Hi,
Can anyone tell me if there is a freeware program that can transfer an exact
image of a hard drive (it full) to another larger hard drive so it can
replace the smaller drive and boot up the computer without having to reload
any of the programs. I assume I would have to change the cmos to reflect the
larger drive.
TIA Col
First, you do not state the operating system you are using.
This makes an important difference calling for mostly
different answers. If you are using an OS other than XP/NT
based, the remainder of my answer can be ignored, dismissed
and flushed as inapplicable to your case.
Next, you may or may not have to do anything with the CMOS
depending on your machine. You may be able to get an update
for your BIOS from the machine or MB manufacturer if you
need anything at all. Many machines built over recent years
have no problem with this. Windows 9x will have a partition
size limit for the boot partition of about 8GB IIRC which
means you need more than one partition with most currently
available drives. WindowsXP essentially is not limited in
this way and can handle the big drives with only the machine
being the limiting factor. This generally applies only to
the active boot partition and not to any extended or logical
partitions which can be much larger. Personally, I wouldn't
even think about using a boot partition using the entire
drive.
Over the past several months, I have had several occasions
where I needed to replicate or move to a larger hard drive
because of the increase in graphical storage requirements.
After some rather extensive searching, I do not believe
there is any "freeware" that is a complete solution in one
package when you are using WindowsXP. If you are using Win
9x, there are several including xxcopy which can accomplish
the job in conjunction with or without fdisk. The closest I
have found to being a complete easy to use package is the
free version of CasperXP below.
http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/
It is limited to replicating the hard drive using partitions
of identical size to the original leaving the remainder of a
larger hard drive unallocated. It cannot replicate to a
smaller hard drive AFIK. For the unallocated space, you can
use fdisk to install an additional partition after the drive
is replicated. For resizing partitions without losing data,
you can look for one of the Linux utilities to do that after
replicating the drive. I am sure there are several. There
are, of course, several popular packages that can get the
job done with many more features.
For my own solution, I chose to get off the few extra
dollars and download the commercial version of CasperXP
which allows resizing the partitions automatically or
manually or, even, adding a partion during the replication
process. I find either version to be every bit as fast or
faster than other replicators being able to complete the job
of replicating an 80GB drive in just over an hour on my
machine. The process is simple and fast enough along with
the fact that a 160GB HD can be had for $80US these days
that I use it for backup instead of other methads. If I
need, I can restore the needed components individually in
short order or simply replace the complete drive in a couple
of minutes ready to be back in business. This can be done
with either version.
I apologize for the mention of commercial ware in this NG,
but I just have not been able to find "freeware" that can
accomplish this task reliably or efficiently with the
WindowsXP system.
Good luck
