migrating system to a larger harddrive without reinstalling win2k

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter
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P

Peter

Hello,

is it possible, and when yes how, to _copy_ the content of a smaller
harddrive with windows 2000 installed to a larger one, without get the
windows 2000 installation destroyed.

I thought his task is somehow very commnon, but i didnt find a satisfactory
answer to this topic.

Thak you for reading this post.

Peter.
 
Peter said:
is it possible, and when yes how, to _copy_ the content of a smaller
harddrive with windows 2000 installed to a larger one, without get the
windows 2000 installation destroyed.

I thought his task is somehow very commnon, but i didnt find a satisfactory
answer to this topic.
Click to expand...

The simplest way usually is to use a simple disk copy utility from the
drive manufacturer. Many manufacturers have free software specifically
for your intended purpose -- such as Seagate's "Disk Wizard", Maxtor's
"MaxBlast", and WD's "Data Lifeguard Tools". If you don't get a floppy
disk with your new HD, you can download it from the manufacturer's
website. To use, it's as simple as plugging in both HD's, boot from
the floppy, copy one HD to the other, remove old HD, put new HD in its
place, and reboot. Do not install the new HD first and try to format it
with XP; just put it in bare and boot the utility floppy. (Many people
make this mistake, which gives XP a chance to give the new HD a
different drive letter, which can screw things up.)

Very important: do *not* leave the old HD installed as a slave when you
first boot the new HD. Get the system back up and running with the new
HD by itself first. After the new HD is running properly as a single-HD
system, you may reformat and install the old HD as a slave if you want.

If the manufacturer's utility doesn't work (some people experience a
glitch here or there), you can always buy/use something like DriveImage,
Ghost, or BootIt NG. For best results, you want something that will
operate from a floppy boot disk, not from within Windows.
 
Hello,
thank you for your reply, i'am not sure if the instructions you posted for
XP will work for Windows2000 Server.
I gathered informations about Norton Ghost and DriveImage and BootIt :

Drive Image can be installed only on cannot be Installed on Windows 2000
server (only Professional).

Norton Ghost 2003 is installable only on these platforms :
Windows XP Home/XP Pro/2000 Pro/NT WS/Me/98.

BootIt NG :
i read the manual and specifications, and i'am not sure this software can do
this. I still search their newsgroups for answer.

MaxBlast (i have maxtor disks) :
i read some negative posts about this, if i no other software works, i have
to use this, but if you know something that could work for Windows 2000
Server please let me know.

Thank you.
Ghost, or BootIt NG
Click to expand...
----- Original Message -----
From: "I'm Dan" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win2000.hardware
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2003 03:15
Subject: Re: migrating system to a larger harddrive without reinstalling
win2k
 
Peter said:
thank you for your reply, i'am not sure if the instructions you
posted for XP will work for Windows2000 Server.
I gathered informations about Norton Ghost and
DriveImage and BootIt :

Drive Image can be installed only on cannot be Installed
on Windows 2000 server (only Professional).

Norton Ghost 2003 is installable only on these platforms :
Windows XP Home/XP Pro/2000 Pro/NT WS/Me/98.

BootIt NG :
i read the manual and specifications, and i'am not sure this
software can do this. I still search their newsgroups for answer.

MaxBlast (i have maxtor disks) :
i read some negative posts about this, if i no other software
works, i have to use this, but if you know something that
could work for Windows 2000 Server please let me know.
Click to expand...

MaxBlast will cost you nothing to try, so try that first. You're not
installing anything -- just boot the floppy and try copying one HDD to
the other, being careful to copy in the right direction. You're not
changing anything on the original HDD and the new HDD can always be
erased, so the worst that can happen is the copy fails and you've still
got your original HDD intact to try some other copying method.

BootIt NG also works from a floppy -- you don't install it, just boot
from floppy and initiate the copying. It's a very versatile utility, so
has a lot of features and options, which unfortunately makes it a bit
harder to grasp than most of the others. Nevertheless, if you're going
to buy something, it's a better overall utility than Ghost or DI. Even
better, it's shareware with a fully functional 30-day trial, not a
demo -- so if MaxBlast doesn't work, you can give BootIt NG a try for
free.

Ghost 2003 and DI 2002 can either be installed in Windows or used from
boot floppies. If you install them in Windows, then you'll run into the
limitations you mention. However, you really don't want to run them
from Windows anyway, you want to use them from floppies. When you run
them from within Windows, then Windows itself can get in the way. Do
not buy the new DI 7 -- that only works from within XP, and is a giant
step backwards. Consider the previous version (DI 2002) instead, which
can run from floppies.

I don't have Win2K Server, so can't say I've tried it, but I don't see
any reason these programs would not work on the Server version --
provided you use them from floppies. When you try to install/run them
from within Windows, that's when you run into the restrictions related
to specific Windows versions. When you run them from floppies, though,
Windows is completely out of the loop, and they see just a bunch of disk
sectors to be duplicated on the new HDD. As far as these utilities are
concerned, a partition loaded with Server shouldn't appear to be
functionally different than DOS, Win2K Pro, WinXP, Win98, or even linux.
 
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