So I just got a new 60 GB hard drive for my laptop, and am puzzling over how to get everything cloned over to the new disk with the least amount of hassle. I assume it's not as easy as just dragging my whole C: drive into the new disk, but thought I'd ask for some more knowledgeable opinions.

I could just experiment with it of course, but as I'm sure it will take a very long time to transfer everything, I'd like some sound advice before I got messing with things.

Thanks for any help!

Oh, one more thing that might help, I'm really not interesting in reinstalling my sytem software and all the assorted files, I'm kind of paranoid about trying to go through registering all my programs again.

Yes I'm computer quasi-literate on my best days.

Most new HDD's come with installation software? I know all the ones I ever bought did, all Western Digital, and that software will let you choose what to copy over. When I've done this, I didn't have to reregister any software, I just copied it over.

<font color=skyblue>If I were doing it, I would make a CD or DVD copy of the personal stuff, make sure that the copy works, install the OS newly onto the new HDD, and then insert my backup files into it.

I've never tried it any other way, so I do not know if there is a better way or not. </font>

<font color=skyblue>

Not from what I've seen. These days, there is an incentive to buy just the bare drive. You just get the HDD in a plastic packaging with nothing else. Not even a box. Its like $20 cheaper or something like that.</font>

[ 01-14-2006, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

<font color=skyblue>

Not from what I've seen. These days, there is an incentive to buy just the bare drive. You just get the HDD in a plastic packaging with nothing else. Not even a box. Its like $20 cheaper or something like that.</font> </font>[/QUOTE]<font color=8fbc8f>That would be called a 'brown box' or OEM grade product, as opposed to an 'retail' version.
What do you do? You go to their website, and download the free set-up software, and voila, your up and running as above.

I do not play well with others, and laptops are user unfriendly, that must explain why my last one had the appearance of having a fragmentation grenade detonate from the distance of the screen and keyboard whilst jammed together.

Just try the cross over "copy all" command from the HDD software program. If that fails, then just do it, that way you will have a clean and fresh install, and you can encounter the "NEW" MS re-register nightmare that has driven hordes over to the dark side. </font>

Norton Ghost is a good utility to do that. I used it when I had to send my laptop in for repair -- ghosted the whole hard drive, and when it came back, put the ghosted image back on. Far less pain and agony than burning multiple DVDs was.

One thing that made it a lot easier for me: I ghosted it to a server on my network here. Depending on the size of the current HD, it may take a long, long time to burn enough DVDs to contain the image.

I've got about 22 GB of data on my old drive. I was really hoping not to have to resort to DVDs to transfer things, since the burner is stuck on a 1.1 USB interface. Hey it's an old 2001 laptop, what can a guy expect?

My new HD is in fact an OEM upgrade, plus I live in China, even if the hard drive came with installationa software I would not be able to trust it. The drive came with drivers for Win98/ME and Mac OS, but that was it.

I think I'll just tempt fate and try to copy the entire C: drive to the new disk. Oh, and I have Alcohol 120% and Nero, both of which I think allow me to make back-up disks. Would either of those serve my purpose?

Simply copying your C: drive is pretty unlikely to give you a bootable sytsem at the other end.

If you don't want to pay for the likes of Norton Ghost then there are plenty of open source cloning programmes available. Something like the Ultimate Boot CD would probably suit your needs.

Yeah, copying the C: drive was a pretty uselesss move on my part. So much for "user friendliness" of my laptop. I'm just gonna break down and buy a copy of Ghost, since I want to minimize the chances of my screwing things up even more than I probably have already. Better me screwing it up than some Chinese guy who insists on making 10 GB partitions and doing weird things with pirated software.

Thanks for all the info though. At the least it made clear I'm better off shelling out the bucks and crossing my fingers.

<font color=8fbc8f>In theory:
1. Go to web site and download HDD free software.
2. Boot to floppy where download was copied.
3. Run setup HDD software first. This will install the boot sector and partion the HDD.
4. Run the 'COPY entire drive from and to".
5. Power down, disconnect old HDD, and bot to new HDD.

??? Can you even run both HDDs on this laptop?
If not????
If so, then why both bother with all of this, just set up the HDD and use it for storage.

~~~~Oh *&^%$s! If you go with Ghost, WHATEVER if any and by all means ALL annoyances that you have, will be ghosted onto the new setup! This is one of the main contributing factors why my personal preference is always clean and fresh!

I understand time, registration, etc, and if your on dial up (shudder) then I can understand your apprehension to go clean and fresh, but it's just like starting with a new rig, and everything is fast, and clutter free.

Why do you dislike partitions? If you isolate M$, and make many partitions for different levels of storage. Then in the event you have a major crash, the drive can be placed in any PC, and your data should/could be intact (Fat 32), shy of a major HDD meltdown. Also, it will allow the system to be quicker, as it won't have to scrub through 60Gb of data!

'An' (by all means not the only or all inclusive) example of a 120GB (112GB usable) drive could be:
1. Windoze (NTFS) C: 32GB
2. Linux boot: 3GB
3. Linux swap: 3GB
4: Linux home: 29GB
5. Windoze swap file F: 3GB
6. Pictures (FAT32) (shared) G: 22GB
7. Music (FAT32) (shared) H: 20GB

Back up storage:
HDD 2
1. Pictures (Mirrored)(Fat 32) D:
2. Music (Mirrored) (Fat 32) E:
3. Hidden, protected, and encrypted. International Family Security Secrets (I:) (This one cannot be accessed in the event it is removed from this rig, but provides an PC equivalent to a strong box).

This setup allows interoperability and allocates irreplacable "data" to be mirrored and stored to two sepaerte OSs and HDDs. In addition it allows maiteneance to be performed on data or system interdependtly of the other, whilst maintaining core integrity.</font>