Help!!! Hard drive Issue

[okeaje]

i have just purchased a new IDE for my computer and would like to copy all the data including the registry from the previous one; is this possible; if so? How? I would like to be able to boot from my new hardrive usng the info copied from the default drive. Can anybody advice on this please!!!

[Idealproductsales]

if you were using Linux, I could give you exact step by step instructions on how to do that .. I used to do this just about in my sleep (Literally! - many's the time I was rudely awakened at 4:30 AM after 3 hours sleep by one of the servers alerting to a problem, diagnostics showed hard drive was failing and having I/O errors, had to drive down to the datacenter, check through security, get to the racks, prep a new hard drive, pull the machine, pop in the new drive as a secondary, bring the machine up, initialize, Run cfdisk and set up partitions, then rsync all the data from drive 1 to drive 2, edit grub boot loader and set the second drive as the primary boot drive, shut down the machine, pull the old drive, bring up the new machine and make sure it comes up on the new hard drive..

Depending on the amount of data, this can take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days.. (and a couple days meaning, multiple trips to the data center) ... but that's just Linux... if you are on Windows or Mac, I have no idea.. never bothered to figure that out, never had a need to

In any case, I would say *yes* it is possible..

as for how to. - Probably could find it on a google search unless we have some windows experts here that know how to do it But to do it the way I think it has to be done, you need to be able to plug in both hard drives to the motherboard. Myself, I'd just gather all my data to a backup folder, burn it all to a CD or two (or a few, depending on data) , swap out the hard drive and re-install the O.S. then simply re-install software and restore backups.

[ugrow]

Go to here http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/ and look up the Helproom on the lefthand side of the front page. Ask the question and you should get plenty of advice. You may have to register but it is free.

[kengillam]

You need some program like Acronis True Image to copy from an existing to a new drive so as to be able to just boot and carry on.

[THERMALTAKEGUY]

okeaje

I used to use a program called PowerQuest Drive Image 4.0 to do this job. Haven't had to do it in quite a while, but you should be able to get it (or a newer version) cheap enough.

Ken

Hi Ken, how you doing. Don't come by these parts much but just had a sale here.

Kind regards Martin.

[kengillam]

Hi, things a bit quiet on the paintings front because of the recession, that's the problem with luxury items when things are tight, but otherwise enjoying life. Hope you're well.

[heatemyfather]

You need some program like Acronis True Image to copy from an existing to a new drive so as to be able to just boot and carry on.

I second that - Acronis does a very good job. The clone will probably say that it wants to update some drivers and Windows may need re-activating, this will probably happen regardless of which program you use to make the clone.

You might want to do a Google search for Windows clone software - I came up with CloneZilla which looks quite promising. http://clonezilla.org/

[VictorianArtist]

If you have Win 7, it comes with "easy Transfer".... however, it will copy everything from the old computer including any proprietary data for the old system. That my friend can cause the new computer a few hours of heartburn and you a migrane. I have Acronis and it is better in that you can select what you want copied over including the registry items. I should have used it. I just did this. I have an old Gateway.... running XP Home.... Got a new Sony Vaio running Win 7. Well it was a seamless transfer, but Win 7 hated it. 50 lockups, 3 restores, and one reformat later, I am placing on the new Vaio, only that which I really need. Vaio likes it better and no more lockups or anything.

Oh, be sure, if you are going to use a different antivirus program, that you remove the one you don't want BEFORE you move any data. Two of those are not happily married on any computer.

I should have used acronis, and may for some additional things I need from another computer, but, Win 7 won't run or, is not compatible with some programs. Also, to run some software on Win7, and you want to use "run in compatibility mode" (or xp mode), you need to have Windows 7 Professional... win 7 wants more money to cough up that feat (79.95), and unless you have the new i core, it won't run many of them. So, it all depends. Gateway to Gateway, Dell to Dell ... xp to xp... should be flawless. xp to win 7.... different story. So, be forewarned.