System disk change

[Andre De Clercq]

I want (need) to change my system disk (20GB) by a new 80GB. Can I just copy
the whole disk on my second (physical) HD, make a start floppy, replace the
old disk, format the new, start again in safe mode with the floppy, and
copy/paste everything back? Do I need an equal partition as the original
disk on the new one? Thanks for any advise.

 

[Miss Perspicacia Tick]

I want (need) to change my system disk (20GB) by a new 80GB. Can I
just copy the whole disk on my second (physical) HD, make a start
floppy, replace the old disk, format the new, start again in safe
mode with the floppy, and copy/paste everything back? Do I need an equal
partition as the original disk on the new one? Thanks for any
advise.

No of course you can't! Anyone with a modicum of common-sense would know
that would never work! Think about it for a moment - you really think that
all your applications/Windows critical files, etc will miraculously fall
into their correct places on the new disk?! You need to clone the drive -
either using the software provided with the new drive, or with a third-party
tool, e.g. Ghost 9.

 

[DL]

Its often simpler to simply use new hd in a slave configuration.
If you really want only a single hd, then the new hd may have come with a
utility to copy all to new.
There is often further info on hd manu.web site.

 

[Ron Martell]

I want (need) to change my system disk (20GB) by a new 80GB. Can I just copy
the whole disk on my second (physical) HD, make a start floppy, replace the
old disk, format the new, start again in safe mode with the floppy, and
copy/paste everything back? Do I need an equal partition as the original
disk on the new one? Thanks for any advise.

You need to use a disk copying or disk cloning utility.

Most hard drive manufacturer's provide one either on a utility disk
that comes with the new drive or it can be downloaded from the
manufacturer's web site.

Install the new drive temporarily, preferably using the secondary IDE
channel. That avoids any need to reset drive jumpers. Disconnect
anything else that is connected to the secondary IDE.

Use the disk cloning utility (most of these disks are self-booting)
and copy the existing drive to the new one.

Then remove the old drive, install the new one in its place (checking
jumper settings if there is a second hard drive as primary IDE slave)
and reconnect the drives on the secondary IDE channel.

You should be in business.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."