migrate Operating System to 2nd Hard drive

[Guest]

i have 2 hard drives on my pc and wish to transfer the operating system and
drive contents from my small master hard drive to a 2nd larger slave drive
whilst retaining the 2nd drives contents.

My intention is to replace the small master drive with a much larger drive
at a later date, but dont fancy reinstalling, reformatting etc, if their is a
simple solution

thanks

shaun

 

[philo]

i have 2 hard drives on my pc and wish to transfer the operating system and
drive contents from my small master hard drive to a 2nd larger slave drive
whilst retaining the 2nd drives contents.

My intention is to replace the small master drive with a much larger drive
at a later date, but dont fancy reinstalling, reformatting etc, if their
is a
simple solution

To transfer your OS to the 2nd drive...which still retaining the data there
would require a bit of work.
You would first need to perform a backup...
then use a utlility such as partition magic to non-destructively repartition
your drive into two drives:
an empty C: drive and a D: drive with your data on it.
then using another 3rd party utility such as Ghost...
to "image" your original drive to the 2nd

too much work.


My suggestion would be to just leave things as they are until you are ready
to replace your small drive...
then simply "image" your smaller drive to the larger one

 

[Guest]

Simply collect contents from 2nd drive,move to a cd,or move all to current
C: drive.You need 2nd drive as slave to C: on same IDE chain,format the 2nd
drive,go to run,type:XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r Agree to all in the DOS
window,once its thru,so are you,C: is totally on 2nd hd.Also,D: being 2nd hd,
but if asigned diffrent letter then use that letter.

 

[philo]

Simply collect contents from 2nd drive,move to a cd,or move all to
current
C: drive.You need 2nd drive as slave to C: on same IDE chain,format the
2nd
drive,go to run,type:XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r Agree to all in the DOS
window,once its thru,so are you,C: is totally on 2nd hd.Also,D: being 2nd
hd,
but if asigned diffrent letter then use that letter.

Nope , that will not work with XP...
(for win98 it might have been OK)

 

[peter]

Shaun
Wait until you buy the larger HD to replace your smaller OS HD.
The retail versions of HD usually come with software that will let you clone
the old HD to the new HD.
If not the software is available free of charge from the manufacturers
website.
What you are proposing will just double your work load and create more
chances for errors.
peter

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Nope , that will not work with XP...
(for win98 it might have been OK)

It doesn't work for Windows XP, and it didn't work for Windows 98 either.
Andrew E., our resident specialist in misinformation, gets it wrong again.

 

[philo]

It doesn't work for Windows XP, and it didn't work for Windows 98 either.
Andrew E., our resident specialist in misinformation, gets it wrong again.

I've used xcopy /s/c/h/r/e/k in win98 and it (usually) works fine...as
long as it's from a "dos box" in windows
(and xcopy32 is of course invoked)

But in XP it's of course unuasble for cloning

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've used xcopy /s/c/h/r/e/k in win98 and it (usually) works fine...as

"Usually": is the operative word. It can sometimes work, but it's *not* a
reliable way to do it. I've seen it work, and I've seen it fail to copy some
files.

 

[philo]

"Usually": is the operative word. It can sometimes work, but it's *not* a
reliable way to do it. I've seen it work, and I've seen it fail to copy
some files.

Yes...
If I have a win98 machine that I need to transfer to a larger drive...
I'll use xcopy if the installation is still fairly new or uncomplicated

 

[Echy]

It doesn't work for Windows XP, and it didn't work for Windows 98 either.
Andrew E., our resident specialist in misinformation, gets it wrong again.

Your advice noted & accepted. What is the correct way to do this then.?

Echy
Melbourne, Australia

 

[John John]

Your advice noted & accepted. What is the correct way to do this then.?

It would most likely work if you slave the source and target drives in
another machine.

John

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Your advice noted & accepted. What is the correct way to do this
then.?

You need third-party software to do this--something like Norton Ghost, or my
current favorite, Acronis True Image. If you're buying a new drive, they
often some with software you can use for this.

 

[Echy]

You need third-party software to do this--something like Norton Ghost, or my
current favorite, Acronis True Image. If you're buying a new drive, they
often some with software you can use for this.

Thanks for your reply.

Would you know if Laplink's PCmover (version 1.03.575) is any good?

I can get that for a very good price from a friend (unused), but
obviously only a good price if it does the job properly.

Any comments appreciated.

Echy

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

Thanks for your reply.

Would you know if Laplink's PCmover (version 1.03.575) is any good?

I can get that for a very good price from a friend (unused), but
obviously only a good price if it does the job properly.

Sorry, no. I know nothing about it. Perhaps someone else here does.