Data swapping between hard drives?

[Trotter]

I need some answers. Please read through the whole thing before you post one, though.

I currently have a 40gig hard drive. Pathetic, I know, but it came with the 'puter. I am looking at getting a larger drive, somewhere between 160 and 250gigs. So here's the part that I need answers about.

I want to tranfer all of my programs, data, and files from the smaller drive to the larger drive... but not Windows. Oh, I know that I am going to reinstall Microsloth's pride and joy when I have finished all of this

, but I don't want to copy it over to the new drive.

I need to know what the best software for the job would be. Oh, and it has to be free or it doesn't get used

. Also, I don't want to just make a 40gig partion that is a copy of the original drive.

I also need to know what would be my best (free) bet for partioning the new drive if I need to, as well as repationing the old one into divisions of 20, 10, and 10gig, respectively, in order to place Windows on the 20, and two flavors of Linux on the others. I plan on leaving the new drive whole, but need to know what to partion it with if I have to.

Also, would I have to have my Windows disk available to add the new drive to the confuser? I have heard this before, but I have not seen any hard data about the fact. I figured that Windows would see and incorporate the new drive on boot-up, but I have been known to be wrong before. Oh, and while we're on the subject, I am planning on adding another hard drive to a Windows98 box... would I have to have a Windows98 disk for it, or not?

OK, I think I covered everything. If not, I'll add more later. Anyway, let's get some answers rolling...

 

[idiotec]

Well, I will take a shot at a couple of them here. As far as coping over the stuff. Were you hoping to copy over the programs and then not have to reinstall them after loading windows? I don't think that is possible. I think you will need to reinstall your programs if you are not ghosting the whole drive, but there may be a way around this. If you can just reinstall the programs, you can just do a simple copy of data files.

Free partitioning software? Fdisk is all I can think of. But maybe someone will "loan" you partition magic *cracks are illegal*

You won't need the windows disk if you are just making it a slave drive. So your not installing Windows to this drive?

 

[Trotter]

The problem with reinstalling all of my programs is that I don't think that I still have all of the disks and such. Or that I'll have to re-download a lot of them.

You won't need the windows disk if you are just making it a slave drive.

Yeah, both are gonna be slaves in both computers.

 

[idiotec]

The problem with reinstalling all of my programs is that I don't think that I still have all of the disks and such. Or that I'll have to re-download a lot of them.

I just don't see how it's possible if you are not carring over Windows with it. None of the registry entries will carry over. To me there would have to be some sort of program that scans the programs folder, then installs all the registry entries and such for the new windows install.

I would plan on coping over all your data, but having to reinstall your programs.

 

[xenosoul]

You could probably use Microsofts Backup utility to achieve that..By backing up the old drive to the new drive, then partitioning the old drive. Then you could restore the back up to the old drive if thats what your trying to do.

Edit* Youd also have to reinstall windows on the old drive before you could restore the backup.

 

[Trotter]

Then you could restore the back up to the old drive if thats what your trying to do.

No, I'm wanting to copy over/backup my old drive to a new drive, sans Windows.

Oh, well. I guess I'll have to see about reinstalling everything when I get the new drive. And that just sux.

 

[Apokalipse]

you could try exporting the registry folders HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software to a .reg file and import them again after reinstalling windows

 

[Trotter]

you could try exporting the registry folders HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software to a .reg file and import them again after reinstalling windows

OK, question: If I copy my current drive onto a bigger drive, would that create a partition the same size as my current drive, or would it just make a copy at the beginning of the bigger drive?

If it makes a partition, is there any way to open it up to the size of the whole drive without erasing the contents of it?

If I can copy my current drive over to a new drive, and can repartion the old drive as I want, and install Windows back on it, could I just copy the registry files over to the new installation?

Or should I just hunker down and prepare for the worst (reinstall everything on a new drive, and then partion/install Windows)?

 

[SHAWN]

You can transfer the data but not the programs. Use Total Commander to transfer files and reinstall your O/S. Or you can Clone the 40g to the 120g and boot off of the 120g. I would leave it the way you have it. I boot off of my 40 and install all my programs on the 40 but i put all my data on my 120 and 250.

 

[Trotter]

Ya know, Shawn, I just might have to do that. Well, with most stuff, anyway. There are some programs that I might reinstall on a different disk.

My wife discovered downloading television shows that she missed, and promptly swamped my HDD. At least with a bigger drive I will have a little leeway to get them converted and burned off with her new Mother's Day gift, a BenQ DW1620 Dual Layer DVD burner.