Installing new HDD would Like to Transfer Old HDD data

[Sinster]

to new HDD. I haven't done this for about 5 yrs. I will make the new one slave, and transfer the data to the new. But does this move all the hidden files over.

I am kind of embarassed (now a friend wants me to do this for him) I have been building computers for 5 yrs. But only did this procedure once in those 5 yrs. I have always started from scratch with the HDD. Just looking for guidence. Thanks

 

[jaeddy]

Generally speaking new drives usually come with a utility disk that will do this for you- you install the new drive as a slave, boot off the utility disk and go from there. I've done this with both Maxtor and Western Digital drives. In both cases the software let me set up partitions and copy over all data so that when I removed the old drive and set the new one to Master it just boots right up. It also allows you to set the partitions on the new drive larger than the original (or smaller if you wanted to do that for some reason).

If this is simply a data drive and you install it as a slave just make sure that explorer (yes, I am foolishly assuming you are using a MS product) is set to show all files. It will usually warn you (post-W95 versions) if you do an edit>select all and there are hidden files.

 

[ramani]

Hi
Hidden files dont get transfrred unless you use some spcil utilities.

Download XXCOPY from the following site..

http://www.xxcopy.com/

Then run
XXCOPY /? to learn about options.
Using that utility, you can copy entire directory with all hidden/systm files etc.

Remember, opying doesnot ensure the windows will work correctly, since the registry could vary. iF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN COPYING entire directory from old to new, then you can do it with XXcopy using clone option.
XXCOPY C:\ D:\ /CLONE

Hope this helps ramani :-9
(Subramanian.G),FoxAcc, ramani_g@yahoo.com

 

[seby]

Norton Ghost is good, it will copy the entire partition exactly as it is then resize it to fill the new drive if you want it to.

 

[Comtech]

XXCOPY is the best (and free) option, which will copy EVERYTHING, including hidden files.
Tutorial on this is at

http://www.pcmech.com/showdoc/118/

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[Jakespeare]

The easiest way to do this is:

Copy everything from Windows. I have done this about 3 times, so far, this year, and it works perfect - NO guessing and mucking about.

Load new HD as slave, like you said, AFTER FDISK & formatting it to FAT32.
> Boot into Windows......... there you can copy EVERY file but one file, the SWAP file, to the NEW HD.
(You don't need to copy the swap file because Windows builds a new one, right ?)

So, what I do, is copy one folder at a time, generally....... up to Windows.

Then for Windows, I highlight Windows folder (in Explorer) and use EDIT, SELECT ALL........
> Highlight all,,,,, and then unhighlight the Swap file...... and then drap & drop / copy all of Windows, like the other folder / files to the NEW HD.
* You can verify your data transfer simply using the Properties and see if every byte made it.

This is simple and efficient, and also give you the option about what exactly you want to copy.......

However,,,,,,, unless the computer, as is, is really running good, a clean reinstall is best. Then you can set the old HD up and transfer the data over, (but you already know that).

 

[ceh4702]

Strongly recommend you defrag the drive before you attempt to copy it.

Max-Blast Plus or EZ-Max as it is sometimes called has a utility to copy the entire drive in just a few minutes. You can get it for free from

http://www.maxtor.com

if you look under services and product support. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.