transfer OS to new drive?

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xappie

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 13, 2000
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Hi all

Not sure if this should be in the OS forum, or this one... but Ill start here. If I buy a new HDD, what is the easiest/best way to transfer my existing XP install onto the new drive without re-installing? I have driveimage 7, but if I recall correctly, that will only transfer an image to another HDD of the same size. My new drive will be about 10x bigger than my current one.

Any help is appreciated!
 
why not just use the new drive for storage and keep the OS and apps separate on the other drive. that way if you have to reinstall windows at any point you don't have to worry about touching your data drive.
 
because that is not what I want to do? my current c: drive is only 74gb, and it gets full VERY quickly with a few big games installed and some TV recordings.
 
xappie said:
Hi all

Not sure if this should be in the OS forum, or this one... but Ill start here. If I buy a new HDD, what is the easiest/best way to transfer my existing XP install onto the new drive without re-installing? I have driveimage 7, but if I recall correctly, that will only transfer an image to another HDD of the same size. My new drive will be about 10x bigger than my current one.

Any help is appreciated!
Click to expand...

I use Ghost. It lets me set the destination partition size, I could keep it the same or use the entire destination drive or even make it smaller if the image would fit on it.
 
Alot of the drive manufacturers have a program that will transfer your old drives contents over to the new drive. If you buy a "RETAIL" packaged drive, it should be in the box. If you buy an OEM drive, you should be able to pick up the program on the manufacturers web site. What brand are you considering?

I never transfer. You are just moving all the bloat and crap from the old install. I just like having a clean install to screw up all over a gain. ;)

Don
 
I just installed an image of XP with an older version of Acronis true image, I went from a 40gb drive to a 120gb drive with no problem.
 
DonDon said:
Alot of the drive manufacturers have a program that will transfer your old drives contents over to the new drive. If you buy a "RETAIL" packaged drive, it should be in the box. If you buy an OEM drive, you should be able to pick up the program on the manufacturers web site. What brand are you considering?

I never transfer. You are just moving all the bloat and crap from the old install. I just like having a clean install to screw up all over a gain. ;)

Don
Click to expand...

My windows install is only 1 week old, thats why I am trying to figure out a way to avoid another install. But normally, I agree - fresh install is the way to go. I picked up a Samsung Spinpoint F1... it's sitting here now while I figure out how to do this!
 
All hard drive manufacturers offer free utilities to clone drives, including the ability to change the size of existing partitions when cloning. I've used these utilities from WD and others.

I've also used apps from Acronis, Paragon and others for cloning, but they are neither more reliable nor faster.

Hope this helps!

Edit: The above comments apply to cloning entire drive contents. If you want to transfer only an OS partition, then you'll need an image/backup or partition-management app from Acronis, Paragon, Terabyte, etc.
 
Good freaking lord. Samsung has the worst fecking website on the planet.

There is no mention of the F1 drives anywhere accept for a product announcement, and they give no explanation as to what their utilities can do. I'm not even sure at this point that they have a migration tool for a new drive on their website.

I'm so glad I never tormented myself by buying one of their drives. I could not even find a iso image of their utilites. Only a floppy maker.

Is it an OEM or Retail drive?

Don
 
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