Well need a new hard drive soon but dont want to install everyting again from fresh.Do i need any special software to do this or can it be done through windows?Another thing is old hard drive is ide and the new one will be sata will this matter?I need to transfer everything programs windows music etc with least amount of fuss any help be great thanks.
How do i copy old hard drive onto new?
- Thread starter ~>Dg<~
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since the new drive is sata this may make things a little more awkard if they were both ide or sata you could simply use image cloning software like driveimage or ghost (i think there are freeware ones as well)
since this is not the case they way i would try would be pop the new drive into the pc with the old one as the boot drive and let windows look for drivers etc.
once this is complete use the imaging software to clone the old drive to the new.
finally set the new drive as the boot drive / format / remove the old one
*edit if the sata controller was already enabled on your pc the drivers will be on already most likely! and you should be able to simply clone the drive over
since this is not the case they way i would try would be pop the new drive into the pc with the old one as the boot drive and let windows look for drivers etc.
once this is complete use the imaging software to clone the old drive to the new.
finally set the new drive as the boot drive / format / remove the old one
*edit if the sata controller was already enabled on your pc the drivers will be on already most likely! and you should be able to simply clone the drive over
Just need a software that will simply clone the contents of old HD onto the new one, e.g. DiscWizard, Disk Manager, MaxBlast, HDClone, Acronis Disk Director (commercial but favorite), etc 
If you Windows requires SATA drivers for your mobo then might have to reinstall it
If you Windows requires SATA drivers for your mobo then might have to reinstall it