Replace / copy of external hard drive

[Robert]

Hello, XP users.

I have an external hard drive connected to my XP Home computer. I have a
newer, larger drive which I want to put in its place with all the data from
the old drive. So I need to copy the data from the old hard drive onto the
new hard drive. After that I do not need to have 2 hard drives connected to
the computer, at least not for now. What is the best way to do this?

The computer is a 4-yr old Sony and appears to have 2 USB jacks, one
currently being used for the old hard drive and one being used for the
printer. How can I best copy the data? Should I disconnect the printer
temporarily and use that USB? Or what? The old hard drive contains data
only / no programs that run on this computer.

Thanks for you help.

Robert

 

[JS]

My preference would be to create a new folder on the internal drive, copy
all/some of your folders from the old drive to the folder (as sub-folders)
you created then move the folders to the new drive. Repeat as necessary.

The down side is that is twice the work, especially if you have a lot of
files to copy and very little space on the internal drive.
The up side is less of a chance of problems with the printer if you use both
USB ports.

JS

 

[ducky]

Hello, XP users.

I have an external hard drive connected to my XP Home computer. I have a
newer, larger drive which I want to put in its place with all the data from
the old drive. So I need to copy the data from the old hard drive onto the
new hard drive. After that I do not need to have 2 hard drives connected to
the computer, at least not for now. What is the best way to do this?

The computer is a 4-yr old Sony and appears to have 2 USB jacks, one
currently being used for the old hard drive and one being used for the
printer. How can I best copy the data? Should I disconnect the printer
temporarily and use that USB? Or what? The old hard drive contains data
only / no programs that run on this computer.

Thanks for you help.

Robert

If you've got two available plugs (after you disconnect the printer)
just plug them in and drag and drop. It will be much faster than
copying to your hard drive then to the other drive for 2 reasons:

Saves you one copy overall

and

Windows can process the copy from the C drive, without also having to
write the data to the C drive. kind of the same concept that makes
RAID effective. When you plug your printer back in, you will have no
issues because you borrowed the port for your hard drive

HTH

AR

 

[Robert]

There is very little space on the internal drive. That would probably take
all day. Wouldn't you have to disconnect the old external drive and then
connect the new one in the same usb and wouldn't that be the same risk in
reconnecting the old drive as if you reconnected the printer? That
reconnecting would have to be done over and over.

 

[ducky]

There is very little space on the internal drive. That would probably take
all day. Wouldn't you have to disconnect the old external drive and then
connect the new one in the same usb and wouldn't that be the same risk in
reconnecting the old drive as if you reconnected the printer? That
reconnecting would have to be done over and over.

Not at all. It doesn't matter which plug you plug a USB device into -
it will still function the same way. Plug them both in (it is ok to
borrow the USB port that your printer is on) then check in 'My
Computer' you'll see each hard drive in there with a different drive
letter. Open up your old hard drive and press Ctrl+A, then open your
new hard drive and press CTRL+V (copy and paste). it might take a
while, but if you leave your computer on and don't unplug anything
until the copy is completed, your data will transfer without a hitch.
trust me - i do it all the time.

And just as a nugget of knowledge: USB stands for Universal Serial
Bus. It is universal because you are ably to plug different devices
into different ports as often as you want to and they will still all
funtion the same way.

HTH

AR

 

[Harry Ohrn MS MVP]

Does the new drive come in it's own hard drive enclosure or are you needing
to remove the old drive from it's enclosure and replace it with the new
drive? If the new drive has it's own enclosure then unplug the printer and
plug it in. You can then drag and drop the contents of the old drive to the
drive letter of the new drive. That's simple enough.

If the new drive doesn't have an enclosure and you want to use the old
enclose you can remove the old drive and replace it with the new drive. Plug
the new drive in and make certain it is partitioned and formatted or it
won't accept any data. Once the new drive is setup you can power off the
computer. Open the computer case and attach the old drive as a Slave. Make
certain you move the jumper plug on the back of the old drive to the Slave
position. When you boot the computer it should appear in My Computer and you
can then copy the contents from it to the new USB drive.

 

[Robert]

Thanks. It's working.

If you've got two available plugs (after you disconnect the printer)
just plug them in and drag and drop. It will be much faster than
copying to your hard drive then to the other drive for 2 reasons:

Saves you one copy overall

and

Windows can process the copy from the C drive, without also having to
write the data to the C drive. kind of the same concept that makes
RAID effective. When you plug your printer back in, you will have no
issues because you borrowed the port for your hard drive

HTH

AR

 

[Robert]

Thanks. It's working.

Does the new drive come in it's own hard drive enclosure or are you
needing to remove the old drive from it's enclosure and replace it with
the new drive? If the new drive has it's own enclosure then unplug the
printer and plug it in. You can then drag and drop the contents of the old
drive to the drive letter of the new drive. That's simple enough.

If the new drive doesn't have an enclosure and you want to use the old
enclose you can remove the old drive and replace it with the new drive.
Plug the new drive in and make certain it is partitioned and formatted or
it won't accept any data. Once the new drive is setup you can power off
the computer. Open the computer case and attach the old drive as a Slave.
Make certain you move the jumper plug on the back of the old drive to the
Slave position. When you boot the computer it should appear in My Computer
and you can then copy the contents from it to the new USB drive.



--


Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]

Hello, XP users.

I have an external hard drive connected to my XP Home computer. I have a
newer, larger drive which I want to put in its place with all the data
from the old drive. So I need to copy the data from the old hard drive
onto the new hard drive. After that I do not need to have 2 hard drives
connected to the computer, at least not for now. What is the best way to
do this?

The computer is a 4-yr old Sony and appears to have 2 USB jacks, one
currently being used for the old hard drive and one being used for the
printer. How can I best copy the data? Should I disconnect the printer
temporarily and use that USB? Or what? The old hard drive contains data
only / no programs that run on this computer.

Thanks for you help.

Robert