how do I clone a hard drive

[FireBrick]

My hard drive C:, is starting to make a steady whirring noise
Sounds like snoring.
Grrrr, Grrrr, etc etc.

I think it would be prudent to change it out before it stops making any
noise.

But I've got lots of files, programs, utilities set up just the way I want.

How do I clone it so I can take the old C: out and slip in the new one.

It is a registered, paid for, version of win xp with sp2. And this computer
is normally on 24/7.
I'd like to make this as painless as possible.


Please and thank you.

 

[Linda B]

You will need a third-party program such as Symantec's Ghost (something like
$60 at retail). You'll need to put the new drive in set up as a slave, boot
to the Ghost boot disk (refer to the Ghost documentation), and image "Disk
to Disk." This will create an exact copy of the old disk on the new disk.
Then just remove the old one, re-jumper the new one as Master, and reboot.

That's putting it very simply. Even though it's ostensibly an "exact" copy,
there will oftentimes be driver issues, registry issues, etc after the
imaging process is complete -- if you want your computer to run as well as
it can, if I were you I'd install a fresh copy of the OS on the new drive,
hook up the old drive as a slave, and copy files over that way (you'll have
to reinstall programs, as well as redo any customization).

There are also many alternatives to Ghost on the market -- I'm sure someone
here will recommend something else...

--LB

 

[Guest]

You need third party software to do this
I use Symantec Ghost which works well

Put new drive in (temporarily perhaps where you cd is now) clone using Ghost
then rearrange drives, remove old drive with just your new drive in computer

XP wont complain and everything will be as usual

Patrick

 

[george]

My hard drive C:, is starting to make a steady whirring noise
Sounds like snoring.
Grrrr, Grrrr, etc etc.

I think it would be prudent to change it out before it stops making any
noise.

But I've got lots of files, programs, utilities set up just the way I
want.

How do I clone it so I can take the old C: out and slip in the new one.

It is a registered, paid for, version of win xp with sp2. And this
computer is normally on 24/7.
I'd like to make this as painless as possible.


Please and thank you.

pick up one of the available disk cloning programs like Partition Magic or
Drive Image (www.symantec.com) or True Image from www.acronis.com or Drive
Image from www.drive-image.com
They're not free, but will do the trick.

hth

george

 

[Guest]

I use ghost very often and have NEVER had any driver or registry problems
It is because the image IS an exact copy that problems occur.

NEVER start up with both image and copy connected and it always works ok
The whole point of cloning is to avoid reinstalling software.


Patrick

 

[Linda B]

I disagree. I've used Ghost for many years as well, and have run into
problems on occasion. In my experience nothing (and I mean *nothing*)
"always works ok."

It's likely that everything will work fine, but I'm just saying you should
be prepared.

 

[R. McCarty]

If you have capability to burn full system images, then a migration
to a larger drive is a good time to make a "Removable" image set.
While a "Clone" will accomplish what you're seeking, I still like to
have users protect their setup/data by saving to removable media.

Cloning is pretty straight forward. But, if done incorrectly, you can
end up with two blank drives - the new one and the one with your
XP instance and personal data.
(Proper technical term = A ""Oh Damn"").

Of course that requires an Imaging program, since most vendors
only provide a "Simple" disk copy utility.

And Yes a Disk Image or Cloning operation should be a mirror or
exact copy of the source. The problem with a Clone is that it may
restrict the destination partition size to match the source, so that
brings up the need for a Disk Management tool like Bing or Partition
Magic.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

True! I done several GHOSTings and only once did I need to do a "repair"
install of XP, eventhough I only changed the hard drive (everthing else was
the same!)

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Several hard drive manufacturer have a "cloning" utility for the drive that
they sell. If you buy a retail hard drive kit, you usually get a utilities
CD which contains this cloning utility. However, it may be obsolete and
most manufacturer's also provide the utility as a download from their web
site.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

I am a system builder and an administrator for a network. Prior to this , I
was in the military where I was admin for a network of over 700 computers.
I have used Ghost for years, and never had any "driver issues, registry
issues, etc". If such issues arise, it must be because Ghost was not used
properly. A true sector by sector image is just that. It will contain the
same data in the same sectors on the new drive as were on the old drive. If
done correctly, there will be no issues of any kind.

