Good day guys,

i have a problem. i have an Old SATA HD, and am planning to get a new HD with a bigger capacity.

How to i prepare the image of the old HD, so it will run fine on the new HD?

i read somewhere that i need to delete the registry on mounted device? how true is this?

thanks for all your help guys.  :)

Generals,

Easy. Nothing special but don't install the new HD until you have made images of the old HDs partitions. Where do you plan to store the images? The next stage depends on that answer.

Ever hear of Cloning?

You put the new drive in as a Slave, that is, with SATA, you put the new drive on the second SATA port.
Then you run whatever program you're going to use, to CLONE the old drive to the new one.  Then you swap the drives on the SATA ports so the new drive is on the first port and the old drive is on the second port and you boot up to the new drive.

You don't touch the old drive, like reformat it or anything like that, till you're sure that the new drive is functioning properly.

Hardly a week goes by that I don't have to do that.  Not for me, but for someone else.  Normally, it's a piece of cake.  I either use Ghost or Acronis True Image.   I have them both on Bootable CD's.

@ Lurker

If people don't ask, I don't encourage cloning. More things can go wrong than with imaging. The worst example is with True Image. Usually due to user error, the cloning process fails and the partitions on the source HD are deleted. The unfortunate user is left with nothing.

Another example is cloning laptop HDs. Issues with IBM, Compaq and HP. Or Dell laptops that have a MediaDirect 2 partition.

@ Lurker


Lurker wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2009 at 6:05pm:

Then you swap the drives on the SATA ports so the new drive is on the first port and the old drive is on the second port and you boot up to the new drive.

I guess you are referring to cloning in DOS. I haven't run the following test from DOS but if you use that technique with a non DOS Ghost you are in trouble. Windows will boot, but the slave WinXP partition will be C: drive and the master WinXP OS will be another drive letter. The old HD keeps its C: drive letter even though it isn’t the System drive. When you remove the slave HD, the master HD won't boot due to a drive letter issue.

The recommendation is to never let the new HD see the old HD on the first boot.

Hmmmmm!
The bumblebee doesn't know he can't fly, so he does.

I've been cloning drives for years, as I've moved UP in drive size and never experienced the problem you mentioned.
I've found the FREE backup software that comes with Maxtor and Seagate drives to be quite simple and easy to use.

How a person could do a CLONE that would delete the Original drive, is beyond my comprehension.  How you do that?

Lurker wrote on Apr 30^th, 2009 at 7:37am:

and never experienced the problem you mentioned.

Then you have been cloning correctly. This page describes what can happen to drive letters if cloning is done incorrectly.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm


Lurker wrote on Apr 30^th, 2009 at 7:37am:

How you do that?

One of the cloning choices with Acronis TI is "Destroy data" on the old HD. This is not a simple partition deletion. It is a disk wipe. It seems to be a popular choice for newbies.

WOW!  I'd have to be dead drunk to do that!!!!!

I didn't even realize that was an option, because it's the last thing in the world that any reasonable person would want to do.

You NEVER touch your original drive when making a backup.
That's as basic as looking both ways before crossing a busy street.
Mommy taught me that when I was still a wee tad.


I'm lost for words...... I just don't know what else to say...... :-/

Brian wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2009 at 6:25pm:

Or Dell laptops that have a MediaDirect 2 partition.

This is an interesting issue with certain Dell Inspiron laptops. When you clone from a smaller to a larger HD, the larger HD "becomes" the same size as the smaller HD. For example, you clone a 60 GB HD to a 300 GB HD. New Windows boots but you notice your partition size is still 60 GB. You look in Disk Management for Unallocated Space but there is none. You look in the BIOS and it says the new HD is 60 GB.

The answer is the Dell HPA (Host Protected Area) that started at the 57 GB mark on the old HD is starting at the 57 GB mark on the new HD and truncating the HD.