Transferring data from one HDD to another (win8 pre installed)

B

bbalcrazy92

New Member
Hello everyone,

I have tried searching around for an answer to this, but I can't seem to find one that is accurate enough.

I have an Asus G75vw laptop. It came with two hard drives(?), I thought it would come with one 750gb, but under computer I see 2.. one is C one is D. I don't think it is a partitioned HDD either.

My C drive only has about 300gb in it for some reason and I'm almost at the limit. I am planning on buying a 1TB 7200rpm HDD and transferring everything over.

Is this even possible to do? It came with Win8 preinstalled. If it is possible am I able to transfer both C and D if there is only one HDD in here? If there is 2 I would like to clone my C drive and just replace it with the 1TB one, hoping there won't be any problems. I haven't opened up the laptop yet just because I'm a bit nervous. I have looked up youtube videos and I do see two HDDs in them leading me to assume mine has 2.

I am not sure if I need recovery discs or not, as I have not even made them yet ( was never given the option to when I got the laptop )

Thanks guys
Cheers
 
From specs I gathered when I looked up your laptop, it looks like you have a single 750G drive that is partitioned into 2. You should be able to use Disk Management to shrink the D partition and enlarge the C partition. It may take several iterations to do this because as you enlarge C you will need to move data from D to C to be able to shrink D further.

Another way to do it would be to keep the C drive as the drive for just your OS and programs and use the D drive for data storage. In this instance, you would probably want to shrink your C partition to around 100G and enlarge your D.

If you still want to change out the hdd with a 1TB then you need to clone the drive using software such as Macrium Reflect. However, you will still end up with with two partitions and likely have the same space management issue you have now.
 
The d: drive is where your restore software is. I would not mess with it. If you mess up that d: partition, you will lose your Windows 8 and drivers software. I would get a bigger drive and clone the primary drive c: and d: partitions. But to do this you would need a external hard drive enclosure. On newer laptops, you can also make backups of your restore software by burning it to dvd's. I think around 5 disks it takes. That is another way to save the restore software.
 
Thanks for the replies guys



My D drive only has 1gig of data used. I have almost 400g of space left. So I'm not sure if making it smaller would negatively impact my OS as Alien said. Also if my hard drive is one 750g partitioned into 2, then that means my laptop has 2 hard drive bays, because there is room for another.

So let's say I just add in the 1tb to what I already have, without modifying or cloning anything. If I start installing software to the new HDD, how would that work out if the newer software needs a program that I have in the C drive to run? i.e. games on Steam, or updates to other software that is already installed on the C drive. Maybe in this case cloning my C drive and then deleting it all would be best? And just keep this current HDD as my D drive?

Sorry if I'm getting carried away with this
 
bbalcrazy92 said:
Thanks for the replies guys



My D drive only has 1gig of data used. I have almost 400g of space left. So I'm not sure if making it smaller would negatively impact my OS as Alien said. Also if my hard drive is one 750g partitioned into 2, then that means my laptop has 2 hard drive bays, because there is room for another.

So let's say I just add in the 1tb to what I already have, without modifying or cloning anything. If I start installing software to the new HDD, how would that work out if the newer software needs a program that I have in the C drive to run? i.e. games on Steam, or updates to other software that is already installed on the C drive. Maybe in this case cloning my C drive and then deleting it all would be best? And just keep this current HDD as my D drive?

Sorry if I'm getting carried away with this
Click to expand...

I read more about your laptop, and it does have 2 hard drive bays.
So, maybe get a 1 tb and put it in for your storage drive. They also said you can get a 256gb ssd for primary and a 1 tb for storage.
What I meant was on the d: partition is the restore software, it's how they restore back to factory defaults and since they don't give you actual disks anymore. The Windows 8 software is (OEM) and it is stored there in that 1 gb file. If that gets deleted some how, you will not be able to reload Windows 8 back onto the laptop. I hope that might make more sense.
 
Yes that makes more sense Alien, thanks!

I have a question about if I get that 1TB HDD and put it in the empty bay.
I have games on my C drive, and game clients... example being Steam and a few games for it. If I put the 1TB HDD in, and decide to download another game on Steam and save it on new hard drive, would I still be able to run it even though steam is on the opposite hard drive? How would programs like this work? Let's say a program of mine needed to be updated and I have it on the C drive, but there is not enough storage space left?

