How do I copy my Harddisk?

[Guest]

Hello,I just bought a 1tb internal disk to replace the 160gb drive that I bought in my machine & would like to know how to copy the whole of the 160gb drive to the new disk (including the hidden partition that contains the original software app)If possible? so the 1tb drive will become my new boot disk.

 

[WyomingKnott]

You need to use software that will "clone" an entire disk, including all partitions and the various boot records. You can find half-a-dozen recommendations if you search the forums. Right now I'm pointing people to EASEUS; they give basic functionality away.

Just to be sure: Are both drives the same type, SATA or EIDE? You may have issues porting the OS to a different interface.

 

[Guest]

You need to use software that will "clone" an entire disk, including all partitions and the various boot records. You can find half-a-dozen recommendations if you search the forums. Right now I'm pointing people to EASEUS; they give basic functionality away.

Just to be sure: Are both drives the same type, SATA or EIDE? You may have issues porting the OS to a different interface.

Yes both drives are SATA the original drive is 160gb the new drive is 1tb, will this make a difference? I've been told i could also use Nortons Ghost or Acronis True Image Home, if your familiar with these three apps which would be best suited for the task in terms of easy of use & user friendliness? as I 've never actually used any of them before.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Any of the above. I personally use an eight-year-old version of Norton Ghost; I don't care for the current version. They are all about equally easy to use, with a slight nod to Acronis.

My current personal choice is EASEUS, but that's not due to extensive research and comparison.

 

[Guest]

A quick update, Hardrive has now been cloned as suggested with all the partitions intact including the original software partition using Acronis True image 2011 and is now my main system disk. The task was relatevly simple & the whole process was underway in a few clicks. I tried EASEUS initialy but unfortunately it could not pick up both the drives that I wanted to use. This may be because I have multiple drives in my system but I can only speculate as to the true reason why. Still I thought the issue worth a mention. Anyway Acronis True image 2011 was an absolute breeze to use for the task and the whole operation was complete within about an hour.

thanks again.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Glad that it works.