new dirve C 1

[quiry]

How do I transfer the contents of my C drive to a new hard drive that will be my boot drive?

 

[paparazi]

Personally I would connect your new drive as master and on it's own, fdisk and format the new drive, install a fresh copy of Windows operating system onto it, together with any programs you use.
Once up and running reconnect you old drive as slave and simply copy over any files/photo's or music you want to save using windows Explorer.
Then format your old drive and use as useful extra storage.
Guys I know there are easier methods, but this way you end up starting fresh with a clean fast reinstall.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[Jontmke]

OR, you use "ghost" or "drive image" to do an "image" copy of the entire drive to the new drive. If you can get to a copy of one of these it is much easier. Takes from 20 minutes up to a few hours depending on the amount you need to copy.
That is if all you are replacing is the hard drive. If you are also doing the motherboard and ram and cpu then that is different.
Everyone should use these on a monthly or even less basis to make a full backup of their system. Regular backup programs are notorious for skipping files, and not being able to read there own backup files when you try to restore the data.

Question for paparazi: How long does this fresh install take to get everything reinstalled? 3 or 4 days? And then patch everything? Another day or two?
Not a flame, mind you, but that is the LAST thing I would do.

Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[edfair]

Depends on how things are set up. Given the extra time I would go for the fresh install, gets rid of the little things that can come back to haunt you later.
Most of the systems I have personally would take an extra hour or so per operating system. But I would also be unlikely to have to reinstall all of them at one time unless hardware was also involved. And rather than put the old drive in place I would transfer the stuff to keep to another system.
I have ghost and drive image available and would still do it that way.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.