I don't know if I seem to be making much sense I just want to try and make this easier for me in the long run. Thanks again
 
I never use RESTORE DISKS or especially RECOVERY PARTITION (restore software) to restore my operating system!
Because today there are so many malicious software which can infect or/and completely screw up the partition and all data on it together with the "restore software" data.Usually the "restore software" data is logically stored in one or multiple files or/and folders (depending how they did it).And EVERY SINGLE file can become infected or changed by a malicious software and for that reason if you restore an operating system from those infected/damaged files (recovery software data) then the restored operating system might not work at all or it could work like crap.In some cases like these you might not even be able to restore an operating system.

And that sucks...

Every time I buy a new laptop for example,I ALWAYS erase the entire HDD with tools such as Kill Disk and then I use my own Windows disk to FORMAT the entire HDD,create one SINGLE partition which uses the ENTIRE HDD and THEN install an operating system and drivers on THAT partition.
After I did that,I of course install everything I need,adjust ALL the options just the way I want and after that I FINALLY clone my entire drive on a separate external drive (in this case my UAC data device I made for myself) so I can easily restore that in the case of a disaster.And no...I never use any cloning software.I do it manually using simple Linux Ubuntu CD-ROM disk with which I just copy EVERY SINGLE FILE AND FOLDER into an empty folder on my external drive.
It seems a little bit weird way I admit,but it is just the way how I do it for myself and it works perfectly.And the best thing is that on this way you can ALSO apply it on ANY other computer no matter what hardware it uses.Even if it's 100% different.On that way I do NOT need to reinstall and readjust absolutely anything. :D

Of course logically if you put the clone on other computer with different hardware the ONLY thing you will NEED to install are the drivers for that hardware (and adjust the options in them if you want to).But EVERYTHING ELSE will already be installed and adjusted completely the same as it was made on the original PC.

And the best thing is that the way of how I clone my drives and the way of how I am able to transfer the clone to completely different computers and make it work perfectly applies all the way to Windows 95 OS or newer!!! :D

Pretty cool ha? :D

And the reason why I don't like the RESTORE DISKS is simply because most of them do not completely erase the drive (such as Kill Disk) before installing an OS.True you can always erase the drive with the Kill Disk before installing an OS from the RESTORE DISK,but most of the RESTORE DISKS do not even format the drive properly before the installation.Most of them just perform a quick format (quick drive clean).
And also they install bunch of unneccessary crap of software together with the OS.

And that also sucks...


bbalcrazy92 said:
Yes that makes more sense Alien, thanks!

I have a question about if I get that 1TB HDD and put it in the empty bay.
I have games on my C drive, and game clients... example being Steam and a few games for it. If I put the 1TB HDD in, and decide to download another game on Steam and save it on new hard drive, would I still be able to run it even though steam is on the opposite hard drive? How would programs like this work? Let's say a program of mine needed to be updated and I have it on the C drive, but there is not enough storage space left?

I don't know if I seem to be making much sense I just want to try and make this easier for me in the long run. Thanks again
Click to expand...

If you install games and programs on the new drive,they will work just fine.
Today there are really rare programs which can be installed ONLY on the C: drive.So you don't have to worry about that.
As for your Steam games,the answer is the SAME.Feel free to download the game through Steam on your new 1 TB drive.It will work just fine.
All installed programs and games save their settings MOSTLY on the partition on which the OS is installed logically because there is also the OS REGISTRY located.Of course not ALL programs and games settings are stored into the registry.Some are stored in simple text files,some in XML files,some in INF files,some in INI files blablabla...That depends on how the programmer(s) made his/her/their program(s) or game(s).

For example...the Steam application settings are stored in the registry.
But Valve could have also easily make it to store it's settings in some RTF text files in it's own folder if they wanted to.It doesn't matter.It's just the way how they decided to make it.

So in this case if your Steam application is installed on D: drive,but your OS is installed on the C: drive,the Steam application WILL WORK,but it will still store all of it's settings on the C: drive because the Valve programmers made it to store it's settings in the OS REGISTRY and since the OS is installed on the C: drive then logically the REGISTRY is then also on the C: drive where all the Steam settings are stored into.

