Time to replace my data drive; what software to move files around?

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Hello, I’ve got a computer running Windows XP and it’s time for me to install a larger data drive.

The current configuration is this:

Windows XP

Hard disk 0: 36 GB – C: Windows lives here
Hard disk 1: 300 GB D:

I want to replace my 300 GB drive with a 2 TB drive I bought. Normally I would have just installed the new drive alongside the old one and copied the files over, but I found that my motherboard has only 2 SATA connectors. I have an external USB 2.0 1 TB hard drive, so my plan is:

1) Copy/Backup all of the contents of the D: drive to the external USB hard drive
2) Remove the 300 GB drive from my computer
3) Install new 2 TB internal drive in my computer
4) Copy/Restore all of the contents from the external USB hard drive on to the new internal drive

My question is, what software do I use to copy the files?

If it matters the D: drive contains a mixture of pure data files (mp3s, jpgs, etc.) and there are also a number of programs installed in D:Program Files.

I could just copy the files over or I could use a backup program I experimented with a bit, Areca Backup. Obviously since this isn’t the boot drive it makes things a lot easier. The problem is there is about 270 GB of stuff on that drive so I need something fairly reliable. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Eric

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I would simply use an Imaging app, Create an Image of the Data drive, install the new HDD then restore the data to the new HDD. Whatever Imaging app you choose you will have to create a Rescue Media disk to allow you to boot to the Imaging app outside Windows to accomplish the restoration.

I use Acronis True Image Home (not free but a free trial app). Many other apps are discussed in the Security and Back Up forum.

You can use this same app to Image your OS. This is the best way to back up your entire OS drive.

Edit: Changed name from Boot Disk to Rescue Media Disk as this is what Acronis calls this. All Imaging apps will have these options. I choose the paid versions because they have an expanded feature set not included in the free versions (Acronis only has a paid version)

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Some other options:

1. Create a directory on the USB drive called Data.
2. Open a Command prompt.
3. Xcopy source:*.* dest:Data*.* /s/e
Where source is replaced by the drive letter of your 300Mb drive.
dest is replaced by the drive letter of your USB drive.
4. Reverse the command after the new drive is installed and formatted/partitioned.

You could also do the same with RoboCopy or XXCopy free downloads.

Good Luck! :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I could just copy the files over or I could use a backup program I experimented with a bit, Areca Backup. Obviously since this isn’t the boot drive it makes things a lot easier. The problem is there is about 270 GB of stuff on that drive so I need something fairly reliable. Any ideas?

Eric,

Hello… As Ted has stated it would be best to learn “Imaging” With this Free program Macrium Reflect Free With this program you can Image (or Clone) your Data, or OS.. and restore to whatever HD that you want..If you,re not sure how post a new thread in “backups” or just explore the various existing threads…:cheers: Regards Fred

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Imaging is, IMO, the gold standard of HD back ups. I create a new Image whenever my OS changes. In this manner, if I have to restore, my Image is Up To Date so the restoration takes less than 10 minutes. Using the Imaging app to handle the data moving chore will be good practice for the real thing. Since you are not deleting the old data until after the fact if something goes wrong it’s still there.

I have created and restored from these Images dozens of time. It’s easy and safe, and you will definitely get a warm and fuzzy feeling when your OS HD crashes and you know that you can get it back in 10 minutes.

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Thanks very much for all the helpful answers. I will definitely give one of the imaging applications a try.

One question for you, though, Ted. You mention that I’ll have to create a boot disk to boot to the imaging app outside of windows to do the restore. Since I’m only swapping out the data drive and leaving the OS/boot drive in the whole time is that strictly necessary in this case?

Thanks again,

Eric

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Thanks very much for all the helpful answers. I will definitely give one of the imaging applications a try.

One question for you, though, Ted. You mention that I’ll have to create a boot disk to boot to the imaging app outside of windows to do the restore. Since I’m only swapping out the data drive and leaving the OS/boot drive in the whole time is that strictly necessary in this case?

Thanks again,

Eric

I am not sure about the data drive. You might be able to boot to the app within Windows to restore this drive. BUT, you will need the Rescue Media Disk (It fits on a CD, you don’t need a DVD for this) to be able to restore if the OS gets screwed up. You boot to the Rescue Media Disk then restore because as part of the restore the partition is formatted. This is one method to eliminate a nasty virus in the OS.

In Acronis, one of the options is to create a Rescue Media Disk.

The screen shot is from an old post. The Rescue Media Disk is just below the red boxed entry.

25923-Acronis2011-Tools

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The drive manufacturers also offer free imaging apps – as long as you are imaging to their drive.

Remember to install the replacement drive using the cable from the drive being replaced. Otherwise Windows may not see the drive in the same relation to your boot drive.

cheers, Paul

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OK, another question. I was reading the help files for Macrium Reflect Free and came across this quote,

“A disk image creates an exact copy of the data on your hard disk. This includes the structure of the partitions on the disk and the file system format on the partition.”

In looking at the disk manager I find that Disk 1 is actually divided into 2 partitions, a 258 GB D: drive and a 40 GB E: drive. The D: drive is the one that is almost full, the E: drive for all purposes empty.
Since I’m pulling a 300 GB drive and replacing it with a 2 TB drive, what would a restore give me if the structure of the partitions were copied as it says above? Would the new 2 TB drive end up with a 258 partition, a 40 GB partition and a 3rd partition making up the balance of the drive? I’d actually rather have it all as 1 partition if possible. Would Macrium Reflect Free work to allow this?

