Transferring HDD Data to a new HDD.

[aeroplane22]

Is there any possible way to transfer the data, including windows to my new Hard Drive when it arrives so it will work stand alone?

..or is there someway to configure RAID with minimal risk to data loss?

Just curious, I'm updating from a fast 68g drive to a slower 500g drive, need the space, hopefully can do it without a lot of hassle.



Thanks in advance.

 

[eyeCpc]

Better off creating a disk image of everything but Windows since a clean install would be the best recommendation for the new drive. With dual booting and reinstalling Windows seen at times here I now back things up on an external drive in the even any primary needs to be reformatted or wiped for a new one in it's place.

The other option if you simply need more drive space would be to use the new drive as a storage device while preserving the current OS drive. RAID like any other arrays requires two identical drives synced together since you are seeing one partition stretched across two drives there.

 

[carnageX]

If you want to just transfer everything over from the old drive to the new drive (including OS), use Norton Ghost.

 

[eyeCpc]

For retail softwares you could also pick out Acronis as well. A free alternative however would be creating iso images since any cloning involves compression and the lenthy time involved.

Copying entire partitions with GParted from drive to another can be time consuming as well. But not as it takes to move a partition to rear of a drive to allow for a fresh primary at the beginning.

 

[Kharn]

Ghost can take some time if a hard drive is on it's way out or if the file system is pooched. But it also depends on how much data is on the disk in question 20 min is all it takes for around 15gb of data, there is a whole load of factors that can effect the speed. It is also very easy to use, put the disk in the drive wait for it to boot an then type GHOST an select the target drive an then the destination drive an let it do it's thing.

 

[eyeCpc]

It also depends on where the files are located as well. If you are trying those found in sub folders under your user name they can be in several locations. if you are simply looking at folders you created for storing mp3s, video files, photos, etc. you might save even more time simply copying and pasting those alone once a clean install of the OS is inplace.

I've been doing a lot of that here lately changing what drive sees what OS on it. That avoids seeing unnecessary files/folders brought from one drive to the next. That usually comes to about 120gb on average while video projects will chew up even far more drive space real fast.