Replacing secondary HDD
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PP Mguire
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Close the drive, and when you take the old one out make sure the new one is the same drive letter.
So before I take the old drive out is it a simple case of moving all the files across to the new one?
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PP Mguire
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Basically, but I would use a clone program (if possible on a separate machine) to make sure you get everything.
Use something like Acronis to make an image, then using Acronis put the image of the drive on the other drive. So you have a backup if you need it, and you make sure you copy all the files over. It's essential in the end that they are the same drive letter. For less confusion and simplicity, I recommend doing this on another PC.
Use something like Acronis to make an image, then using Acronis put the image of the drive on the other drive. So you have a backup if you need it, and you make sure you copy all the files over. It's essential in the end that they are the same drive letter. For less confusion and simplicity, I recommend doing this on another PC.
Will EaseUS Todo Backup Free be suitable? I've just installed it and it looks good to me.
With giving the new drive the same letter as the old one (in this case F drive), do I change it before or after I begin the cloning process?
Also would you recommend partitioning the drive?
Sorry for all the questions.
Thanks again
With giving the new drive the same letter as the old one (in this case F drive), do I change it before or after I begin the cloning process?
Also would you recommend partitioning the drive?
Sorry for all the questions.
Thanks again
PP Mguire
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Can't comment on the utility, because I only use one that's known to properly copy all contents. So for that, you're on your own.
You have to change it after, because if the original drive is still in you can't select its drive letter.
Yes, the drive has to be properly formatted and partitioned if it's RAW so the program can see it. After that, one would assume the program would format it again (Acronis does anyways) before the procedure.
You have to change it after, because if the original drive is still in you can't select its drive letter.
Yes, the drive has to be properly formatted and partitioned if it's RAW so the program can see it. After that, one would assume the program would format it again (Acronis does anyways) before the procedure.
Creating an image of a drive then restoring the image to another drive as PP Mguire is suggesting is technically NOT cloning a drive. It will work but Cloning is a single operation that writes the image directly to the secondary drive without the intermediate step of creating an image file. It will take roughly twice as long to create an image and restore it to another drive as it would to simply clone the drive.
I have used EaseUS Todo Backup Free to clone drives and it has worked fine for me. I don't know why PP Mguire is suggesting using a separate computer since that seems like a bunch more work. Connect the new drive as a second drive in your computer, clone it, then when complete, remove the old drive and the new drive should be bootable immediately.
I have used EaseUS Todo Backup Free to clone drives and it has worked fine for me. I don't know why PP Mguire is suggesting using a separate computer since that seems like a bunch more work. Connect the new drive as a second drive in your computer, clone it, then when complete, remove the old drive and the new drive should be bootable immediately.
PP Mguire
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Actually, creating an image and copying is cloning the drive. It's the exact same contents, you're just creating a backup as a just in case. Ask anybody else here, it's the best method to properly clone a drive to make sure you don't lose any of your information, and is pretty much a necessity if you are cloning your main drive as is my next point.
Using a separate computer prevents any issues of files being opened by programs. This is especially necessary if you are cloning a C: drive as making the image and writing it to the new drive makes absolutely certain you not only have said backup, but also have all the contents that could possibly be used by a program or the system while the original PC was booted up. (IE MBR, Windows sys files, ect)
Using a separate computer prevents any issues of files being opened by programs. This is especially necessary if you are cloning a C: drive as making the image and writing it to the new drive makes absolutely certain you not only have said backup, but also have all the contents that could possibly be used by a program or the system while the original PC was booted up. (IE MBR, Windows sys files, ect)
Like PP said, it's pretty much always recommended to do so. I know firsthand from experience because I've done it to a friend's drive, and something went wrong during the copy, and then tried booting to the original drive. Something messed up with the boot partition, and it took me the next 6+ hours to fix it and get his original drive working again.
So, I'm going to back PP up 100% with this - take the extra step to back up to an image on a different drive, and then restore that image onto the target drive so that nothing on the original drive is touched.
As I said, making an image first will certainly work, it just adds an additional step and requires 2X the time.
There is no reason to move the drive to another system when cloning since any cloning software worth it's salt reboots to a DOS like environment in order to do the cloning in order to ensure that there are no open files.
There is no reason to move the drive to another system when cloning since any cloning software worth it's salt reboots to a DOS like environment in order to do the cloning in order to ensure that there are no open files.
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