Ghost is by far the best utility on the market. There are others, but none
have the proven reliability (when used properly) as Norton Ghost. I would
recommend it to the exclusion of all others.

Bobby

 

[Lee Shipman]

I've used True Image (www.acronis.com) for a year or so and it's saved my
bacon many times. It's really a versatile program; I like it lots.

Lee

 

[Don Dunlap]

I use ghost very often and have NEVER had any driver or registry problems
It is because the image IS an exact copy that problems occur.

NEVER start up with both image and copy connected and it always works ok
The whole point of cloning is to avoid reinstalling software.


Patrick

Patrick,

I have used Ghost in the past with no problems until Windows XP came along.
Now, it doesn't seem to work. What operating system are you using?

Don

 

[Don Dunlap]

"Everything will be as usual." Except for the drive letters. Doesn't this
rename the drive you are cloning to? When you do this, your system disk is
no longer "C", but whatever was available. How do you get around this?

Don

 

[Art]

Bill H. in Chicagoland asks...

How do I clone my hard drive so I can take the old C: out and slip in the
new one.

Bobby responds...
I am a system builder and an administrator for a network. Prior to this , I
was in the military where I was admin for a network of over 700 computers.
I have used Ghost for years, and never had any "driver issues, registry
issues, etc". If such issues arise, it must be because Ghost was not used
properly. A true sector by sector image is just that. It will contain the
same data in the same sectors on the new drive as were on the old drive. If
done correctly, there will be no issues of any kind.

Ghost is by far the best utility on the market. There are others, but none
have the proven reliability (when used properly) as Norton Ghost. I would
recommend it to the exclusion of all others.

Bobby

Bill H.
My experience parallels Bobby's insofar as the reliability and general
effectiveness of Symantec's Norton Ghost program is concerned. I've probably
cloned dozens of different hard drives more than a thousand times over the
past few years and rarely run into a problem attributable to the Ghost
program. In my experience whatever problems I've run into are invariably due
to user error and/or defective hard drives. Lately (because of the many
positive reviews I've come across) I've been working with the Acronis True
Image program using a bootable CD created in the program. So far it has
performed admirably and it's fast becoming my cloning program of choice. Its
main advantage when compared with Ghost is its cloning speed. It's much
faster than the Ghost program in my experience.

Having said all this, if you're interested in performing only a one-time
clone of your old drive to the new one rather than routinely using the
cloning process as a backup system, then you can use the disk imaging
program that's included by the hard drive manufacturer's retail boxed
version of their drive. That utility is usually available from the
manufacturer's website as well. The problem with that utility (as compared
with commercial disk imaging programs) is that it is excruciatingly slow to
clone the contents of one drive to another. But if it's only a one-shot
deal, that should suffice for your needs.
Art

 

[FireBrick]

Thanks to all.

A cloning I shall go, a cloning I shall go. etc. etc. etc.

 

[MikeP]

I have used Maxtor's and Western Digital's FREE software to setup and clone
hard drives.
Recently I did this at work on an XP Pro machine with a failing hard drive.
Worked like a charm.

http://www.maxtor.com/
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

 

[Alex Nichol]

My hard drive C:, is starting to make a steady whirring noise
Sounds like snoring.
Grrrr, Grrrr, etc etc.

I think it would be prudent to change it out before it stops making any
noise.

But I've got lots of files, programs, utilities set up just the way I want.

How do I clone it so I can take the old C: out and slip in the new one.

What I use is BootIT NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware -
30 day full functional trial)

Download, to its own folder, extract from the zip, run the bootitng to
make a boot floppy.

With the new drive plugged in as slave/secondary, boot the floppy,
Cancel Install, entering maintenance, then click on Partition work.
Highlight your C:,Copy, then on left select the new drive (HD1),
highlight the Free Space in it, and Paste.

You might then consider a resize up a bit. Then repeat for any other
partitions you may have. Or leave some free space so as later to make a
new separate partition on it rather than make a new larger drive a
single partition

Now click on 'View MBR' and in it highlight the entry for this new C
partition and click the 'Set Active' Click 'Write Standard MBR' and
Apply.

Close out, swap the disks to make the new one the one that boots, and
reboot into XP.