As for you wanting to download the games through Steam ON your new 1 TB drive,YES you CAN do it and it WILL work perfectly.
And the answer is the SAME as above.All your downloaded games WILL be stored on your 1 TB drive (if that's the location on which you decide to store them on to),but it will still store all of the game settings on the C: drive because the Valve programmers made the games to store their settings in the OS REGISTRY and since the OS is installed on the C: drive then logically the REGISTRY is then also on the C: drive where all the Steam game settings are stored into.

NOTE: Some options (settings) of the Steam application as well as the Steam games are stored in FILES within the folder in which they are located!
The reason for that is the same as above.Valve programmers simply decided to make it that way.





Cheers!
 
S.T.A.R.S. said:
I never use RESTORE DISKS or especially RECOVERY PARTITION (restore software) to restore my operating system!
Because today there are so many malicious software which can infect or/and completely screw up the partition and all data on it together with the "restore software" data.Usually the "restore software" data is logically stored in one or multiple files or/and folders (depending how they did it).And EVERY SINGLE file can become infected or changed by a malicious software and for that reason if you restore an operating system from those infected/damaged files (recovery software data) then the restored operating system might not work at all or it could work like crap.In some cases like these you might not even be able to restore an operating system.

And that sucks...

Every time I buy a new laptop for example,I ALWAYS erase the entire HDD with tools such as Kill Disk and then I use my own Windows disk to FORMAT the entire HDD,create one SINGLE partition which uses the ENTIRE HDD and THEN install an operating system and drivers on THAT partition.
After I did that,I of course install everything I need,adjust ALL the options just the way I want and after that I FINALLY clone my entire drive on a separate external drive (in this case my UAC data device I made for myself) so I can easily restore that in the case of a disaster.And no...I never use any cloning software.I do it manually using simple Linux Ubuntu CD-ROM disk with which I just copy EVERY SINGLE FILE AND FOLDER into an empty folder on my external drive.
It seems a little bit weird way I admit,but it is just the way how I do it for myself and it works perfectly.And the best thing is that on this way you can ALSO apply it on ANY other computer no matter what hardware it uses.Even if it's 100% different.On that way I do NOT need to reinstall and readjust absolutely anything. :D

Of course logically if you put the clone on other computer with different hardware the ONLY thing you will NEED to install are the drivers for that hardware (and adjust the options in them if you want to).But EVERYTHING ELSE will already be installed and adjusted completely the same as it was made on the original PC.

And the best thing is that the way of how I clone my drives and the way of how I am able to transfer the clone to completely different computers and make it work perfectly applies all the way to Windows 95 OS or newer!!! :D

Pretty cool ha? :D

And the reason why I don't like the RESTORE DISKS is simply because most of them do not completely erase the drive (such as Kill Disk) before installing an OS.True you can always erase the drive with the Kill Disk before installing an OS from the RESTORE DISK,but most of the RESTORE DISKS do not even format the drive properly before the installation.Most of them just perform a quick format (quick drive clean).
And also they install bunch of unneccessary crap of software together with the OS.

And that also sucks...




If you install games and programs on the new drive,they will work just fine.
Today there are really rare programs which can be installed ONLY on the C: drive.So you don't have to worry about that.
As for your Steam games,the answer is the SAME.Feel free to download the game through Steam on your new 1 TB drive.It will work just fine.
All installed programs and games save their settings MOSTLY on the partition on which the OS is installed logically because there is also the OS REGISTRY located.Of course not ALL programs and games settings are stored into the registry.Some are stored in simple text files,some in XML files,some in INF files,some in INI files blablabla...That depends on how the programmer(s) made his/her/their program(s) or game(s).

For example...the Steam application settings are stored in the registry.
But Valve could have also easily make it to store it's settings in some RTF text files in it's own folder if they wanted to.It doesn't matter.It's just the way how they decided to make it.

So in this case if your Steam application is installed on D: drive,but your OS is installed on the C: drive,the Steam application WILL WORK,but it will still store all of it's settings on the C: drive because the Valve programmers made it to store it's settings in the OS REGISTRY and since the OS is installed on the C: drive then logically the REGISTRY is then also on the C: drive where all the Steam settings are stored into.

