"Ghosting" should accomplish your purpose... A good ghost software (such as
Norton Ghost) should do the trick... it copies all data from one drive to
the other (including the Boot Sector).. it does it by making a "photocopy"
as opposed to actually copying the files.. (it takes a similar amount of
time - not like a quick Xerox or anything).. it won't bother with partition
sizes as long as the data on the first drive will fit on the second

Jason Spradlin



"ms newsgrp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am trying to copy over a system from a small old disk to new bigger
> capacity harddisk I bought.
>
> I know I can copy over all the files. My question is, how do I make sure
> the new drive boots like the old drive?
>
> Do I need to copy over the partition? The new drive have a bigger
partition
> already.
> Do I need to copy the MBR? If so, How??
>
> What else do I need to make sure in order for the new drive to have the
> right data to boot like the old drive and have the bigger capcity.?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
>
>

If you are ghosting the hard drive, it will be bootable.

"ms newsgrp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Well to do this, I just copy over the files I have in the old drive which
> includes the system drives.
>
> That's pretty much whats needed on the files and the system files movement
> side.
>
> What I need to know is how to make the new drive bootable??
>
> Thats why I asked the ques. before.
> ===
> Do I need to copy over the partition? The new drive have a bigger partition
> already.
> Do I need to copy the MBR? If so, How??
>
> What else do I need to make sure in order for the new drive to have the
> right data to boot like the old drive and have the bigger capcity.?

"Copy" by itself will not work. It will neither copy
subdirectories nor hidden files or folders.

You can use "xcopy.exe", provided that you do this:

- Install both the old disk and the new disk as secondary
disks in some other Win2000 PC.
- Use the appropriate switches for xcopy.exe
- Use the appropriate tools to restore the Win2000 boot sector
(Until you answer my question about your FAT/NTFS file
system, I cannot tell you what the best tool would be).

Using xcopy.exe is the low cost way to copy a Win2000
disk. It can be done but it requires considerable expertise.
Most people use an imaging program, such as DriveImage
or Ghost. These programs are very easy to use, and they
will handle issues like the Win2000 boot sector fully
automatically.

"ms newsgrp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Copy over by simply using explorer and select "copy to"
>
>
>
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > "ms newsgrp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > Well to do this, I just copy over the files I have in the old drive
> which
> > > includes the system drives.
> > >
> > > That's pretty much whats needed on the files and the system files
> movement
> > > side.
> > >
> > > What I need to know is how to make the new drive bootable??
> > >
> > > Thats why I asked the ques. before.
> > > ===
> > > Do I need to copy over the partition? The new drive have a bigger
> > partition
> > > already.
> > > Do I need to copy the MBR? If so, How??
> > >
> > > What else do I need to make sure in order for the new drive to have
the
> > > right data to boot like the old drive and have the bigger capcity.?
> >
> > If you will take the time to answer the question in my first post then
> > I can give you the answers to your own questions:
> >
> > - What tool to you intend to use to perform the copy process?
> > - What file system do you have? FAT32? NTFS?
> >
> >
>
>