Getting a bigger HDD. Can I transfer data from current HDD to the new one?

Status
Not open for further replies.

UAHGorgix

Baseband Member
Messages
45
Im currently using a 250GB HDD and I am planning on upgrading to a 500GB HDD.

Is it possible for me to take everything from my current HDD and transfer it to my new one without losing anything or having to reinstall all of my applications?

Also, if it is possible to do this, will it also transfer my recovery (D:) partition?
 
You can do an mirror image of your 250GB to your 500GB. There's free ones out there, just none come to mind atm. :(
 
CloneZilla (free, open source, very good), Norton Ghost (not free, but pretty good still) are the big ones I think of.
 
+1 for ClonZilla.

Just duplicate (bit for bit) the 250GB to the larger drive. When you reboot Windows it will detect the new Drive, wait and reboot again then go to Window's Disk Management and you will notice that there is unallocated space. This is because when you duplicate (bit for bit) you copy the Boot Sectors and Partition Table exactly but your new Drive is larger. Allocate the free space to another Partition and reboot again. Finished.

Your Operating System (even if you don't have the original Disks) should work perfectly with nothing lost; if not you still have your original Drive (untouched) to try again. Copying Partitions or files is often slow and fraught with failure (won't boot or copy locked files).

Be certain to remove 'space hogs' (WinDirStat) and compress old files (Window's Cleanup) before considering a new Drive (or transferring all that Data).


BTW: Going from 250GB to 500GB (plus the old 250GB Drive) is not much of an upgrade. You might consider buying a high speed 1TB Drive for less than $100 (like the WD Black Caviar WDBAAZ0010HNC-NRSN) instead of paying $70+ for a Drive half that size. You won't need to upgrade your Drive again (unless you do a lot of uncompressed Video work) for a long time.

If you have the cash and don't need the space the WD VelociRaptor 450GB (WD4500HLHX) for a bit over $200 will really make your Computer seem faster, especially with 4 or more GB of RAM. Another good choice is the Samsung Spinpoint M8 which is a tiny Laptop Drive that holds 1TB on two platters; that means quick access and if you buy a Laptop in the future this Drive will fit it also.

HD upgrades are thee place where an extra 20-60 bucks can go a very long way in the short term and long run.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom