Help with replacing existing (full) HDD

[Andy Pomfret]

Hello
I am about to change one of my two (2) physical disks because at 4.5gb it is
now too small.

I have squeezed Win XP Pro SP2 onto it but I keep getting warnings that my
disk has too little free space for OS to operate properly, also I find that
it 'hangs/stops' whilst there is a frenetic background disc activity, which
presumably means that space is being created so that programs can operate
etc. So it is overdue for a change.

So, I presently have two physical disks in my computer. One is 4.5 gb
partitioned into 3 - C:\ is 4.4gb, D:\ is 50 mb and unused, E:\ is also 50mb
and unused. It's like that due to historical reasons.

Second physical disk is 120gb partitioned into 3 equal parts. This disk
holds the majority of my programs, all my data and backups.

C:\ partition on 1st physical drive contains Win XP OS and some programs
that will not work on any other partition.

My question is (after data backup) can I just removed the small 1st physical
drive and fit the new 120gb disk. Also, would I again have to partition it
into 3 partitions so that it would read the data on the 2nd physical disk?
The drive letters on this disk are F:, G:, H:. The new drive would be NTFS
after installing Win XP OS on the new physical disk, the old drives are
FAT32.

OR, can I just takeout my old 1st physical HDD and replace with new (empty)
HDD then format (using windows XP Pro) into only one large partition. Would
it then read the data on the second (existing) physical HDD?

Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

Andy Pomfret

 

[Guest]

If you buy a Full retail version of the hard drive, from Maxtor or Seagate;
then it comes with disk cloning software and the next phases will be
automatic. If not get hold of Norton Ghost.

Just clone the older 4.5Gb drive onto the new unit [you may need to
temporarily install it in place of the older 120Gb drive to accomplish this
phase].

After cloning, shutdown, replace old 4.5Gb drive with new 120Gb drive and
restart windows.

It may require that you perform a repair installtion at this point, but it
won't change any settings or registered applications.

 

[Andy Pomfret]

Many thanks BAR for your speedy reply.
The new Samsung HDD is a brown box component in that it came with no CD
etc.,
That was done to keep costs down. So purchasing Symantec Ghost would not be
helping in that direction.
Basically if I do a clean install on the new HDD I just need to know would
the new installed
OS see the data on the second physical drive. If it does then a clean
install of XP would be
more beneficial in the longer term.
My current XP Pro OS is basically the 4 upgrades from MS-DOS. -- MS-DOS v5
then
Win 3.1 then Win95 then Win 98SE.
There must be a lot of clutter in that lot.

Regards, Andy Pomfret

If you buy a Full retail version of the hard drive, from Maxtor or
Seagate;
then it comes with disk cloning software and the next phases will be
automatic. If not get hold of Norton Ghost.

Just clone the older 4.5Gb drive onto the new unit [you may need to
temporarily install it in place of the older 120Gb drive to accomplish
this
phase].

After cloning, shutdown, replace old 4.5Gb drive with new 120Gb drive and
restart windows.

It may require that you perform a repair installtion at this point, but it
won't change any settings or registered applications.

Hello
I am about to change one of my two (2) physical disks because at 4.5gb it
is
now too small.

I have squeezed Win XP Pro SP2 onto it but I keep getting warnings that
my
disk has too little free space for OS to operate properly, also I find
that
it 'hangs/stops' whilst there is a frenetic background disc activity,
which
presumably means that space is being created so that programs can operate
etc. So it is overdue for a change.

So, I presently have two physical disks in my computer. One is 4.5 gb
partitioned into 3 - C:\ is 4.4gb, D:\ is 50 mb and unused, E:\ is also
50mb
and unused. It's like that due to historical reasons.

Second physical disk is 120gb partitioned into 3 equal parts. This disk
holds the majority of my programs, all my data and backups.

C:\ partition on 1st physical drive contains Win XP OS and some programs
that will not work on any other partition.

My question is (after data backup) can I just removed the small 1st
physical
drive and fit the new 120gb disk. Also, would I again have to partition
it
into 3 partitions so that it would read the data on the 2nd physical
disk?
The drive letters on this disk are F:, G:, H:. The new drive would be
NTFS
after installing Win XP OS on the new physical disk, the old drives are
FAT32.

OR, can I just takeout my old 1st physical HDD and replace with new
(empty)
HDD then format (using windows XP Pro) into only one large partition.
Would
it then read the data on the second (existing) physical HDD?

Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

Andy Pomfret

 

[Rodney Kelp]

Throw your 4.5 gig in the garbage. Repartition your 120 into a single volume
and format it, then reload XP, your programs and then import your data from
backups.
People are always creating multiple partitions that run out of room and are
no good for backups;(since a hd failure will loose all backups on other
partitions). You could use your old 4.5 for backup data as a secondary drive
but that's the same size as a dvd r so unneeded if you hava a dvd burner.

 

[Andy Pomfret]

Many thanks, Rodney Kelp, for speedy reply.

What I hope to end up with after removing & disposing of old 4.5gig HDD, is
two physical drives each with 120 gig. The first physical drive will be a
brand new Samsung 120 gig and the second physical drive will be a 120 gig
Seagate bought and installed as the second HDD 18 month ago.

What I need to know from anyone, is after removal of old 4.5 gig HDD and its
replacement with new 120 gig Samsung - then after formatting during Win XP
pro OS set-up, will it read (easily) the second existing physical drive's
FAT32 and so be able to read the data on that HDD? The new HDD will have
NTFS file system as part of its set-up.
Regards, Andy Pomfret