How can i transfer windows from one drive the other

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

I have two hard drives in my computer, the oldest one with most of my information and windows on it is starting to die. How do i swap windows and all information from one drive the other in the same computer? Is there any easy programs for computer noobs like me?

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

See this thread from an hour ago:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1758663/transfer-windows-hard-drive.html

RealBeast · Aug 6, 2013

Backup your data to somewhere more reliable before doing anything.

Then you can clone the old drive to another drive using a number of different programs, like EaseUS Todo, Norton Ghost 15, Acronis True Image, or the two mentioned in the other thread. It's an easy task, but do a backup first.

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

I looked at them. Clonezilla seemed the easiest but it required me to change the format to fat32 or something.

price_th · Aug 6, 2013

Ghost disk to disk copy. One free option is Clonezilla. Ghost can copy NTFS

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

RealBeast :

Right now i'm trying acronis free trial. When i back up my old drive into my new one will i be able to use the new one as my main drive and take the other out? Or is there more steps?

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

dude807 :

From CloneZilla:
"Filesystem supported: (1) ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs, btrfs of GNU/Linux, (2) FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS of MS Windows,"

RealBeast · Aug 6, 2013

dude807 :

You can swap the drives, I do it all the time. One thing that is helpful if you are running windows 7 is to make a system repair disc (just type that in the start button program search window and follow the wizard) that will fix your bootloader if needed after the swap (I end up using it about every 10th time that I clone an OS drive).

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

RealBeast :

MY computer doesnt have a dvd burner so i burned a system repair disk off my old computer which was windows 7 64 bit home premium too. Does it matter where the repair disk comes from? Or am i going to have to take the burner out of my old computer and put it in this one?

RealBeast · Aug 6, 2013

I really needs to be from that computer to have the right drivers, but you can also use an installer disk on a USB stick if you use the USB tool from HERE if you end up needing to repair your SRP.

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

RealBeast :

Okay, so I backed up my computer using windows and actinides onto my hard drive. Then I put my old DVD burner into my computer and made a system repair disk. Once that was done I took it out and then took my old hard drive out. I put the repair disk into my new disk player thing, and it didnt work. I keep getting this error

"The system image restore failed. Error details: windows did not find any disk it can use for recreating volumes present in backup. Offline disks, clustered shared disks, explicitly excluded by user will not be used by windows. Ensure that disks are online and no disks are excluded by mistake" what do I do? Can you tell me what you do to your drives step by step? Thank you!

RealBeast · Aug 6, 2013

The way that you are trying to do this, you need to actually clone your old drive not just do a system image and restore.

For example, if I want to clone a drive I attach a second drive that is large enough to hold the primary drive partition that I am attempting to clone. Then I use Norton Ghost 15 and first clone the SRP (system reserved partition) and then the OS drive in its entirety.

A repair disc only fixes your bootloader if needed when you replace a drive with an identical cloned drive.

Step back and reassess if that is what you are actually doing as it sounds like you are attempting to do a backup and restore, which is a bit different than doing a clone -- direct disk copy.

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

Can you tell me what you do to your drives step by step? Than

OK...in relation to your original question of moving the OS from one drive to another:

1. Ideally, you need 3 drives - 1. Current primary, 2. new primary, 3. temp storage for 'stuff'
2. Back up all your critical data to the 3rd drive, temp storage. This is just in case things go wrong. And by 'backup, I don't mean Windows backup or any of that crap. A simple copy/paste to some other physical drive. Anything you can bear to lose, or is too difficult to replace. Pictures of the kids, for instance. I think this is where you got lost...
3. Once you have everything you need copied elsewhere (check this twice) unplug that drive.
4. Now we go into the actual moving of the OS and other stuff
5. Whatever software you use, Acronis, CloneZilla, DriveImageXML....choose the source (Drive 1), and the target (Drive 2). Do whatever it says
6. Power down
7. Unplug the Drive 1.
8. Plug Drive 2 (the new primary) into the same SATA port Drive 1 used to be in
9. Powerup, and go into the boot menu. Ensure that the new Drive 1 is listed as the first boot option
10. Check that everything works.
11. Report back here with a Thumbs Up.

Again...do not get hung up on the phrase "backup". All you need to do for that is to make a safe copy of your critical data on another drive that can't be screwed up.

