Very urgent. switching to another HDD

A

andy704

New Member
ok i am trying to move ALL of my files and whatnot from one hard drive to another because the computer i have currently doesnt have a place for me to put another hard drive.

so i was just cutting and pasting all of my files from the local disk (C: drive) onto my new HDD, but once i got to the Windows folder, it wouldnt allow me to move the contents; just as i expected.

well, my very important question that i desperately need answered right now is: Is there any way for me to move all of the contents from my C drive onto this other hard drive.

once i switch everything over then i am planning to use my new HDD as the local disk (C: drive)
 
While your old case doesn't have room for a second hard drive how about the new one? You would simply slave the old drive to the new drive there to copy files directly. This is the method just about everyone will point to first.

Files in the Windows directory can be moved while Windows is not loaded. When running the normal system files themselves are active and inaccessible. Apparently you were trying to move instead of copy files from drive to drive which wouldn't work there. Plus you will need to partition, format, and install Windows on the new drive before attempting to copy or move files to that one unless that already has a preinstalled operating system inplace.
 
ok basically, i just bought a computer that has a hard drive with the OS and everything on it already. but i have another hard drive that i want to use as the main hard drive on that computer. basically, i want to switch everything from the current hard drive to the old one. how would i go about doing that?
 
If you have s 5 1/4" drive bay available there are 3 1/2" to 5 1/4" drive adapters where you can slide a hard drive in there for direct copy of files from it. First you will have to have Windows running on the destination drive in order to use that as the boot drive for the system. Partitioning, formatting the partition, and then the Windows installation are needed. Do you have an installation disk?
 
Umm. Neither copy nor move will work while Windows is running.

To do this effectively all you need to do is grab yourself a copy of Norton Ghost. It will copy the entire contents of one drive onto the other, including all hidden and system files. Then all you have to do is plug in the new HDD as master and away you go. No need for complicated nonsense.
 
The main problem here is to install the intended in either a 5 1/4" bay with an HD adapter or use an external casing through usb. But the usb would only work for storing and not what is needed. Without a means of slaving one drive to another or using a bay used by cd.dvd drives a drive clone program or ghost won't work either.

If there was only a few gigabytes of files to move a dvd burner could be used for dvd-r or dvd-rw for file transfer. The rest would be the simple partition, format, and Windows installation on the intended drive. If you are running XP you will certainly want a fresh install over a clone due to the hardware detection of the other drive.
 
Jeez. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable...

You can take this guy's word for it and create an awful lot of hassle for nothing, or you can trust someone that has done it many times as a living. Cloning a disk is the most feasible way to go. Doing a straight copy does not copy the hidden files and system files properly. Reformatting is NOT necessary because you are not changing any hardware, just the HDD. Drivers are not an issue. Don't even go there. Just figure out a way to hook both drives up together and clone them. Plug the new one in and your good to go. I promise. I have done it many times for clients. Norton Ghost is your friend (probably the only good thing they have ever made).
 
ok im not asking how i can put in another hdd. i only want one. my only question is: is there anyway i can transfer all of my files including the system files and whatnot to another hdd.

sirkenin: thanks, so norton ghost is all i really need to use? i got my comp straight from dell and it didnt come with an installation disk or anything. i see that i have norton ghost but does it require registration or anything?
 
Nope, Ghost doesn't require registration thankfully. Just run it. Fantastic little program. I can't say enough good things about it. One of my suppliers gave it to me and I never gave it back.. hehehe

All you have to do is figure out a way to temporarily hook both drives up together and away you go. Then unhook the old one and put it on a shelf or something if it's still good. You never know when you might need it again.
 
SirKenin said:
Jeez. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable...

You can take this guy's word for it and create an awful lot of hassle for nothing, or you can trust someone that has done it many times as a living. Cloning a disk is the most feasible way to go. Doing a straight copy does not copy the hidden files and system files properly. Reformatting is NOT necessary because you are not changing any hardware, just the HDD. Drivers are not an issue. Don't even go there. Just figure out a way to hook both drives up together and clone them. Plug the new one in and your good to go. I promise. I have done it many times for clients. Norton Ghost is your friend (probably the only good thing they have ever made).
Click to expand...

Where was the mention of reformatting anything? Since only one drive will fit in the case how are you going to first "partition" and "format" not reformat a new drive without installing it first for the XP installer, Disk Management, Partition Magic, GPart, or some other means of making the drive ready for use? There was no mention of direct copy of system files either.

Most people know that XP prefers a fresh partition to install onto due to the newer hardware detection process plus "product activation code". Each installation has it's own installation code unique for each system. Many have complained that ghosted installations fail to run when Norton Ghost was used.
 
Well maybe because they have no idea what they are doing. It doesn't sound like you've used it either.

You don't have to mount the second drive either.. Again, you're not using your cranium. You're making things more complicated than they have to be (once more) and simply confusing everyone. I simply set the HDD beside the case, plug it in and go. It's only a temporary situation, so as long as you don't short out the board on the drive you're good to go. In fact, the computer that I'm working on right now has a drive hanging out the side of it because I'm doing some recovery operations on it.

There will be no reactivation of XP, no reinstalling of drivers, nothing. It's very obvious that you don't know what you're talking about. It works. Trust me. I've done it many times. It would be a different story if he was changing the motherboard or something, but he isn't. All he is doing is switching harddrives, and since when does installing a new harddrive require reactivation?

Let's say on the SLIMMEST of chances that you're even remotely close to the truth. Reactivation is a breeze. Even if it won't automatically reactivate it is a simple call to Microsoft to rectify the problem. If I've done it once I've done it a dozen times (or more). I am forever switching hardware out of my machines and changing things all around, if for no other reason than the very nature of my business.
 
