swap system to new disk

[lancstech]

advice please as to options on transferring my os/partitions to new disk. to avoid effort re-installing os/apps/data am planning to use seagate/maxtor (acronis) diskwizard to take acronis images and recreate my current setup.

option 1 : remove current wd drive (c,d,e,f parts) and install new seagate, using diskwizard cd and external disk. if diskwizard cd wont see ext disk, will try a usb.
or try linux live cd/part mgrs to create "slim xp" and use acronis images.

option 2 : install seagate as 2nd drive (need 2 new cables or 1 extender cable) and use acronis images. switch active parts.

option 3 : reinstall os/apps/data.

anyone been down this road/s?

 

[G0AOZ]

You don't say what interfaces you have available, nor the types of hard drives you're using. Assuming interfaces are available, attach new disk to your existing system and boot up with an Acronis CD. It should then be a simple matter to clone the existing hard drive. There are other ways of doing it, but I'd say this is the simplest.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[BadBigBen]

Most PC's have two channels IDE (I am assuming that it is an older PC as some of the newer model mainboards only have one IDE port nowadays), then you should jumper the NEW drive as SLAVE, attach it to the cable with the MASTER (OLD) drive...

and follow what G0AOZ suggested...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[lancstech]

hi g0aoz, ben

system is dell 8400 with a wd sata drive, new drive
is a seagate sata 7200.10 SATAII. dell has 2 sata slots.
to add the new drive requires new power and data leads,
(which if all fails i might do).

the issue with the "acronis personal 8" boot cd will be what other external devices it can recognize usb hard drive, flash drive (pdf isn't clear will try and advise)

 

[G0AOZ]

Well the extra SATA and power cables shouldn't cost more than a dollar or two, so I'd have thought it well worthwhile getting them. This will surely be your easiest option in transfering everything to the new disk...

I use Acronis Trueimage v11 which does this job very well, and caters for Vista as well as other operating systems.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[Freestone]

In addition to being the easiest route, the extra set of SATA data and power cables will allow you to use the older drive (or any other SATA drive) as additional storage in the future.

 

[lancstech]

hi g0aoz, freestone
yep you are right but in the uk cables are about £10+delivery. my supplier is an hour drive away (drive arrives monday).

nb acronis cd recognizes my usb flash but not my usb drive.
i also have macrium/rescue cd this recognizes both, so will
try that.

was considering use of old drive as part of external drive setup across multiple pc.

 

[G0AOZ]

Ok, my apologies for assuming you were in the U.S.! (Note from Wahnula - never assume anything!!).

Well here's one which is a bit cheaper, I'm sure there are others...

http://www.lindy.co.uk/sata-cable-combined-data-power-internal-05m/33365.html

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[TheLad]

I am UK based (Birmingham) and found myself requiring a SATA cable so I popped down to my local Maplin store (

http://www.maplin.co.uk)

so it might be worth seeing if there is one near you.

--------------------------------------
"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[lancstech]

hi guys, whilst i might appear to be a bit of a cheapskate,
my original intention was to replace my current drive and save reinstalls, license nos etc.

if i can't do the magic with a rescue cd, external drive, etc
i will bite the bullet and buy the 2 cables reqd.

if i succeed i will buy an enclosure (£13+del amazon)

 

[SimonDavies]

There are a couple of ways of doing this, go to

http://ping.windowsdream.com/

and download PING, it's a Linux based disk copying utility. Word of warning tho, I had some difficulty in getting it to work across hardware platforms but it may just work for a simple disk copy.

Your best bet however would be to buy Ghost and do it that way, you can do an entire disk copy and know it will work.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[wolluf]

lancstech - do you know any tech guys (I've got dozens of those cables lying around, as usually get too many with new mobos when doing new builds) - I'm sure they give you a SATA power converter and a SATA data cable. As mentioned above, if you have both drives connected, Acronis should be able to clone no problem (I use versions 9 & 10, but assume 8 not a lot different). One note - if you do connect both drives internally, after the clone make sure you disconnect original drive before booting from new drive for first time, or you will probably create drive letter issues. Once new drive has booted, you can reconnect old drive to use as additional storage if you want.

 

[lancstech]

hi sd,w
thanks for link, ping is interesting, will check out if acronis/macrium both fail. also will try to borrow cables if reqd.

 

[lancstech]

spoke to friendly techie,

long term single drive -
replace drive and install os,apps
long term 2 drives -
add cables/drive and install os,apps

short term 2 drives -
trueimage solution =
1) Install TrueImage on your hard drive and restart.
2) Burn an Acronis Recovery CD and shut down.
3) Install your second drive (properly cabled).
4) Boot and press F12 for a one-time setup.
5) Insert the Acronis Recovery CD and select CD Drive as boot device.
6) After TrueImage appears select Clone Disk. Follow the prompts. Be careful!
7) Source drive is the original drive - destination drive is the new empty drive.
8 ) Do not choose to verify image. Do not choose manual options.
9) Select DO NOT DESTROY DATA ON SOURCE DRIVE!!!!
10) After cloning is complete, shut down and immediately swap drives. Do not try to start with both drives installed or drive corruption will occur.

short term temporary 2 drives -
using adaptor/new cables add drive and use above upto 9,
remove old drive and adaptor/cables, reboot.

short term temporary 1 drive (acronis) -
1) prepare acronis images of current drive
2) replace old drive with new drive
3) use acronis rescue disk

short term temporary 1 drive (macrium) -
1) prepare macrium images of current drive
2) replace old drive with new drive
3) use macrium rescue disk

am going with above and preparing macrium images (dell hidden partition may be a problem) and will try when new disk arrives. will advise on sucess if any.

 

[lancstech]

bought 2 cables from local shop (£5), disk has arrived,
so will still try the cd magic and report for info purposes.

 

[lancstech]

tried macrium rescue, backed up disk, installed new drive,
ran rescue cd, and it appeared (to me) that it requires that each individual partition be restored separately.

i have a lot of partitions (don't ask), so i gave in,
and used paragon partition mgr (it has saved me more than once before). did a full disk copy (clone), disconnected old disk, switched sata cable rebooted and os,apps now on new disk. windows grumbled about drivers for new hardware/drivers but on reboot success.

this has to be easiest method - it took 50-55 mins
of copying disk to disk and minimal effort - remember to stop rebootong with both drives connected.

one problem (todate) i ran paragon partition mgr to view partitions (it reports are better than xp) and .... it blue screened. it loads a service and i suspect its this thats unhappy. uninstalled paragon, and will investigate further
when convinced system is happy.