As for you wanting to download the games through Steam ON your new 1 TB drive,YES you CAN do it and it WILL work perfectly.
And the answer is the SAME as above.All your downloaded games WILL be stored on your 1 TB drive (if that's the location on which you decide to store them on to),but it will still store all of the game settings on the C: drive because the Valve programmers made the games to store their settings in the OS REGISTRY and since the OS is installed on the C: drive then logically the REGISTRY is then also on the C: drive where all the Steam game settings are stored into.

NOTE: Some options (settings) of the Steam application as well as the Steam games are stored in FILES within the folder in which they are located!
The reason for that is the same as above.Valve programmers simply decided to make it that way.





Cheers!
Click to expand...


Thanks for the very descriptive response STARS :):):):):)

So that makes me feel a bit more comfortable now and I think I'm going to purchase the HDD and just start saving all my downloads there. I don't mind if the game settings aren't stored there and are stored in C instead.

However, what if I want to transfer something over to the new hard drive? Is it as simple as dragging and dropping? I know I'm going to have to do it sooner or later when I purchase certain game expansions because I have the original game on C. That's why I was thinking it would make most sense for me to clone the HDD. Or maybe just clone the C part of it onto the new HDD, and the D part with all the recoveries I can just keep it in the computer.
/shrug
 
It really depends on the data which you want to move to the new drive.If the data are just some folders with pictures or music or movies or text files or some of your documents then they will work just fine from the new drive AS LONG AS THEY ARE JUST SIMPLE FILES WHICH DO NOT DEPEND ON THE WINDOWS REGISTRY SETTINGS.

However the data such as installed programs or/and games WHICH STORE THEIR SETTINGS IN THE REGISTRY..........WELL..........THAT'S A DIFFERENT STORY.

For example...if a game is installed on C: and then you move it to let's say...Z: then the game will or won't work:

WILL WORK:

If the game settings are stored within it's own folder.

WILL NOT WORK:

If the game settings are stored within the Windows registry.


So the reason is THE SAME as I wrote in my previous post.If the game's settings are saved in the REGISTRY and then you move the game's folder to a new drive then that means that ALSO the DRIVE LETTER is now different and the GAME'S SETTINGS which are stored in the REGISTRY will no longer apply for the game you moved to the new drive (new drive letter).Simply because the game has wrote it's settings in the REGISTRY WHILE IT WAS ON THE C: DRIVE ON WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY INSTALLED ON!And by moving the game to Z: drive for example will make the game incompatible with it's settings which are in the REGISTRY and that will result for a game to crash immediately because it will not be able to read the neccessary information it needs from Z: because it needs that from C: instead!

Same rules apply for ALL installed programs if they store their settings in the REGISTRY and unforcenately 99% of them do.

This is the MAIN REASON why I always make my programs to store their settings in their own folder.On that way it works from everywhere.:D

So anyway...

If you have a Steam game installed on the C: drive and you want to update that SAME GAME with some updates,expansions blablabla,but you do not have ANY MORE room left on the C: drive then you CANNOT simply just CUT and PASTE the game's folder on the new drive and then perform the update.It will NOT work...the game won't run,you won't be able to update it,the expansions won't work blablabla because of the reason I wrote above.

There ARE ways to actually change that in the REGISTRY without the need to reinstall the program or game on the NEW drive.But that is a pain in the ass lol.It is usually very complicated because in the REGISTRY you must find all the values of the installed game or program and then change that manually.

How many values?

It REALLY depends on how the programmers decided for a program or/and game they made to store the values in the REGISTRY and HOW MANY of them are stored in the REGISTRY and HOW MANY of them are stored somewhere else.

So trust me...you do NOT want to modify all those values in the registry manually.Unless if:

-You are crazy and on drugs :D

OR

-If there are just few values in the registry which can be easily found and changed.This applies for some small programs and games such as uTorrent,Process Explorer and so on.But for Steam games...well...they contain a LOT more on MANY places.So by just wanting to even FIND all those values of your Steam game will be pain in the ass NOT TO MENTION how long it would take you to change all that manually and ALSO NOT TO MENTION THAT YOU MUST BE 100% SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE IF YOU CHANGE THE VALUES WRONG THEN YOU WILL AGAIN END UP WITH A GAME NOT WORKING AT ALL.


So trust me...the best way for such programs and games which you are planning to use on the new drive is to reinstall them.First uninstall them from the C: drive (if you want) and then install them on the new drive...let's say...Z: drive.
Once you have done that,it will work immediately with no problems.

