Hard Drive on the way out - Clone Windows, Software etc onto new drive?

JamesU2005

JamesU2005

JamesU2005

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Is it possible to clone an entire Windows OS, software, documents etc onto a new hard drive and just run it as if it has always been there?

My current hard drive with Windows and software on has one bad sector and thus want to move over to a new drive ASAP but don't really want to have to install everything all over again.

I might be dreaming but is there anyway this can be done?
 
Yes this can be done, Win7 actually has this feature built in..

Norton Ghost, or Acronis True Image are 2 apps that I know of that allow you to do this.

::edit::

Bah, Llama beat me to it! :(
 
JamesU2005 said:
And I won't have to reinstall Windows, all my software, docs etc?

Wow, I should really keep up with the times!
Click to expand...


Everything will be there, but to be honest, what I would do is backup my docs and then do a new install, add your apps and then make an image - nothing beats a new install !
 
Nope, you create an image of your entire OS as it is right now, so basically once you get a new drive, you just copy the image onto the new drive and that's you done.
 
Thanks for all the help so far guys.

Should I format the new drive before cloning the Windows OS drive onto it?

I've just ordered a new Samsung F3 which I will be cloning onto.
 
Used Acronis True Image in the end, worked perfectly!

Plus I didn't have to format the new disc first!

Though it's recommend that if you want to clone a drive with Windows on you should run Acronis via the bootable CD rather than from within Windows, which is what I did.

It was so quick too, cloned a 250GB hard drive to a fresh unformatted 1TB drive within a couple of hours!
 
JamesU2005 said:
Used Acronis True Image in the end, worked perfectly!

Plus I didn't have to format the new disc first!

Though it's recommend that if you want to clone a drive with Windows on you should run Acronis via the bootable CD rather than from within Windows, which is what I did.

It was so quick too, cloned a 250GB hard drive to a fresh unformatted 1TB drive within a couple of hours!
Click to expand...


How full was the 250 Disc ?
 
Bit of a break in present opening.....Merry Christmas everyone

I use Casper 6.0. Bit simpler interface than Acronis but both are excellent programs. Have Windows 7 Ultimate...didn't know that did it as well...mmmm...although its "only" a system image not a bootable clone
 
Last edited:
JamesU2005 said:
Used Acronis True Image in the end, worked perfectly!

Plus I didn't have to format the new disc first!

Though it's recommend that if you want to clone a drive with Windows on you should run Acronis via the bootable CD rather than from within Windows, which is what I did.

It was so quick too, cloned a 250GB hard drive to a fresh unformatted 1TB drive within a couple of hours!
Click to expand...

If you run it within Windows you need to reboot and it does it in the pre-boot environment anyway so it makes no difference.
 
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