Copy old drive to new

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carito
  • Start date Start date
C

Carito

Hello,

I know this seems mundane, but I am new to this and need
some advice. I have two hard drives. C and f. C of course
is the one with windows on it and all, f: I just use to
store some data files on or whatever. Well I think my c
drive is starting to go out as its making aweful noises.

OK I bought a newer bigger drive. I originally thought I
could install it as a slave and then copy the old drive c
to it using xcopy or something and then remove c and make
the new one the master. But as I have read, I have gotton
confused. It seems if I do this, that when I reboot that
windows wont work because the MBR and something called a
SID (Im using windows 2000pro) wont copy over correctly. I
just do not want to have to reinstall windows from the cd
and then download all these umpteen million it seems
updates, patches and everything else.

So I want to make two partitions on my new drive. I can do
that part. Can someone please tell me how to just copy my
old c drive and all its contents, hidden, mbr, sid thing,
and whatever to my new drive so that when I reboot it will
work fine??? Do I use something like Paragon Drive Backup
or something else? One more thing. When I do go to fdisk
the new drive and format it, is there a way so that in the
future if I wanted to create another partition I can? As
it is now on my c drive formatted NTFS and a basic disk I
cant do that. OK thanks for the advice and help

Carito
 
Carito said:
Hello,

I know this seems mundane, but I am new to this and need
some advice. I have two hard drives. C and f. C of course
is the one with windows on it and all, f: I just use to
store some data files on or whatever. Well I think my c
drive is starting to go out as its making aweful noises.

OK I bought a newer bigger drive. I originally thought I
could install it as a slave and then copy the old drive c
to it using xcopy or something and then remove c and make
the new one the master. But as I have read, I have gotton
confused. It seems if I do this, that when I reboot that
windows wont work because the MBR and something called a
SID (Im using windows 2000pro) wont copy over correctly. I
just do not want to have to reinstall windows from the cd
and then download all these umpteen million it seems
updates, patches and everything else.
Click to expand...
-----

Carito -

You may wish to consider a "slipstreaming" your W2K disk to SP4 - in order
to minimize
the downloads and updates for all the Service Packs and Security Updates.

"How to Create Bootable W2K CD with Integrated Service Pack 4"
This is covered on several different web pages
(you can also search on Microsoft Knowledgebase about Slipstreaming):

The newest slipstreaming approaches (Bink) use either Nero and CD Creator
for creation.
(check that you have the latest updates as the versions you are using).

http://www.bink.nu/bootcd/

http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/winxp-sp1-bootcd.html

http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd

http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp1_cd.htm

Once you create your new slipstreamed W2K CD, then look at the Microsoft
USMT
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/new/usmt-o.asp

You can look at Symantec/Norton Ghost or Drive Copy, Drive Image & Partition
Magic (now owned by Symantec)
I have successfully used these tools in the past upgrades.

A newer tool is StepUp - that you may also wish to look at.
http://www.cellarstoneindia.com/stepup/stepup.htm

When I have a pending hard drive failure, I find that SOME tools may not be
able to copy all of
the programs and data to the new drive without loss of data or the drive
actually failing during the copy / image process.

My approach, places a minimum amount of usage / stress on a
questionable/marginal drive (pending failure)
Yes, it takes time - [Use your own judgment if this is acceptable for YOUR
situation]:

NOW is the time to check for hardware / firmware and BIOS updates/upgrades
for your computer.
.... beginners miss this step, but some of these updates actually address or
solve nagging operational problems.

During my last hard drive upgrade --- I found an updated version of my mobo
BIOS available as well as a firmware update
for my Yamaha CD-ROM drive. Download these (disk or CD) and have available
for application.

1. Remove all hard drives from the computer (mark which one is the bootable
drive with W2K)
2. Install the new hard drive and configure as primary on the IDE bus.
3. IF an updates version of the BIOS is available, I install it at this
point (writing down my BIOS setting before installing).
4. Perform a clean install of W2K -- using your new SP4 slipstreamed CD you
created earlier.
5. During install, you will be asked to partition (active & bootable) and
format this drive --- as you desire.
6. IF this is a W2K UPGRADE version, have the previous Windows CD (e.g.
WinME or Win98) available during install for confirmation of license
ownership.
7. Proceed with clean W2K install with Microsoft Update and hardware/driver
updates.
8. [Optional] - In some instances, I perform a clean install of some
applications or programs (from my original CDs)

NOW, you have a clean, functional and updated W2K computer system on a new
hard drive (and you can access the Internet).

I then proceed to get my critical data off of the other drive

A. Re-install the original drive (as a secondary on the IDE bus) into the
computer.
B. Double check that your computer BIOS is booting FIRST from the primary
drive (with new W2K install)

The primary objective is to get your DATA onto the new drive, before the old
drive dies and is inaccessible.
Applications (programs on your CDs) can be reinstalled -- but your data and
documents (unless you have backups) --
are the most critical.

C. Copy your data directories from this original drive to the new drive.
D. Applications that are self contained in their own directory (DLLs not
placed in other directories) can then me moved tot he new drive.
E. Applications that place files (e.g. Dynamic Link Libraries [*.dll
files] ) in other directories are more problematic.
It is a decision whether to perform a clean install or copy the application
over.

F. Your specific settings, Internet Explorer favorites, and Outlook Express
mail -- are more difficult.
The User State Migration Tools (USMT) for W2K is not very functional (e.g.
command line interface, only move user settings)
The Files and Settings transfer Wizard for Windows XP was a big improvement.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/crawford/november12.asp

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6313-1060826.html

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/russel/november19.asp

G. There are specific web sites and tolls for extracting (or backing up)
specific files from your old W2K installation.
http://www.backsettings.com/

http://www.backsettings.com/backup-outlook-express.html

http://www.backsettings.com/internet-explorer-backup.html

http://www.backsettings.com/backup-mail.html

H. Once I am confident that I have items moved, I set the original hard
drive aside for 4 to 8 weeks
(in case I forgot a file - on encounter a problem). After that, I see if
the drive had a recall (e.g. IBM drives) and have replaced if
still under warranty or recall notice.

Good luck!

w9gb
 
G.Beat said:
-----

Carito -

You may wish to consider a "slipstreaming" your W2K disk to SP4 - in order
to minimize
the downloads and updates for all the Service Packs and Security Updates.
Click to expand...

It helps, but unfortunately SP4 is only a small part of the updates
and patches these days. I just had to re-install a system, which I did
with an SP4 slipstreamed disk, and it still took several hours to go
through the updates.

What we need is a slip-streaming procedure that will include all of
the critical updates at least and prefereably a slection if the
regular updates as well.
 
Back
Top