ones.

Brian Stuart · 21 Oct 2008 at 09:06

Create a restore disk with Acronis, run Acronis from within Windows and save the .TIF file to somewhere safe and then restore it to the new HDD using the restore disk. Acronis should recognize a SATA HDD if it has been formatted.

SkeeterUK · 21 Oct 2008 at 09:55

Can someone be kind enough to write a detailed explanation of how to clone it to new drive as your directions are a bit vague Brian.

Brian Stuart · 21 Oct 2008 at 10:02

Install Acronis True Image on PC.
Create restore CD from within Acronis.
Create backup of entire drive to backup media (external hard drive for example)
Install new HDD
Boot PC from Acronis restore disk
Select restore a backup and browse to where backup image is located.
Restore image
Bob is your fathers brother

SkeeterUK · 21 Oct 2008 at 10:10

Thx pal will give that a go when it arrives.

Will the restore make the new drive c: letter

Brian Stuart · 21 Oct 2008 at 10:35

What happens is that Acronis makes a complete image of the drive as it is at the time of creating the image so everything will be just as it was.

SkeeterUK · 21 Oct 2008 at 10:36

Cool and thx.

Will report back when its all done. Should be able to fix the dual boot later with vista boot pro tho hopefully it wont need fixing if it clones as good as you say.

hp7909 · 21 Oct 2008 at 10:51

Brian Stuart said:
Create backup of entire drive to backup media (external hard drive for example)

Simply use clone, i.e. no need creating any back-up image. I just spent the weekend moving to a 500GB HD & all I did is:

Connect new HD & boot up with Acronis True Image rescue media*
Select Clone Disk. Choose Manual mode because wanted more control over how the increased space is distributed
Once done, shut-down & disconnect old HD
Move new HD to main SATA port & or (maybe) change order in BIOS

*you don't have to use TI. Most hard disk manufacturers have free tools on their website or get Ultimate Boot CD (here).

Brian Stuart · 21 Oct 2008 at 10:56

Good point hp7909 but I was thinking that if he took an image it is always there in case of disasters.

SkeeterUK · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:19

The 30 gig drive is a ide btw and my 200 gig drive with stuff on is ide so this new seagate is my first sata drive. Btw do i need to pick a controller or is that for raid only cos i got two with my asus a8v deluxe.

snowdog · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:21

Brian Stuart said:
Good point hp7909 but I was thinking that if he took an image it is always there in case of disasters.

What disaster, nothing happens to the source drive but being read ?
The only thing that can happen is if someone can't read and selects the wrong source and destination...

Thing is, skeet barely has any hdd space left any more, certainly not 30 gb for an image...

ConTRo13R · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:23

Hundreds and hundreds of floppy disks

helmutcheese · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:28

SkeeterPSA said:
Thx pal will give that a go when it arrives.

Will the restore make the new drive c: letter

Yes the Clone will be C if that's what the HDD is your cloning.

memyselfandi · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:35

I'm probably looking to do the same thing as SkeeterPSA but replacing a 200GB disk with a 500GB disk, (both SATA). I see that on Acronis's website the manual indicates that True Image Home 2009 has a clone disk function which seems to do what is wanted.

My question is though, there is a 15 day trial version of this product you can download from their site ... anyone know if this is limited in any way other than time or could this just be used to do this one-off task?

hp7909 · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:40

SkeeterPSA said:
asus a8v deluxe.

Have that same mobo, still going strong after many years. Recommend you use the standard (black) SATA connectors. Believe those are ones built into the VIA southbridge rather than a separate controller.

Only issue is, I think you might have to reinstall OS. See the A8V Deluxe was among the first gen SATA mobos & therefore needed a floppy disk with the drivers for OS.

EDIT: memyselfandi see my post earlier/above? Many free tools out there for cloning not just Acronis.

Snograt · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:48

ConTRo13R said:
Hundreds and hundreds of floppy disks

Oh god, does anyone remember those days? I think the biggest backup I ever did was only 50+ floppies, though. Nightmare.

Brian Stuart · 21 Oct 2008 at 14:50

snowdog said:
What disaster, nothing happens to the source drive but being read ?
The only thing that can happen is if someone can't read and selects the wrong source and destination...

Thing is, skeet barely has any hdd space left any more, certainly not 30 gb for an image...

When I said disaster i meant in the future not during the imaging process.

snowdog · 21 Oct 2008 at 23:51

Snograt said:
Oh god, does anyone remember those days? I think the biggest backup I ever did was only 50+ floppies, though. Nightmare.

And if one floppy is borked the rest would be useless :eek:

?
50 floppy's, tbh I wouldn't have bothered myself, floppys are so unreliable, much easier to get a 2nd hdd

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