Moving WinXP to a larger HD?

[Pat]

On my desktop with WinXP Pro, I need to move it to a larger, and faster, IDE HD, from
80G to 250G.

After the new drive is formatted, is Norton Ghost the right program to use to move all
my files over?

If I use Clone in Norton Ghost, will it just clone/move all my files, or will it
clone/recreate my old 80G partition on my new 250G HD?

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

I'm not familiar with Ghost, but if it's really a Clone operation, it will
recreate your partition. An exact duplicate. If you then want to enlarge the
partition, you can use BootIt NG. Download the EXE from www.bootitng.com,
then run it to create an installation floppy. Boot to the floppy then Cancel
the installation. That will give you access to Partition Work, where you can
resize the partition. BootIt NG is free for this purpose.

Or, create one or more new partitions in the empty space and move your
personal files to one or more of the partitions. I use separate partitions,
one each for TEMP, Personal Files and Downloaded applications (I download
lots of apps, many of them quite large. I also copy apps frontheir
installation CDs to the HD for more successful installations and easy
access. That's a minimum... I also, for instance, add separate partitions
for images (I'm in the graphic arts/publishing business) and any other large
collection of files I want kept separate from other data.

 

[Lil' Dave]

On my desktop with WinXP Pro, I need to move it to a larger, and faster,
IDE HD, from
80G to 250G.

After the new drive is formatted, is Norton Ghost the right program to use
to move all
my files over?

One does not partition or format a drive that is target for a clone. The
cloning program does that for you.

The version of Norton Ghost may be an issue.

If I use Clone in Norton Ghost, will it just clone/move all my files, or
will it
clone/recreate my old 80G partition on my new 250G HD?

A properly working cloning program moves nothing. (Moving is the process of
copying and deleting the source folders/files). It simply copies
folders/files after creating its own partition. The source hard drive's
partition, folders/files should remain intact after the clone.

The clone may make one partition the same size as is on your 80GB physical
hard drive to the 250GB physical hard drive. The remainder will be wasted
space on the latter. There may be an option in the cloning program to
utilize all the space on the latter physical hard drive.

Dave

 

[Martin X.]

With Ghost you have options to clone the entire HD or a particular partition
only. If you're cloning a smaller HD to a larger on, there will be options
regarding how much space to use on the new HD. FYI, there are other disk
imaging programs out there, so check around.

--
Regards,
Martin X.
MCSA: M


On my desktop with WinXP Pro, I need to move it to a larger, and faster, IDE
HD, from
80G to 250G.

After the new drive is formatted, is Norton Ghost the right program to use
to move all
my files over?

If I use Clone in Norton Ghost, will it just clone/move all my files, or
will it
clone/recreate my old 80G partition on my new 250G HD?

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Mike Lowery]

You could use Ghost, or a free program like DriveImage XML or Clonezilla. If
the software doesn't support expanding the existing partition onto the new HD,
you can use GParted LiveCD to do that for you (non-destructive partition
resize.)