Question regarding upgrading hard drive but preserving data exactly?

K

klepp0906

Gawd
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Messages
594
So here's my situation. (i want to make sure this i'm clear on this before I proceed and my brain melts)


I intend to upgrade a standard mechanical hard drive that I use mainly for storage. I need the upgraded/new drive (since its a direct replacement and has symlinks present) to be seen by the OS as the exact same drive for all intents and purposes.

Meaning, I intend for it to have the same drive letter, and I need the symlinks to still be functional.

Now on the surface I would simply disconnect some other drive (im out of headers) and connect the larger drive. Copy/paste the data over (should take a lifetime for 4tb) and then remove the source drive. Assign the source drives letter to the new drive, and be done with it.

My concern is if this is all I need to do, and would leave the symlinks intact/functional for 100% sure? If not, what would my solution be?
 
Clone it. Most name brand SSDs come with cloning software. Third party software is somewhat hit or miss as far as usability, but it's pretty straightforward and very common.
 
so create an image, pull it, put the new one in, and restore the image to it? That makes sense. I tooootally didnt think of that.

of course, finding a place to store the image of a 4tb drive temporarily is another thing alltogether. Compressed it would probably be less, and also take a lifetime :p

unless theres a means to actively clone from drive to drive. Then id just have to figure out the drive letter issue. Cloning it over, it couldnt have the same drive letter. Unless said softwaer somehow dismounted the source drive to clone?

concerned about the different drive letters (even if temporary) messing up the symlinks

even more conerned about having a drive die and losing all that data, so i have to pick my battles. Just trying to do it the least painful way possible.

i looked into trying my luck and if push ever came to shove, using a data recovery service. But evidently they arent guaranteed and are a freaking fortune.
 
Clonezilla supports disk to disk cloning, and it is free. Just make sure you select the source and destination drives correctly. You could possibly lose all your data if you don't. This runs outside of Windows so you may be able to assign the drive letter later?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top