How do I move my windows installation to another hard drive?

[Guest]

Here is my situation. I have 2 physical drives, a 6 GB drive that is the
primary (C drive, and which has Win XP on it. The 2nd is a 80 GB that is
the slave, and is partitioned into 2 sections (D: [50GB] and E: [30GB]).
Several months ago, in order to save space, I changed my windows
documents/temp folders to the E: drive. This has worked well.

6 GB is not enough to house Win XP any longer, though. I recently replaced
the MB/Proc/memory, and ended up (for some reason) having to reinstall
Windows, again onto C:, and this is proving problematic to upgrade properly
for lack of space - I have basically trimmed all non-essential files, and
still am short.

So I want to move my OS onto the D: drive, but without really losing any
info on any drive, as restoring backups is painful. I do not really want to
change the partition scheme on the big drive unless I really have to, and/or
it makes a LOT of sense to do so. What is the best course of action? I am to
the point of considering buying a new (bigger) hard drive and just doing a
clean install on to it, then manually transferring other files to it from the
6 GB, which will then be a F: drive, or just go in the bin. The down side to
this is that my wife will kill me if I spend another penny on the computer...

Any ideas?

 

[philo]

Here is my situation. I have 2 physical drives, a 6 GB drive that is the
primary (C drive, and which has Win XP on it. The 2nd is a 80 GB that is
the slave, and is partitioned into 2 sections (D: [50GB] and E: [30GB]).
Several months ago, in order to save space, I changed my windows
documents/temp folders to the E: drive. This has worked well.

6 GB is not enough to house Win XP any longer, though. I recently replaced
the MB/Proc/memory, and ended up (for some reason) having to reinstall
Windows, again onto C:, and this is proving problematic to upgrade properly
for lack of space - I have basically trimmed all non-essential files, and
still am short.

So I want to move my OS onto the D: drive, but without really losing any
info on any drive, as restoring backups is painful. I do not really want to
change the partition scheme on the big drive unless I really have to, and/or
it makes a LOT of sense to do so. What is the best course of action? I am to
the point of considering buying a new (bigger) hard drive and just doing a
clean install on to it, then manually transferring other files to it from the
6 GB, which will then be a F: drive, or just go in the bin. The down side to
this is that my wife will kill me if I spend another penny on the computer...

Any ideas?

You cannot simply move windows over to another partition...
you need to install it again onto the partition you want.
You will of course need to reinstall your apps...

Be sure to opt NOT to format any partitions first...
your data will still be there...
but to be safe...backup all your data first!

 

[Ron Badour]

Go without lunch for a couple of days and don't tell her when you buy the
new drive

 

[Guest]

Do a new install on the larger drive partition 50 G, as long as you don't
format, your data should be ok, then copy the data from the smaller 6G to the
new larger partition. dump the smaller drive (after formatting and severly
beating it with a 6 lb sledge) Gets out all those computer frustrations, or
better yet, let the wife beat on it. just don't stand too close else she will
might take the opportunity to let one slip, OOPS, I'm sorry that mashed your
foot. While giggling manically!!!

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Here is my situation. I have 2 physical drives, a 6 GB drive that is the
primary (C drive, and which has Win XP on it. The 2nd is a 80 GB that is
the slave, and is partitioned into 2 sections (D: [50GB] and E: [30GB]).
Several months ago, in order to save space, I changed my windows
documents/temp folders to the E: drive. This has worked well.

6 GB is not enough to house Win XP any longer, though. I recently replaced
the MB/Proc/memory, and ended up (for some reason) having to reinstall
Windows, again onto C:, and this is proving problematic to upgrade
properly
for lack of space - I have basically trimmed all non-essential files, and
still am short.

So I want to move my OS onto the D: drive, but without really losing any
info on any drive, as restoring backups is painful. I do not really want
to
change the partition scheme on the big drive unless I really have to,
and/or
it makes a LOT of sense to do so. What is the best course of action? I am
to
the point of considering buying a new (bigger) hard drive and just doing a
clean install on to it, then manually transferring other files to it from
the
6 GB, which will then be a F: drive, or just go in the bin. The down side
to
this is that my wife will kill me if I spend another penny on the
computer...

Any ideas?

Unfortunately there's no practical way to do what you describe, because you
will have to change thousands of drive references in the registry and who
knows where else

The only real way to do this would be to get a larger drive and clone that
partition to the larger drive, using the (free trial version of) something
like Acronis TrueImage. In "manual" mode - but not "automatic" - this will
let you specify the target partition size. It's a 100 meg download,
though, so you might need to use another system to perform the task. This
cloning can usually be done in under an hour.

If you can find a way to clear the 80 gig drive and clone the C drive to it,
then swap them, this could work. If you've got a friend with an XP system
with lots of drive space, you can be done completely in an afternoon.

As to cost - where I am, 250 gig drives are around $70.

HTH
-pk

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

The only real way to do this would be to get a larger drive and clone that
partition to the larger drive,

exactly.

Clean, simple.

 

[Paul Knudsen]

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:42:02 -0700, Christian Knudsen <Christian

Here is my situation. I have 2 physical drives, a 6 GB drive that is the
primary (C drive, and which has Win XP on it.

Hi Namesake.

Buy a new drive; make it your primary.; install WinXP on it; bring
in backup settings.

Good luck.