old hard drive info to new one

[Guest]

I was told by the local shop that my hard drive was 'going out'.
I had them put a new , larger hdd in.
They told me that programs etc could not be copied over to the new one.
I have lost much of what I wanted to keep from the old drive.
In reading, I see that it is possible to 'clone' or 'ghost' from the old
drive to the new one.
Most info I've read has to do with two hard drives in the same machine.
I would like to attempt the 'cloning' of my old drive to the new one.
Is there a 'cloning' for dummies out there?
I have a Dell Dimension 4700, 2 cd drives and a floppy drive.
The old drive is an 80gb capacity and the new one is 160gb cap.
I am also limited in knowledge in regards to the inner workings of a computer.
Any help or advice out there?
John D

 

[Ghostrider]

I was told by the local shop that my hard drive was 'going out'.
I had them put a new , larger hdd in.
They told me that programs etc could not be copied over to the new one.
I have lost much of what I wanted to keep from the old drive.
In reading, I see that it is possible to 'clone' or 'ghost' from the old
drive to the new one.
Most info I've read has to do with two hard drives in the same machine.
I would like to attempt the 'cloning' of my old drive to the new one.
Is there a 'cloning' for dummies out there?
I have a Dell Dimension 4700, 2 cd drives and a floppy drive.
The old drive is an 80gb capacity and the new one is 160gb cap.
I am also limited in knowledge in regards to the inner workings of a computer.
Any help or advice out there?
John D

If the data is important, than this little project is not for the
uninitiated. But the computer shop would certainly know how to do it.
Just pay them the money for a straight-forward cloning job and add a
little bit more for a little bit of insurance, such as a backup copy
on DVD and a run-time version of the cloning application. And if one
really wants to learn about the inner workings of computers, one best
way is to be a "volunteer" in a computer shop.

 

[Ron Martell]

I was told by the local shop that my hard drive was 'going out'.
I had them put a new , larger hdd in.
They told me that programs etc could not be copied over to the new one.
I have lost much of what I wanted to keep from the old drive.
In reading, I see that it is possible to 'clone' or 'ghost' from the old
drive to the new one.
Most info I've read has to do with two hard drives in the same machine.
I would like to attempt the 'cloning' of my old drive to the new one.
Is there a 'cloning' for dummies out there?
I have a Dell Dimension 4700, 2 cd drives and a floppy drive.
The old drive is an 80gb capacity and the new one is 160gb cap.
I am also limited in knowledge in regards to the inner workings of a computer.
Any help or advice out there?
John D

I am assuming that both the old and new hard drives are IDE/PATA and
not SATA.

Go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site (for either drive) and
download their free disk cloning software.

Temporarily install the new hard drive into the computer. Best way to
do this is to disconnect the power and data cables from the CD drives
and use one set of these to connect to the new hard drive. That way
the two hard drive will be on different IDE channels, avoiding any
complications with drive jumper settings.

Then run the disk cloning software.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Guest]

I was told by the local shop that my hard drive was 'going out'.
I had them put a new , larger hdd in.
They told me that programs etc could not be copied over to the new one.
I have lost much of what I wanted to keep from the old drive.
In reading, I see that it is possible to 'clone' or 'ghost' from the old
drive to the new one.
Most info I've read has to do with two hard drives in the same machine.
I would like to attempt the 'cloning' of my old drive to the new one.
Is there a 'cloning' for dummies out there?
I have a Dell Dimension 4700, 2 cd drives and a floppy drive.
The old drive is an 80gb capacity and the new one is 160gb cap.
I am also limited in knowledge in regards to the inner workings of a computer.
Any help or advice out there?
John D

GOST
It may not be life threating but it is important to me. For instance, in
the WORKS calender, I have all the info on my kids, grandkids and great
grandkids. None of this was transferred over when the shop installed my new
drive. It appears that the data for my Quicken program was brought over, but
it is in a folder that I must 'access' each time I open my Quicken, which I
had to install on the new drive.
I want to just copy EVERY thing as it is from my old drive to the new one.
I have the old drive and it was working when they replaced it.

 

[Guest]

I am assuming that both the old and new hard drives are IDE/PATA and
not SATA.

Go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site (for either drive) and
download their free disk cloning software.

Temporarily install the new hard drive into the computer. Best way to
do this is to disconnect the power and data cables from the CD drives
and use one set of these to connect to the new hard drive. That way
the two hard drive will be on different IDE channels, avoiding any
complications with drive jumper settings.

Then run the disk cloning software.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

Duncan,
I don't know of which you ask. The old drive as I read the info on the side
of it mentions Serial ATA Hard Drive. I assume this is SATA? It is a
Western Digital. The new drive as stated on the invoice is a SATA drive,
brand name not given.
Where is Duncan? I drove up to Alaska on the ALCAN last year. Did I by
chance go through Duncan?

 

[Ron Martell]

Duncan,
I don't know of which you ask. The old drive as I read the info on the side
of it mentions Serial ATA Hard Drive. I assume this is SATA? It is a
Western Digital. The new drive as stated on the invoice is a SATA drive,
brand name not given.
Where is Duncan? I drove up to Alaska on the ALCAN last year. Did I by
chance go through Duncan?

Your drives are SATA (Serial ATA) so all you need to do is to connect
them both to the Serial ATA connectors in your computer. Each drive
requires its own connector.

Duncan is on Vancouver Island so you would not have passed through
here if you drove to Alaska.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[You Know Who ~]

sounds like the computer shop did not do a good job and gave you an
off-brand drive. I would not trust them anymore.
Most drive manufacturers offer software which clones a drive so that you
don't lose anything.

--
YKW~

"When the fifteen dwarves had dwindled to eight.....
everyone became very suspicious of Hungry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

sounds like the computer shop did not do a good job and gave you an
off-brand drive. I would not trust them anymore.
Most drive manufacturers offer software which clones a drive so that you
don't lose anything.

I agree with you.
I have found the 'clone' program by Western Digital. I'm going to go in and
tell the 'tech' that he was wrong, that the entire disc CAN be transferred
over.
I don't plan on using this business again.
I had asked him before he started if all on the old disc could be moved
over. He said yes. But then when I picked it up, he said that one could
only move over the data, not the programs. He admitted it was on the old
disc and it was not a disc problem, just that there was 'no way to do it'.
And I thought I was ignorant of computer stuff.