Copying content of main HD to new empty HD 1

[VincentDesrd]

I tried installing Windows Xp on my new Maxtor 200GB but everytime I try to boot from the XP CD it says "NTLDR is missing".

I also tried using XCOPY but after it's done and I try to boot from the new HD it says windows/system/ is damaged or something and to press r to repair with my XP CD but again for some reason I can't boot from my XP CD anyomre!!!

Now, I got Partition Magic but have absolutely no idea what to do with it.

So if anyone has a solution that would help me at least get to install windows xp on it or at best just copy every file and boot from the new HD I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

 

[G0AOZ]

Go into the BIOS and change boot sequence so CD drive is first boot device. If this still doesn't work, then it suggests either your CD drive or its connecting cable is faulty. Try changing the cable and/or the drive.

Forget about Partition Magic. This software is for adjusting the size of hard disk partitions - not what you need to do to get XP installed.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[kmcferrin]

Regarding your use of XCopy, you can use it to copy the data over to the new disk but it doesn't make it bootable or a system disk. If what you are trying to do is migrate your system from an old hard disk to a new hard disk, this is what I would do:

1. Boot into Windows from your old hard disk.

2. Make sure that your new hard disk is recognized. Sometimes you need to install SATA drivers for the newer systems.

3. If the new drive has data on it, delete the partition from within windows.

4. Download and install a bitcopy utility like Acronis TrueImage or Symantec Ghost. Acronis is my personal preference, and they have a 30-day trial that works just fine for this if you want to try before you buy.

5. Use the bitcopy utility to clone the old disk to the new disk. After you specify some options your system should reboot and the cloning process will begin.

 

[lpblauen]

You can't just copy the stuff from the one drive to the new one. You should have gotten a diskette with the new drive with software to move all data from the old to the new. The tool for maxtor is called maxblast 4. You can download it from maxtor if you can't find it with your drive. The copy feature lets you make an exact duplicate of your existing hard drive.
You can also get the same knid of software from your old drive example seagate or western they all have the software to make installing the new drive easy.

 

[VincentDesrd]

Thank you very much for all the suggestions. I will try with MaxBlast(I tried it under DOS but couldn't really find the copy option...) and Ghost and see if it works.

 

[VincentDesrd]

Wow!!! Thank you so much for recommending Acronis True Image to me. This is one of the easiest softwares I've ever used!

 

[LawnBoy]

Agreed, Acronis is good stuff. They have an add-on package called Universal Restore that will let you restore an image to a completely different computer as well. It actually polls the target machine and rebuilds the HAL.

I've been using their Server packages for about a month, upgrading old servers to new hardware. It is saving me weeks and weeks of work.

 

[kmcferrin]

Yeah, Acronis is pretty nice. We just started using their SnapDeploy software at work for our desktop deployments. Depending on how well it goes we may look at getting their Universal Deploy tool. It's basically the same features as Universal Restore, but it lets you roll out a single image to machines with different hardware.

It's pretty slick stuff, but it is a little pricier than Symantec.