System Hard Drive Replacement

  • Thread starter Thread starter wondering
  • Start date Start date
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wondering

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on replacing a
system hard-drive. I want to upgrade my hd to a larger
size but am concerned about the best method for copying
xp onto the drive. Will xp just copy?

Thanks.
 
You'll need to make an "image" of your old hard drive and then
transfer the "image" to your new drive. To accomplish this,
you'll need to purchase a third-party program:

Norton Ghost 2003
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/

or

PowerQuest Drive Image
http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/

You may also wish to visit the support website of the manufacturer of your
hard drive and see if they have a free utility program that you can use to
accomplish this task. For example, if you have a new Western Digital drive,
you can download their free Data Lifeguard Tools which includes "drive-to-drive
copy capability" (Ref: http://support.wdc.com/download/).


--
Nicholas

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| I was wondering if anyone had any advice on replacing a
| system hard-drive. I want to upgrade my hd to a larger
| size but am concerned about the best method for copying
| xp onto the drive. Will xp just copy?
|
| Thanks.
 
wondering said:
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on replacing a
system hard-drive. I want to upgrade my hd to a larger
size but am concerned about the best method for copying
xp onto the drive. Will xp just copy?
Click to expand...

The simplest and most reliable way is to use a simple disk copy utility
from the drive manufacturer. Many manufacturers (Seagate, WD, Maxtor,
to name a few -- though not IBM) have free software specifically for
your intended purpose. If you don't get a floppy disk with your new HD,
you can often 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.
 
I'm Dan said:
The simplest and most reliable way is to use a simple disk copy utility
from the drive manufacturer. Many manufacturers (Seagate, WD, Maxtor,
to name a few -- though not IBM) ...
Click to expand...

IBM no longer manufactures HDs for PCs.
 
Bob Willard said:
IBM no longer manufactures HDs for PCs.
Click to expand...

True, so I'll update my reference to IBM/Hitachi. Messages still show
up in various ng's referring to them (such as ongoing debates elsewhere
about premature failure of Deskstars). The point is that regardless of
whether you call them IBMs or Hitachis, you couldn't and still can't
find disk copy software for a Deskstar or Travelstar.
 
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