What you seem to forget is the two different drives themselves. What you never bothered to ask was if the two drives are the size let alone make and model which is far less important there. If you put a 20gb cloned image on an 80gb drive where does the other 60gb go? It simply remains inaccessible. And that is one simple example for you to comprehend.
 
ok all i did was just hook up the second hard drive and its hanging out the side right now. i went on the computer and when i went on norton ghost 10.0 (it came with the computer but it seems that its only a 90 day trial and i have to purchase the product.) and tried to copy my hard drive it said that the feature is not enabled and that i have to license the product of something. is it basically saying that i have to purchase the software for me to be able to copy my hard drive? because right now all i have is the trial.


EDIT: and also if i end up having to buy the product i might just go ahead and do something else. but then that leads me to my next problem. the hard drive in my computer right now seems to be split into two. its an 80 gb hard drive but in the My Computer its says that there is the local disk (C) which is about 50 gb and there is the back up disk (D) with is around 20 gb. is there anyway i can join them together to just make it into one disk thing?
 
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Ok. I don't have the trial. I have the full product.

By the way, do yourself a favor and don't listen to PC eye... I hope I don't get in trouble for saying that, but it is unbelievably easy to expand the partition later to take up the whole drive. I can help you with that if need be. It also doesn't matter what size the drives are. I have cloned different size HDDs without any problems at all... Then again, I know what I'm doing.. :)

Anyways, I don't know about the trial. It seems to me it isn't much of a trial if it doesn't have any functionality. I could really use some screenshots or something to get a better idea of what is going on. If you could provide those that would be great.

The reason that your drive is split in two is because all your recovery data is on the second partition. In other words, if you ever need to restore your computer to it's original state, your computer will boot from that partition if you tell it to.

Sooo, you have to be careful when you ghost the drive. Those two partition setups can be tricky. I've done it, but it's tricky.. If you don't do it right you will lose the ability to restore from that partition... I've run across the same problem on an IBM scrap pile.
 
If the 80gb came with the new system that 20gb is probably the recovery partition with the drivers and softwares backed there for any restoration needed. The 90 day trial version is typical of shareware where most features are unavailable until you buy the full version.

The simple solution was to partition if needed the drive you want in the new case if this hasn't already been done along with the format there plus the OS like XP would then be installed. Once that is in you slave the drive that came with the system to that and move the files you want directly to it. In the event the system has to be returned for any reason you put the original drive back in. That way you are covered under the warranty.
 

shows the pop up that appears when i click on copy my hard drive


shows how i have the trial only and i have to purchase, when i check the status


that local disk and the back up are both the same HDD. as you can see the local is 50 gb and the back up is 20 gb. on the back up theres nothing in it
 
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i just either want to transfer everything over to my new hdd or join those two drives (local disk and back up) to form one.

basically on my new hdd i have a bunch of music and movies that i want to keep on one hdd, the same as all of my system files. so my other option was to join those two and then transfer my music and stuff from the new hdd to the current one.

or i was hoping to be able to move all of the system files, that are in the local disk, over to the back up since its smaller, and then move all of my other movies movies and documents and whatnot over to the local disk.

pretty confusing but i just basically want to keep everything on one hdd.

PC eye, i appreciate your advice but i seem to find it hard to understand what you are talking about. im sorry but i want to consider your advice but i dont really know what youre talking.
 
Here I simply run two drives where one is used for backup and there are plans for either Vista or a version of Linux to go on as well. Since you have now pointed out that you already have files on the new drive that answers the question of whether or not it was already partitioned and formatted.

On a system where there are two drives with one smaller then the other the larger is commonly used as the backup and storage drive due to it having a larger storage capacity. The smaller drive is used as the host or simply put the one where Windows is installed and boots the system. When you said that there was only room for one drive what system are you running(make, model)?
 
dell dimension 1100. if i want to put in another HDD then i have to buy a bracket for it. but i decided i dont even want two HDD bc i just wanted to put everything on one.

basically i hada computer before that i was sharing with someone else and i had my own HDD that had my music, documents, images, and movies on it. now that i got a new computer i wanted to take all those files and just put it in along with my system files in the c drive.
 
I assume the Ghost 10 shareware came along with the 1100 as part of the Dell package. The idea of having a bracket doesn't mean running two drives. You simply have a place to put it in secure and already grounded to the chassis there. No drive dangling over metal edges of side covers risking damage to the insulation of the 12v and ground wires there.

How large is the drive you want in? A 100, 120, 160, 200gb? With the drive slaved to the 80gb that came with the Dell you first copy to that drive to back up the files you want to that drive before doing anything else. Once that is done with your files safe in temporary folders(the one thing someone else doesn't want to hear apparently) you setup the new drive and now disconnect the 80gb(hopefully there was enough room for your files).

With everything safe on the Dell drive assuming the one you want has no OS on it is now ready for installing Windows onto for the "fresh" install to that drive. If the partition is in good shape XP should go right on. When Windows is running normal simply copy the temp folders by using two windows where you highlight and right click on those to choose the copy option. From there bring the mouse over to the new drive with XP now running on it and right click on the window there after opening to the C drive. Simply choose the "paste" option to see files and folders start copying immediately.

Now that you have a copy of each file and folder on two drives you can set the Dell 80gb aside in case of later virus/malware infection. You still will have the files you want safe there. If the installation went bad and your new drive had to be wiped in order for Windows to go on clean your files again are still there on the Dell drive without ever paying a price for the full version of Ghost 10.
 
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