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Drive Imaging

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sushiserv   09-07-2009 at 05:45:31 AM

I have heard a lot of cool thing about drive imaging and I have only done it once. It was a long time ago, so I don't know what to do now. Here is my problem:

I have "Computer A" which has a "Master: 200GB IDE HDD A1" and "Storage Slave: 200GB IDE HDD A2."
Computer A has no SATA capabilities.

Now I have "Computer B" which has a "Master: 80GB IDE HDD B1" and "Storage Slave: 80GB IDE HDD B2."
Computer B has SATA.

I also have "Computer C" which has a "Master: 160GB SATA HDD C1" and "Empty: 500GB SATA HDD C2."
Computer C has IDE.

I am building new "Computer D" and I want to take the C1 and C2 and put them in the Computer D. C2 is 100% empty.

I want the end result to look like this:
Computer A: 1 drive: B2
Computer B: 2 drives: B1 and A1
Computer C: 1 drive: A2
Computer D: 2 drives: C1 and C2

Conflicts I am worried about:
How am I going to image C1 onto A2? Will I run into a hardware conflict if I image a SATA drive onto an IDE Drive?
I want to retain my old stuff from B2 and place it onto C1. Will I be able to do that even though C1 will be used in a computer that will have completely different hardware and a whole new processor?? Will I run into hardware conflicts?

Are there any drive imaging programs out there that your guy could recommend? I'm trying to be a good big sister and give my sister more storage space, but this is going to be a lot of work D:2


Message edited by sushiserv on 09-07-2009 at 06:14:51 AM
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Twoboxer   09-07-2009 at 06:13:10 AM
- 1 +

B2 can't be in two places . . .could you fix this while I try to figure out how to do it without another HD. I'm gonna assume B1 stays as the new B1.


Message edited by Twoboxer on 09-07-2009 at 06:14:06 AM
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Twoboxer   09-07-2009 at 06:31:27 AM
- 0 +

Here's the thing . . . the files on A2, B2, and C2 are simply data files. They can be moved temporarily to other drives, if there is room. But that doesn't solve all your problems, as follows:

Copy data from B2 to B1 (B2 is free).
Image A1 to B2 (B2 is almost complete, maybe leaving room for a second partition, see problem below) (A1 is free)
Format A1, move B2's files from B1 to A1 (B1 & A1 are complete)
Move A2's files to B2 (B2 is complete, but the A2 files are not on drive "D", unless you partitioned it above) (A2 is free)
Image C1 onto A2 (A2 is complete)

However, Computer D . . . unless the mobo and chipsets are identical, the odds that C1 and C2 will work with it are low. And you have the same OS installed on C and D. Microsoft will not like you :)

And did I say you needed room you might not have?

Good luck!


Message edited by Twoboxer on 09-07-2009 at 06:34:29 AM
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Twoboxer   09-07-2009 at 06:36:20 AM
- 0 +

PS: Acronis Home should be able to do this if you can juggle disks. But that costs money, too.

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