transfer HDD contents

[lotstolern]

Just got a larger harddrive for my laptop. Would like to copy contents of current drive to new drive so that I don't have to do a separate install of the operating system, applications, etc.

Is it possible to copy the drive contents to a network location, install the new hard drive, boot with a network boot disk and copy the stored contents back?

Anybody have any experience with this and could outline the specifics? I figure an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure...

Both the laptop and the desktop are currently running WinXP, on Windows SOHO network with a DLink router. I have the disk copy program.

Eli

 

[pmonett]

Yes, you need Norton Ghost.
That application can make a perfect copy of your disk and recopy it to a larger disk without a hitch.
The only thing I would worry wbout is if it can do it under Windows, or do you need DOS mode to do it. I'm sure Ghost can handle it, but I doubt that outside XP you can connect to the network to put the image of the disk.
To be sure, I would copy all my data files to the network first. Then I would erase them from the laptop. The goal being to get the HDD below 50% occupancy. Then repartition the disk in half (with Partition Magic). Then use Ghost to copy the first part of the disk (with your system) to the second part.
Reboot, copy the file to the network and swap hard disks.
Partition the new HDD to have enough space for the image (like, system partition first at same size than actual, data partition of any size, and file partition for getting Ghost back).
When you have that, you can do a minimal OS install just to get the network going. Download the file to disk, start Ghost and ghost the system back. Then copy down your data and you should be done.
One word of caution though : be sure to always have a bootable floppy available, with an OS that can use your network (mainly, DOS 5 or 6 with the appropriate settings). Failing that, have an IT guy stand next to you ;-)

 

[wolluf]

Ghost 2003 will do this - one of its options is to create a network boot floppy (you'll need one for each machine). You then boot both machines from the boot floppies, and you have options to save/restore drives/partitions. So, once with old drive to save, then again with new drive to restore.

 

[lotstolern]

Using Ghost 2003 and the network boot floppy do I still need to "repartition the disk in half. Then use Ghost to copy the first part of the disk (with your system) to the second part. Reboot, copy the file to the network and swap hard disks. Partition the new HDD to have enough space for the image."

The problem is that the OS and programs (without data) nearly fill the disk now. To get enough room for the image of the OS, I'd have to sacrifice all the applications loaded. Bummer!

Thanks for the time you're putting in on this, I appreciate it!

 

[wolluf]

Bit confused by which disk(s) you're talking about. I thought you wanted to copy current laptop installation to desktop hard drive, then copy it back to new (bigger) laptop drive. So, are you saying the desktop's disk space is not big enough to accomodate an image of the laptops installation?

 

[pmonett]

You need space to make the image file. Either that, or you need two PCs to duplicate the disk.
Do you have two PCs ?

 

[lotstolern]

wolluf, you've got it precisely right. That's what I want to do. The laptop hard drive is the one that is very nearly full. The desktop on the other hand has two hard drives and many times as much space as I would need for the contents of the laptop. I'm trying to avoid the down time of reinstalling the OS, applications and settings.

 

[wolluf]

So you're ok then? You can just create image on the desktop, then reimage the laptop when new drive in place.