NOTE: Do not change the drive letter of the new drive once you have installed all your neccessary stuff on that new drive.Because changing the drive letter will AGAIN cause the SAME issue...and that is...all installed stuff on that new drive won't work.It will be just like you did CUT and PASTE from C: drive to Z: drive.
Of course if you accidentaly change the drive letter,don't worry everything is still fine because you can easily change it back from Disk Management for example.





Cheers!
 
If you have a Steam game installed on the C: drive and you want to update that SAME GAME with some updates,expansions blablabla,but you do not have ANY MORE room left on the C: drive then you CANNOT simply just CUT and PASTE the game's folder on the new drive and then perform the update.It will NOT work...the game won't run,you won't be able to update it,the expansions won't work blablabla because of the reason I wrote above.
Click to expand...

That's simply not true. Copy and paste the steam common files to where you want to install the game. Then delete the old local cache. Install the game again, and point it to the new folder/drive that you want it install at. It will detect the local files are there, verify the files, and install the games. I do this every time I refo.
 
claptonman said:
That's simply not true. Copy and paste the steam common files to where you want to install the game. Then delete the old local cache. Install the game again, and point it to the new folder/drive that you want it install at. It will detect the local files are there, verify the files, and install the games. I do this every time I refo.
Click to expand...

(Marked in red) you just said that he WILL need to install the game(s) AGAIN if moved to new location.And I told him the SAME thing.If you have read my post properly,you would see that I have already told him the same thing and that is that he WILL need to install the game again if moved to new location (marked in red):

S.T.A.R.S. said:
If you have a Steam game installed on the C: drive and you want to update that SAME GAME with some updates,expansions blablabla,but you do not have ANY MORE room left on the C: drive then you CANNOT simply just CUT and PASTE the game's folder on the new drive and then perform the update.It will NOT work...the game won't run,you won't be able to update it,the expansions won't work blablabla because of the reason I wrote above.

There ARE ways to actually change that in the REGISTRY without the need to reinstall the program or game on the NEW drive.But that is a pain in the ass lol.It is usually very complicated because in the REGISTRY you must find all the values of the installed game or program and then change that manually.

How many values?

It REALLY depends on how the programmers decided for a program or/and game they made to store the values in the REGISTRY and HOW MANY of them are stored in the REGISTRY and HOW MANY of them are stored somewhere else.

So trust me...you do NOT want to modify all those values in the registry manually.Unless if:

-You are crazy and on drugs :D

OR

-If there are just few values in the registry which can be easily found and changed.This applies for some small programs and games such as uTorrent,Process Explorer and so on.But for Steam games...well...they contain a LOT more on MANY places.So by just wanting to even FIND all those values of your Steam game will be pain in the ass NOT TO MENTION how long it would take you to change all that manually and ALSO NOT TO MENTION THAT YOU MUST BE 100% SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE IF YOU CHANGE THE VALUES WRONG THEN YOU WILL AGAIN END UP WITH A GAME NOT WORKING AT ALL.


So trust me...the best way for such programs and games which you are planning to use on the new drive is to reinstall them.First uninstall them from the C: drive (if you want) and then install them on the new drive...let's say...Z: drive.
Once you have done that,it will work immediately with no problems.
Click to expand...

That was the part of my post in which I told him exactly what you said.
STEAM COMMON FILES are NOT the game so wherever he moves them to,he will need to reinstall the game AGAIN ANYWAY and that is exactly what I told him TOGETHER WITH A LONG EXPLANATION IN WHICH I SAID WHY THAT WILL BE NECCESSARY.
I also told him that there ARE ways to move the game to a new path location without reinstalling the game,but AGAIN explained him WHY THAT IS A MORE COMPLICATED APPROACH.
 
Sorry for the extremely late response -.- been very busy

Also thank you all for the help I am going to give it a shot and see how everything turns out =]
 
Hey guys
So I have the new HDD installed, the stupid thing didn't even come with screws so it's just lifted up by the prongs in the hard drive bay -.-
ANYWAYS!


I know we were talking about moving games etc. I just want to make things a little clear. If I uninstall my steam games, and reinstall them onto my new drive Z...everything will continue to work fine correct? Also for future games I can just install them directly to Z I'm assuming? THANKS
 
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