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[Solved] Mirroring hard drive

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Best answer from shun_51.

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evolve60   08-08-2009 at 01:24:53 PM

Hello, If this isn't in the right category please move it to the proper one. Thanks

I have a 250gb Seagate HDD that I've had for about 4-5 years now, and its essentially filled to the max. I noticed that it started to slow down, a lot, I plan on upgrading my HDD to a newer 1tb WD HDD and wondering how to mirror HDD's so I don't have to reformat or anything and not lose any of my files. I have a few questions as well regarding this:

How do I mirror a HDD?

After mirroring could I use the new drive as a boot drive and run it as if nothing has changed?

If required I could post my PC specs.

Thanks in advance.

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Best answer from shun_51
I think the ansers are too complex. evolve60 did not provide enough information, but as he said "upgrading my HDD to a newer 1tb WD HDD", so it doesn't means mirror the old HDD with the new one, if he does this, he can only use part of the disk space and still face to the low disk space problem.

To uprade the HDD, you can copy the entire old disk to the new one, easeus partition master can help you copy and resize the partitions at the same time.

To mirror the new disks, you can use hardware raid or software raid. If hardware raid, you need to config the raid array firstly, and then copy the old HDD to this raid virtual disk. If software raid, you need to copy the disk firstly, and then convert basic disk to dynamic in disk management, and mirror with another dynamic disk.

You need not to reformat or reinstall the OS. just copy the HDD.
copy instruction http://www.partition-tool.com/ease [...] k-copy.htm
It is very useful for the people who want to upgrade HDD.
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Bronze Storage badge sminlal   08-08-2009 at 07:45:23 PM

If your intent is to somehow use RAID to move the files from your old drive to your new drive, you're out of luck. Depending on the RAID solution, you *MIGHT* be able to add the new disk as a new mirror (RAID 0) to your old disk, but in that case you'll still only to be able to access 250GB on the new disk (it *is* a "mirror" of the original disk, after all), so it wouldn't be useful.

There are imaging and partition management utilities around that should let you transfer your data to the new drive, but I'm not familiar with them so I can't really give you any advice...

You might think about just adding the 1TB drive as a second drive and migrating your data files to it, leaving the OS alone where it is. Once you've emptied enough files off the existing disk you could get a performance boost by defragging it.

Reply to sminlal
Newf   08-08-2009 at 08:31:15 PM

I would do it the other way.
Disconnect your 250GB drive.
Add your 1TB drive to the system. Format and partition it as you want and do a fresh Windows reload.
When this is done, add the 250GB drive back and copy what (if any) data you want back to the 1TB drive. Erase the (original) Windows and use the 250GB drive for additional data, programs and the swap file.

Reply to Newf
leon2006   08-09-2009 at 03:28:01 AM

No need for fresh install. You can copy your entire drive c:\ 250gbyte to a new 1TRB drive. You can mirror the entire drive then boot on the new I-TByte Drive.

Get your new 1T-Byte Drive and install it with your system.

Use Acronis Disk Director to create a partition for your new drive c:\ ~ 500 Gbyte. That will be a good size to replace your existing 250byte drive. The other half use it to store the IMAGE FILE of your OLD DRIVE.

How to mirror or make an IMAGE FILE:


Use Acronis Drive True Image to mirror your entire drive or specific files. In your case you need to mirror the entire drive. Save the the IMAGE FILE to the other half of your new drive.

How to Transfer C:\ to the new Drive:

USe the Acronis True Image to restore the IMAGE FILE of the old 250gbyte drive to your new hard drive. Select the option to make it bootable drive.

Why Acronis...

It works with 64 bit Windows, 32 Bit Windows, 64/32 Bit Linux.

Sometimes its on sale at Fry's Electronics and you'll end up paying ~ $9.00 for each copy after mail in rebate.

This process will enable you to avoid disconnecting hardware and doing freash installation. All you application will be as it is after the process. No data will be lost.

Acronis Disk Director will enable you to resize your partition any time without losing data or reinstallation.

This is what i have on my system. When re-installing i only use my image files. It takes me ~ 15 to 20 mins to restore my drive c:\

Image files can be save on HD, Blue Ray Disc, DVD Disc, USB-HD, or Network Drives.

Reply to leon2006
shun_51   08-28-2009 at 08:17:40 PM
Best answer

I think the ansers are too complex. evolve60 did not provide enough information, but as he said "upgrading my HDD to a newer 1tb WD HDD", so it doesn't means mirror the old HDD with the new one, if he does this, he can only use part of the disk space and still face to the low disk space problem.

To uprade the HDD, you can copy the entire old disk to the new one, easeus partition master can help you copy and resize the partitions at the same time.

To mirror the new disks, you can use hardware raid or software raid. If hardware raid, you need to config the raid array firstly, and then copy the old HDD to this raid virtual disk. If software raid, you need to copy the disk firstly, and then convert basic disk to dynamic in disk management, and mirror with another dynamic disk.

You need not to reformat or reinstall the OS. just copy the HDD.
copy instruction http://www.partition-tool.com/ease [...] k-copy.htm
It is very useful for the people who want to upgrade HDD.

Reply to shun_51
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