Again, thanks,

Eric

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I cannot answer the Macrium Reflect question, but assuming your OS is in one of the partitions your create on the new HD, a 3rd party partitioning app can easily put the HD back to one partition. I use Partition Wizardfor this chore. If the OS partition is number one then the Windows Disk Manager can accomplish this, but if the OS is in the second or subsequent partition then you will need a 3rd party app.

In Acronis True Image Home (Paid) a disk Image can include the entire HD (all partitions) in one Image file, or just the partition you wish. Then, assuming the Image file includes multiple partitions in one file, you can select which partition you wish to restore, one or all, and which one of the multiple partitions you wish to restore, then where to restore it to.

For example, say you have a dual boot and a data partition (3 separate partitions) and you include all in an Image file, then you wish to only restore one to a separate HD (assuming it is bigger than the original partition) the app will restore the partition you select to the front of the new bigger HD. Hence you could restore just the data partition to the larger HD.

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You can change the size of the partitions when you restore. Just restore D: and make it full size.

The downside to doing this is you will have small cluster sizes on your disk. Generally larger disks should have larger sectors.

cheers, Paul

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Also Check that your computer can accept a 2GB drive. You might have to Partition
to make it all usable

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You know that HAD completely slipped my mind. I’ve got XP SP3 32-bit, which I think should allow 2 TB partitions (assuming NTFS), but I guess it’s also a factor of how old my BIOS is. Or maybe it’s just time to upgrade to Windows 7 while I can still get it.

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Maybe I’m missing something here, but what’s wrong with creating a couple of top level folders on the USB drive; copy all files and folders from the first partition on the drive being removed to one folder; and then copying any files and folders from the other partition to the other top level folder on the USB drive?

Then, shut down, replace the internal drive, format as needed, and reverse the copying process. You don’t need any other software or high-level thinking to do it.

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Oh, I could use a simple copy or xcopy I know. In the past (and I’ll admit it’s the distant, distant past) I’ve often found that windows solutions don’t scale well. They seem to timeout or just seem to get lost and become unresponsive. And if there is a problem part way through how do I restart? I could use the /Y option to suppress a confirm overwrite, but I’d really rather just skip copying files that were already copied. I suppose xcopy has enough command line switches to allow trying to take up where left off. If I weren’t so cheap I’d just go buy a copy of Laplink.

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You have several options:

For reliable Windows folder copying you can use the command line Microsoft utility Robocopy, or the GUI Microsoft utility RichCopy, both available on the Microsoft site (and elsewhere) if they are not on your computer already. These utilities recognize if files have already been copying, making restarting an aborted copy easier. RichCopy runs several directory and copy tasks for optimized copying. Create a separate directory on the USB drive for the root of your copy. I don’t know if these preserve access controls.

Another option is to create a separate partition on your USB drive for the data copy, and use an imaging program or other utility, such as a manufacturer utility disk, to copy the whole partition either verbatim or as an image file.

Option 3: boot up a Linux disk and use “dd” to copy your disk to an ISO image file. “dd” then can be used to restore the ISO image file to your new drive. You can also “mount” the ISO image using a variety of programs, such as “MagicDisk”

Option 4: There are many other ways to copy the partition.

Things might be a little easier if you provide a “label” for each partition on all disks that tells something about the partition. This can be helpful if using a Linux or other standalone program especially if you have changed the default drive letters like I did.

I would also recommend partitioning that 2 TB drive into smaller partitions. I have a couple of “extra” partitions that can contain a complete backup of my “primary usage” partitions. I will run a backup to these partitions, and then can copy these partitions to external media at my leisure. It also makes for a quick restore to a recent backup if I foul things up. Other partitions include one for a Knoppix “boot” partition, selected by booting a Knoppix CD/DVD and entering a command like “knoppix fromhd=/dev/sdb8”.

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It is nice to have a 2TB drive on the computer, but you do not want to depend on it for permanent storage of vitally important data. Obtain a large external hard drive(usually with a USB connection), copy the files you want to it, and then you can copy back to the new internal drive the files that you would like to have on it. You will thus kill two birds with one stone. You will have copied your files to the new drive and will have safely stored the most vital ones on an external drive. Also external drive is the place to store the disc images created by Acronis, Macrium or Windows 7.

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I suggest you do the math on Windows 7: it will be pre-installed on any computer you buy now, and my impression is that your present machine is already mature. Windows 8 RTM will officially be out in a week.

A new drive is an invitation to a clean install, but you could save the new drive for a new machine (or simply give it to them for a custom-built, possibly even with Win 8), and keep the old machine as it is for the short term at least, while you learn the new and copy data to the new. A new machine might be perfectly timed.

It appears that you will have a hard drive left over. You can buy a superb enclosure for it (I got mine at Staples (Business Depot) for thirty bucks), and you would have all three drives connected before you start the show. Swap their locations when it suits your procedure.

Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder will install comfortably on a flash drive (about 350 MB), and if you have the software, it will include both Disk Director 11 and TrueImage Home, for those with an interest in such things. It is remarkably convenient.

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I’ve done this a couple of times using gparted off a live Linux CD on XP (SP? enough to handle larger drives, may have to check Large Block Addressing in BIOS) and Vista boxes. Works well. It may take a while, given amount of data and constraints of the “pipes” you’re using. Just keep in mind the different naming conventions – your C drive will be sda1, etc., but you can always see the drive info as well.

Since your OS is on a separate drive, you could also easily use the excellent and free Drive Image XML, which had saved my bacon several times on Windows systems.

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