Replacing Internal HDD; How to data transfer? Need step by step instructions.

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UAHGorgix

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Upgrading to a new, larger, internal HDD. Not paying $300+ for transfer/partition. Help?

Hello!

So for some time now my computer has had a notification popping up in the lower portion of my screen. "Low Disk Space Recovery D:". I have a 250GB HDD, and when I go to the "My Computer" location it shows the C: Drive is 222GB and the Recovery is 10MB (Thats right...MB). So I am sick of dealing with the issue, and the default partition program in the Windows 7 OS wont let me extend the Recovery D: and apparently that is where my backups are going.

I am going to buy a 1TB HDD and want to transfer EVERYTHING from my current HDD to the new HDD but Best Buy says itll take 6-8 days and be around $299 before tax.

How can I do this without the help of the "Fail Squad"?

Note: I understand I need to have some program to transfer the data and I must install the new HDD as a slave drive. Does anybody have a link or a guide to show me step by step what I need to do in order to successfully install, transfer, and use the new HDD and then remove the old one? I dont want anything on the old HDD.

Also, should my restore points be going to Recovery D:? Or should I find out where they are being saved?

Thanks!
 
Re: Upgrading to a new, larger, internal HDD. Not paying $300+ for transfer/partition. Help?

You can use GParted to shrink or enlarge partitions. guide in my sig.

Is this SATA or PATA (Parallel)? Big grey cable, or smaler one?

You can easily just attach a new SATA drive, just plug in and go. You'll need to format it first, of course.
 
Serial ATA, SATA?

My current HDD is 222GB Local Disk C: and 10MB Recovery D: and the recovery keeps prompting warnings. I have tried to partition the drive with Disk Management but it would not allow an increase in the D: drive size.

If I cannot expand, how can I get ALL the data from the currently installed, to the BRAND NEW hard drive and partition it how I want. Id like to install a new HDD and have the same 2 drives just increase the size of the recovery. Guessing this requires me to reinstall my OS again.

Hello,

So I have made several posts on this subject but gotten a mixture of replies. I am looking to do the following:

1.) Replace my 250GB HDD with a 1TB HDD; Both are Serial ATA (SATA)
2.) Take all my data from the 250GB and put it on the 1TB; This includes applications, game files, documents, OS (Is that possible?), etc...
3.) Remove my 250GB and just have the 1TB in the case

In order to do this I am using the following:

How To Install A New Hard Drive To Replace An Old One

However, I understand there are certain procedures one must undertake, such as setting a new inserted drive to "slave" and using BIOS to change the boot order (I believe this is only for when you keep both HDDs). What are the steps (and one may generalize, no need for Step 1: Open case, Step 2: Find HDD Bay; general computer knowledge, but the process mentioned prior I lack) I need to take in order to do goals 1-3? I have a 1TB SATA HDD and the 250GB is currently in use. The "Computer" tab on my OS looks like this:

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

I wish to take ALL the data from Local Disk C: and put it on the 1TB Local Disk C:. Inside that Recovery D: drive is a file labled "PAUL-PC". When click on it the option to fully restore my computer to factory default appears; Its popup windows says "Windows Backup". When I view the files inside the backup, it has a system image restore for the CURRENT day; no days prior (Note this is not the case for factory restore points, there are multiple options).

In the process of transferring data, I wish to take the current 10GB +/- from the Recovery D: and place them in a larger Recovery D: on the new 1TB HDD. To my knowledge the Recovery D: is a drive established by the manufacturer. Attempts to extend the volume of the current partition revealed that the option is even available; even with unallocated space.

If anybody can elaborate further on this process or on the information provided, it would be much appreciated as I wish to resolve this backup space and soon to be "lack of space" issue ASAP.

Thanks!

No idea as to why my post got moved! I reposted it for a reason because I need help! Bumps incoming.
 
You don't need to do slave/master stuff with SATA drives, that's only for older IDE drives (the kind with the massive wide ribbon cables). Just screw it in, plug in the SATA power cable, plug in the SATA data cable (both in the motherboard and in the drive), and it should be recognised by the BIOS when you next turn the system on.

It will likely be very difficult to do all of this through Windows, since you won't be able to move half the stuff you want to, while you're using Windows ;) Once you've got the drive installed, use GParted to clone everything from the old drive to the new drive. You can then using GParted increase the size of any partitions you want to.

GParted -- About
You'll need to burn it to a CD (or install it to a USB stick, that's a bit more involved) - I suggest you do so using IMGBurn (The Official ImgBurn Website) using the 'Burn ISO to CD/DVD' option.

Then boot from it instead of Windows (you might need to change the boot order in BIOS to boot from CD).

If you need more specific instructions, please ask.
 
SATA data cables only come with retail drives. Not OEM, which most of us buy here. Just the bare drive. Power cables are provided by your PSU.
 
I will have to check my PSU, to see if the cables are still inside the case. I did not assemble this Desktop originally. I was going to buy a HDD from BestBuy or CompUSA. Assuming that is retail, what is OEM?
 
UAHGorgix said:
Shiny Box? Im confused. Bare drive? Obviously you dont have exposed diskettes.
Click to expand...
Retail = comes boxed and with a SATA cable. OEM = Comes without both.

Like Mindovermaster said, the power cable will be coming from your power supply (unless it doesn't have any which is unlikely unless it's particularly old).
 
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