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

Can you tell me what you do to your drives step by step? Than

OK...in relation to your original question of moving the OS from one drive to another:

1. Ideally, you need 3 drives - 1. Current primary, 2. new primary, 3. temp storage for 'stuff'
2. Back up all your critical data to the 3rd drive, temp storage. This is just in case things go wrong. And by 'backup, I don't mean Windows backup or any of that crap. A simple copy/paste to some other physical drive. Anything you can bear to lose, or is too difficult to replace. Pictures of the kids, for instance. I think this is where you got lost...
3. Once you have everything you need copied elsewhere (check this twice) unplug that drive.
4. Now we go into the actual moving of the OS and other stuff
5. Whatever software you use, Acronis, CloneZilla, DriveImageXML....choose the source (Drive 1), and the target (Drive 2). Do whatever it says
6. Power down
7. Unplug the Drive 1.
8. Plug Drive 2 (the new primary) into the same SATA port Drive 1 used to be in
9. Powerup, and go into the boot menu. Ensure that the new Drive 1 is listed as the first boot option
10. Check that everything works.
11. Report back here with a Thumbs Up.

Again...do not get hung up on the phrase "backup". All you need to do for that is to make a safe copy of your critical data on another drive that can't be screwed up.

IT WORKED! Thanks so much for the help. But I actually used a norton 15 free trial then I combined both your methods and the one above you methods. I put in the repair disk and switched the cords. Thanks to you guys we finally have a clear answer for other computer noobs like me in the future. Thanks guys!

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

Can you tell me what you do to your drives step by step? Than

OK...in relation to your original question of moving the OS from one drive to another:

1. Ideally, you need 3 drives - 1. Current primary, 2. new primary, 3. temp storage for 'stuff'
2. Back up all your critical data to the 3rd drive, temp storage. This is just in case things go wrong. And by 'backup, I don't mean Windows backup or any of that crap. A simple copy/paste to some other physical drive. Anything you can bear to lose, or is too difficult to replace. Pictures of the kids, for instance. I think this is where you got lost...
3. Once you have everything you need copied elsewhere (check this twice) unplug that drive.
4. Now we go into the actual moving of the OS and other stuff
5. Whatever software you use, Acronis, CloneZilla, DriveImageXML....choose the source (Drive 1), and the target (Drive 2). Do whatever it says
6. Power down
7. Unplug the Drive 1.
8. Plug Drive 2 (the new primary) into the same SATA port Drive 1 used to be in
9. Powerup, and go into the boot menu. Ensure that the new Drive 1 is listed as the first boot option
10. Check that everything works.
11. Report back here with a Thumbs Up.

Again...do not get hung up on the phrase "backup". All you need to do for that is to make a safe copy of your critical data on another drive that can't be screwed up.

I spoke too soon. When I logged in its a blank blue screen and in the corner it says "windows 7. Build 7601 this copy of windows is not genuine" what now?

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

dude807 :

Activate it. You may need to do this with the Microsoft phone robot.

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

How might I do that?

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

dude807 :

Windows Explorer
Right click Computer, select Properties
At the bottom of that window, what does it say?
"Windows Activation--------------"
"Windows is not activated"

There should be a clickable link. Do that.

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

dude807 :

Windows Explorer
Right click Computer, select Properties
At the bottom of that window, what does it say?
"Windows Activation--------------"
"Windows is not activated"

There should be a clickable link. Do that.

Okay let me look. It takes a few minutes to "prepare my desktop" but is this normal when swapping drives?

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

And this thread is why I almost always advocate a fresh install, vs the migrate/clone crap.

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

Okay there is no link. Should i hook my external hard drive in and attempt a system image restore?

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

dude807 :

Nononononono. It seems all that is wrong is your new install, on the new drive, is not activated.

WinExplorer
Rightclick Computer, select properties

What does it say near the bottom of that window?

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

Nothing. Because all there is, is a blue screen with the text in the corner. There's no start menu or anything. But everything else started normally but my desktop isn't there. All I can do is press ctrl alt del, access task manager and exit back to the log in screen. Should I try cloning the drive again?

USAFRet · Aug 6, 2013

dude807 :

USAFRet :

Nothing. Because all there is, is a blue screen with the text in the corner. There's no start menu or anything. But everything else started normally but my desktop isn't there. All I can do is press ctrl alt del, access task manager and exit back to the log in screen. Should I try cloning the drive again?

Well, it can't hurt. There is nothing on that drive to lose.

dude807 · Aug 6, 2013

USAFRet :

dude807 :

Well, it can't hurt. There is nothing on that drive to lose.

Okay ill contact you again when it's done. Thanks for all this help btw. I've been trying to fix this since 8 last night.

How can i transfer windows from one drive the other

Distinguished

Titan

Titan

Distinguished

Distinguished

Distinguished

Titan

Titan

Distinguished

Titan

Distinguished

Titan

Titan

Distinguished

Distinguished

Titan

Distinguished

Titan

Distinguished

Titan

Distinguished

Titan

Distinguished

Titan

Distinguished

Share this page