Vista Hard-drive Upgrade

[Muppet Man]

I went to buy a Laptop today but it had a measly 80gig hard drive. Now
I would like to swap this out for a bigger one but since no media is
included with the laptop how can you do this?

I dont currently have a PC running Vista so dont know if there is a
utility to help you do this.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

If this is a brand new laptop media 'has to' be supplied, either in the form
of a hidden partition on the hard drive or a physical CD/DVD. I would go
back to the store and ask where the media is. I've recelt purchased a new
E-machines desktop PC, this came with an image of the operating system on
hidden partition 'and' a DVD copy of the operating system.

Microsoft have two ways of dealing with software and manufacturer's. If the
manufacturer is large, i.e, Dell, Gateway, Sony, Packard Bell, HP, they must
put a copy of the operating system on a hidden partition for the user to
recover their system if something goes wrong. If the PC is a bespoke pc, in
other words put together by your loal small retailer, then they must give
you an official microsoft OEM DVD.

If you don't have any way of restoring your system how is God's name are you
supposed to recvover from a system failure?

As far as you upgrading to a larger drive I would sk at the store you
purchased your laptop from because, you upgrading it 'might' invalidate the
warranty hereas, if they upgrade the drive i doesn't. In most cases the
stores are prepared to do this, for a fee, of course, and also install the
operating system for you, but check first.


--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Muppet Man]

If this is a brand new laptop media 'has to' be supplied, either in the form
of a hidden partition on the hard drive or a physical CD/DVD. I would go
back to the store and ask where the media is. I've recelt purchased a new
E-machines desktop PC, this came with an image of the operating system on
hidden partition 'and' a DVD copy of the operating system.

Microsoft have two ways of dealing with software and manufacturer's. If the
manufacturer is large, i.e, Dell, Gateway, Sony, Packard Bell, HP, they must
put a copy of the operating system on a hidden partition for the user to
recover their system if something goes wrong. If the PC is a bespoke pc, in
other words put together by your loal small retailer, then they must give
you an official microsoft OEM DVD.

If you don't have any way of restoring your system how is God's name are you
supposed to recvover from a system failure?

As far as you upgrading to a larger drive I would sk at the store you
purchased your laptop from because, you upgrading it 'might' invalidate the
warranty hereas, if they upgrade the drive i doesn't. In most cases the
stores are prepared to do this, for a fee, of course, and also install the
operating system for you, but check first.

--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web:http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web:http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..







- Show quoted text -

Thanks John. The OS is on a partition on the hard drive but when the
hard drive is replaced it will say on the old drive. I really need a
utlility that can copy this partition onto the new drive or a DVD.
There definitly is not a DVD in the package.

 

[Bob Harris]

Most retail hard drives come with a bootable CD that can "clone" the old
drive to the new one. This assumes that the PC has at least two disk
connectors of the same type (e.g., both IDE/ATA or both SATA). The new hard
drive must be of the same type as the old one, since cloning will not handle
a conversion from IDE/ATA to SATA, which usually requires a "repair" of XP.
(IDE/ATA uses is wide "ribbon" cable with 40 to 80 wires; SATA uses a much
thinner cable with fewer wires.)

If you already bought the hard drive, and it did not come with a CD of
tools, go to the hard drive maker's support site and look for a downloadable
version of the tools. For example, for a new Seagate drives, use their
DiskWizard to prepare the hard drive and clone the old one to the new one.
See http://www.seagate.com/support/discwizard/dw_ug.en.pdf for a sample of
the concepts involved. Note that some tools will only work if they detect
at least one hard drive their disk maker. Others may work on all hard
drives.

Alternatively, get some cloning software and do the same thing yourself. I
would use Acronis TrueImage, run from a bootable CD. Norton GHOST is
another possibility. Other options, some free, are available at this link:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html Be sure to look for software
that support "cloning", not just imaging. Or, try a Google search for "hard
drive clone", without the quotes.

WARNING: Be sure to clone from the old ot the new. If you do the reverse
you may end up with two blank hard drives !

A safer way of transferring data would be to write a disk image (not clone)
to a temporary location, like an external USB disk. Then, remove old drive,
install new, (maybe prepare the new hard drive; depends on the software),
and then restore the image from external to internal. Both TrueImage and
GHOST can do this. If anything goes wrong, simply reinstall the old hard
drive, and the PC should at least be as good as before.

If you are not commfortable playing with disk preparation and cloning
software, a safe thing to do would be to sub-contract the hard drive
replacement and cloning to the service department of a major PC store. If
you also buy the new hard drive at the same store, they may install/clone
for a lower price. If not, the fee is usually modest. (See for example any
local CompUSA or Circuit City store.)

 

[John Barnett MVP]

If it is on the hidde partition then you should eb able to make a recovery
DVD. Check your laptop user guide, this should tell you how to make
recovery DVD.

--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[John Barnett MVP]

As an alternative you could do as Bob harris has suggested and that is use
an appliaction like Acronis True Image to clone the one drive to the other.
Acronis is also a great application for backing up the whole of your hard
drive; I use it all the time.

--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..