Hardware
I am replacing my main hard drive.. it is to small and old.
I want to put in a larger drive running XP but I don't want to LOSE my setup... meaning I don't want to lose all my programs that are loaded onto the old drive.
Is there anyway to do this?
by ron k.
The easiest way to do this yourself is with an imaging tool. You use one to make a boot disk. Install both old and new drives and boot your system off the disk. Use the tool to copy the old drive to the new one, then remove the old drive (or keep it as extra storage).
The store where you purchase the new drive or a computer service shop will do it for you for a minimal service charge.
by thechas
Most hard drive manufactures have tools that either come with a retail package drive, or that you can download from their web site.
These tools allow you to clone your existing hard drive onto your new hard drive.
Follow the instructions for connecting the new drive as a secondary or slave drive for the cloning process. Then once the task is complete, you can install the new drive as the primary master drive on your system.
It is always best practice to back up your data and critical files before doing any major system work.
A method I have used that works very well for this is to use a different computer for the clone process. I install the software on this computer and then install both drives in USB adapters. This is the easiest way if the computer you are replacing the hard drive on is a laptop.
Now, the above said, if you have been using this computer for more than 2 years, there is a benefit to starting over and installing all of your software onto the new hard drive. Conservatively, you can expect at least a 10% increase in performance with a clean software install.
Chas
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