Storage

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Upgrade hard drive

0 helpful
8 replies

by developr398

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I have a 20Gb single drive system running Win2K and want to upgrade (replace) the drive with a new 80Gb. What is the most straight forward method to move the OS and all program/data files from the old to new drive? I have a complete backup on another internal drive using Windows Backup. Any suggestions are appreciated.

8 replies

by stress junkie

The easiest and most straightforward method of transferring a Windows system from one drive to another is Ghost software. I used it when I had to support a computer classroom. I woud reimage all of the student computers after each seminar had finished.

On the other hand why not just add the larger hard drive to the system? Why waste the smaller drive?

by antuck

Ghost is the best way I have found to image a new drive. But like stress junkie asked, why not just add the 80GB as a second drive? Then you would have 100GB. Unless it is a faster drive and you are looking to speed the system up a bit. Although, I don't really think it will make that huge of a difference.

by developr398

Appreciate the suggestions to look at Ghost which I am now doing. I wish I could just add the 80Gb drive because life would be much easier. But this system is a notebook with room for only one drive. I have been straining for months trying to keep 1 Gb free on the 20Gb drive; it's time to upgrade. Do either of you know of any potential pitfalls to avoid using Ghost?

My plan is to create an image file on another hard drive which looks like an internal when the notebook is in the docking station. Then I'll remove the notebook from the dock, switch the 20Gb drive with the 80Gb drive, then connect the notebook to the dock and bootup using a Ghost boot floppy. Should this work OK?

by yzheng25

If you bought a disk from Western, they provide a free application called 'Data lifeguard'. I have tested it on both Western and Mastor's hard drives. You install the new disk as Slave, after copy over all system and non-system files, switch Slave to Master.

by antuck

I guess that is one of the downfalls of having a laptop. Can't add that second drive.

I haven't used ghost as you are decribing. But as long as the boot disk detects both drives, I wouldn't think there would be a problem. I have used ghost to make an image on CD's/DVD's and that has worked well.

As long as there are no errors on the drive, you shouldn't have any problems with ghost. Maybe one pitfall is that any software problems you had would be transfered to the new drive. Or if the drive has any virus or garbage ware that also gets transfered over.

Have you given external drives a thought? They work off a USB or IEEE1394 and work very well. I think I would still put the 80GB in the laptop, but if storage becomes a problem again, I would consider that.

by stress junkie

The external drive is a good idea, especially if you have a desktop computer where you can keep your data. I just use my laptop hard drive for temporary storage. I keep my data on a desktop computer that gets backed up to tape. I have a Seagate portable external hard drive to transfer files between the two machines.

by developr398

well, my experience with Ghost is making feel like a complete idiot. I have spent 5 days trying almost every conceivable combination to restore a backup image from the 20Gb drive onto the new 80Gb drive with no success. Moving the files etc. is no problem but the system cannot boot from the new drive after restoring the image. Since using Ghost alone showed no signs of working correctly, I tried to use the OEM system recovery cds to make the new drive Windows bootable and that works fine. But once the backup image is restored, the drive is not bootable.

I have tried various combinations of the restore drive options within Ghost but the drive always ends up not bootable. I also tried just using the Ghost backup files feature but this did exactly what I thought it would. It copied all the files but none of the applications appear as installed by windows. I have over 200 applications installed; it would take more than 2 man-weeks to reinstall all these apps.

I am using Ghost 9.0 as part of Norton SystemWorks Premier 2005.

Any suggestions or pointers to solve this dilemma would be greatly appreciated!

This discussion is closed to new replies.