Tranferring files 2hdd

[Crindle]

Okay situation #1:

I have a Gateway computer that came with an: 80gb hard drive IDE ATA-100 internal. It has 67gb filled up on it, leaving only 3gb left.

I recentley bought an 320gb IDE ATA-100 as a slave drive for this computer.

How and what do I need to tranfer all the files and programs to the new hard drive the big 320gb, and only leave windows xp operating system on the small 80gb hard drive to improve computer perfromance, because it isnt ram since I have 1gb now of it.

Situation#2: Same as above, but with SATA-1 hard drives same sizes. I want to put all files on the 320gb hard drive, and leave the operating system on the 80gb hard drive.

Thanks.
Chris

 

[LawnBoy]

Programs will have to be re-installed, in doing so point the destination directory to the new drive. Data can simply be copied over.

If you're willing to move everything to the new drive, it would be easier to:
1. make an image of the old drive (using ghost, acronis, etc)
2. take out old drive, install new
3. restore image to new drive
4. expand new drive's partition to fill the disk (using partition magic, diskpart, etc)

 

[TigerfanLSU]

If most of your data is under My Documents, you can redirect that folder to the new drive by right clicking on the My Documents folder. I assume most of your stuff is under My Pictures, My Music, etc...

 

[ceh4702]

Go to the harddrive manufacturers website for the new harddrive and see if they have a utility to do this. The manufacturer may have a solution for this already.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Crindle]

the thing is i want to reinstall windows and everything so that the computer runs faster.

SO idk and i have never reformatted a computer before.

 

[wolluf]

If you want to reinstall windows, then would suggest installing it fresh on the new drive (with old drive disconnected) - its almost certainly faster than old drive. Then connect the old drive as slave, and transfer whatever files you need. The programs would need reinstalling (mainly, you may find some will just run if you copy their program files folder over, but usually missing system files and registry entries prevent this). If you haven't got install disks for software, then you should consider the earlier advice (basically clone the old drive to the new). As mentioned, the (new) drive manufacturer should have tools on their website to do this (which normally allow you to resize to new drive as well - so no need to repartition later). One note - if using a SATA drive, you'll probably need to run a repair reinstall so the SATA drivers can be incorporated (otherwise XP probably won't be able to boot from it):-

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

(press F6 when prompted - you'll need SATA drivers on a floppy). You may not need to do this - XP can detect SATA drives on some boards.

If you do clone - make sure you disconnect the old drive BEFORE first booting the machine after the clone has completed. Otherwise you'll get drive letter problems.

 

[Crindle]

I want to reformat my computer.
I dont have a Windows xp disc, but have a product key for it on computer case.

Goal: I want to install Operating System on the small 80gb hard drive, and use the new 320gb hard drive for all the files making it faster, am I right or wrong?

So what all drivers and what not do I need to reformat computer? Never done it before thanks.

 

[LawnBoy]

Old drive = ATA100, new drive = ATA100
Old drive = SATA1, new drive = SATA1

Simply adding bigger drives will not make your system run faster. Keeping the drives defragmented will help some.

 

[Crindle]

Okay but when you have one drive that is 80GB, and has like less than 3GB of space left on it so you cant even defrag it I think it its.

CPU 2.4ghz
Gateway Fx500
DDR pc-2100 233mhz (i think thats the mhz) 2x512mb maxed ram.
Two ATA100 80gb drive, 320gb drive just added.

 

[wolluf]

You need to obtain a xp install disk that matches your COA. Most common is XP Home OEM - so if you've a friend with a copy of that, your key should work (you'll have to reactivate, but as you've only added a drive, that should be ok).

I suggested installing on the new drive as it will almost certainly be faster than the old one - which means windows will run faster (though not much difference).

Assuming you use ntfs - defrag won't make much difference (and may cause other problems). I know the current drive (btw - you've noted 'two ATA100 80gb drive'?) is too full to defrag.

Apart from anything else, if you install to new drive, you've still got the old. I must admit in your situation, I'd clone the old to the new and see how it performs with all that extra space. If its still very slow, I'd then do a clean install to it. If you format existing drive, you'll need to backup stuff first of course.

PS. Is the 80GB drive really full with necessary stuff - ie, have you cleaned up all the temp files/uninstalled unused apps etc?

 

[Crindle]

I will try and clone it what program do I need to use, and how I do it?

And yea its really full of stuff needed for a business.

 

[wolluf]

As I mentioned - the new drive manufacturer will have a utility on their website to allow you to do just this (copy old drive to new). Generally runs from a bootable floppy. So, download software, create floppy, connect both drives, boot from floppy and choose appropriate action from its menu (will probably have tools to partition/format drive too - ignore these) to do the copy (if there's option to set new drive/partition active, set it). Once the copy is complete, disconnect the old drive and boot from new (it should boot exactly as old - if not, post back, there are settings that sometimes get lost in cloning). Once you've booted new drive on its own (as primary master) and are happy everything's ok, you can reconnect old drive as slave if you wish, and format it or whatever.

Note: This all assumes new drive is IDE - as I mentioned, if its SATA you may need to run a repair reinstall to load the SATA drivers.