ColumbusOHGamer Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 I want to upgrade my current HD without having to reinstall all the software I've stored over the past 3.5 years. Is there a tool to use to copy all (including hidden system stuff like the registry) of your files to a new (bigger) HD, without losing any data? I'd really like to just copy all the files, swap the drives and boot the machine from the new HD. [ September 24, 2003, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: ColumbusOHGamer ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 There are several utilities on the market for this. One that's worked for me in the past has been PowerQuest's Drive Image 7.0 (which is available from retail stores like CompUSA, etc.). They also had a slightly cheaper version called Drive Copy, which is also available via retail. Another utility you can use may be available from your hard drive manufacturer. Maxtor has a utility called MaxBlast 3 that can copy one (or multiple ?) partition(s) from one drive to another. It may require that you have a Maxtor/Quantum drive in order to use it however. Western Digital has their Data Lifeguard v. 10software that does the same thing for their drives. [ April 16, 2003, 12:41 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou2000 Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 There are a number of options, but without knowing your PC (or mac?) config or the reasons for the swap ... more space .. faster drive etc it would be hard to suggest the best option... assuming you are using windows. o you need the new drive for extra space ? If so why lose the old drive - just install the new HD as a second drive, leave the OS on the original drive and move your program files over to the new drive. You could aslo put your windows swap file on the new drive .... having it on a different drive to the OS can give speed increases .. but depending upon your processor, ram and what programs you are using, its debatable if you'd actually notice. Once you have the second drive up and running there are a number of programs that will allow you to move installed programs to a new partition. Partition magic 8 should be able to do most of what you want. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easytarget Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Ghost by Norton is the one i've used in the past 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWB Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 I have had alot of experience with Ghost, it works wonders (like making one setup/config work for 200). But I would highly advise using this opportuinity to do a clean reinstall of windows and applications. I do one every 6-9 months for my health. Running the same microsoft machine for 3.5 years is a recipie for trouble, it really needs to be born again, so to speak. WWB 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColumbusOHGamer Posted April 17, 2003 Author Share Posted April 17, 2003 Thanks for the info guys! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easytarget Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 hehe, i'm so lazy about my o/s that i've migrated the same copy through two machines by moving the HD to the new machine so right now as i type i'm running off a win98 upgraded to win98se upgraded to xp pro don't know how much longer this game is going to last but i'm fairly amused by the fact that i'm running a 20 gig drive as a primary for going on 4 years now w/o a clean install - i guess i'm running the ultimate in bastardized o/s's in that it's an upgrade of an upgrade [ April 17, 2003, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: easytarget ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easytarget Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 oh, but just one follow up note - i used ghost to make an exact copy of this drive in conjunction with partition magic so even if this repeatedly upgraded o/s crashes on this fairly old drive, my exceptionally long in the tooth o/s will continue to live on wonder how long i can keep it going [ April 17, 2003, 09:54 PM: Message edited by: easytarget ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColumbusOHGamer Posted September 24, 2003 Author Share Posted September 24, 2003 Originally posted by Schrullenhaft: Another utility you can use may be available from your hard drive manufacturer. Maxtor has a utility called MaxBlast 3 that can copy one (or multiple ?) partition(s) from one drive to another. It may require that you have a Maxtor/Quantum drive in order to use it however. UPDATE I just ordered a Maxtor DiamondMax 120GB drive yesterday (from memorylabs.com, $90+free shipping!). I'm going to install it on the cmmods.com server and take the 60GB drive out of the server to install on the Win98 machine. I'm going to try MaxBlast 3.0 and see if it gives me what I need. Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions. COG 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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