Thank you Anna et al, for your responses. I will, in the next few days,
confer with my friend about any worries with the proceedure you have
suggested and if I have further questions, or when the process is up and
running with no problems, I will certainly add to this thread. Thanks again.
"Anna" wrote:
>
> > "popadave" <popadave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:65BE2A24-243D-444D-88A5-673CDD898853@microsoft.com...
> >>I have a two hard disk system, with a 40gb C: drive at 5400rpm and a 80gb
> >>D:
> >> drive at 7200rpm. The C: drive is almost full and I need to replace it
> >> with a
> >> larger one. There is more than enough free space on the D: drive I now
> >> have
> >> to copy the entire C: drive if need be, including both the XP OS and
> >> SP-2.
> >> My question is how can I replace the current C: drive with a new, larger
> >> disk, and replace the contents of the C: drive to it. Any/all responces
> >> will
> >> be most welcome.
> >>
> >> popadave
>
>
> "Uncle Grumpy" <pauld1943@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:9b2b0533-5142-4af9-81f0-7b61f0d53167@e10g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> > Install the new drive as the second drive following the manufacturer's
> > instructions, then clone the system drive to it using one of many
> > alternatives (google "disk cloning software". If your drive came with
> > such software, follow the manufacturers instructions.
> >
> > When you are done, install the new drive as "C" and do whatever you
> > with your old drive.
>
>
> "Patrick Keenan" <test@dev.null> wrote in message
> news:uM6Z3jfPIHA.1756@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> > Get a new larger drive (here, 500 gig drives are just over $100, 80 gig
> > are under $50) and attach it to the system. Then get imaging software
> > and clone the C drive to the new drive. You do *not* need to partition
> > or format or assign drive letters to the new drive first.
> >
> > You'll probably need to clear some space, but you can download the Acronis
> > TrueImage trial, or the Seagate utility. They are both around 100 meg.
> > If you use the Acronis TrueImage trial, "back up" the drive in manual
> > mode, as this will allow you to tell TrueImage to use all or some of the
> > space on the target drive.
> >
> > When you're done, shut the system down, remove the C drive, and put the
> > new drive in its place. Leave the C drive out, and restart the system.
> > The system should boot normally. If you wish to, you can then power
> > back down and reinstall the old C drive to another connector - it' won't
> > be C anymore.
> >
> > HTH
> > -pkj
>
>
> "popadave" <popadave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C1843B2E-6FCB-4E81-8115-B5155F720FAE@microsoft.com...
> > Thank you both, Uncle Grumpy, and Patrick for your responces to my
> > question. First off, there is in my PC two hard drives (C and D) plus a
> > CD-ROM drive and a DVD drive. Not a lot of room for me to install another
> > drive for cloning data to or from. The data I want to protect is, at this
> > time, copied to the 80gb D drive for safekeeping. A close friend of mine
> > will be doing the actual work of installing the new drive with my somewhat
> > limited assistance (I'm disabled, with only one side to work with.) If I
> > were to just replace the C drive with a new larger newly formatted disk
> > and buy a new Windows XP Home Ed. disk (the system I have is OEM, with the
> > original config on a partitioned E drive, part of the C drive,) would that
> > work? The C and D drives are both NTFS and the E drive is FAT32. I would
> > admit that I would have to reinstall all my programs after installing the
> > Windows XP Home disk, a lengthy business, but worth it in the end if it
> > works. Please respond.
> >
> > popadave
>
>
> popadave:
> May I suggest the following approach for you to consider, perhaps just
> "fleshing out" as it were the info you rec'd from "Uncle Grumpy" and Patrick
> Keenan?...
>
> Before we go any further please understand that we're assuming that your
> present 40 GB HDD is non-defective, the system boots without incident, and
> functions without any problems affecting the XP OS. If this be *not* be the
> case, go no further...
>
> 1. You will be purchasing a new, larger HDD that you want to serve as your
> day-to-day boot drive. After doing so, have your friend uninstall your
> present secondary 80 GB HDD from your system. (If you can, be sure to look
> over his shoulder as he performs this operation and all the subsequent ones
> we're going to discuss).
>
> 2. Then he will install your new, larger HDD in place of the 80 GB HDD.
>
> 3. Now here's where the disk-cloning process comes into play. Using a
> disk-to-disk cloning program such as the Acronis one mentioned by Patrick or
> the Seagate utility (which is a version of the Acronis True Image program
> but as far as I know will work only if one of the drives involved in the
> disk-cloning process is a Seagate HDD) you, or your friend will "clone" the
> contents from your present 40 GB HDD over to your new HDD. As Uncle G.
> indicated you can also use the disk-copying utility available from the
> manufacturer of your new HDD. This utility is included with boxed, retail
> versions of the manufacturer's HDD but is usually also freely available from
> the web site of the disk's manufacturer. This includes the Seagate utility
> previously mentioned.
>
> 4. As a consequence of this disk-cloning process your new HDD will be a copy
> of your present boot drive - in effect a copy of that drive containing its
> complete contents including the XP OS, all programs & applications, and your
> user-created data.
>
> 5. Following the successful disk-cloning operation your friend (you're still
> watching, right?) will connect that newly-cloned new HDD as Primary Master
> in your system (replacing, of course, the old 40 GB one). He, or she, will
> then install your 80 GB HDD back in its place as a secondary HDD.
>
> (I suppose you can keep around your old 40 GB HDD as a spare, at least for
> some time. Since, as you mentioned, it's a 5400 rpm disk, it's really "seen
> its day" but since it (apparently) is non-defective & functional there's
> some reason to retain it at this time. You might even want to consider
> installing it as an external HDD in a USB external enclosure using that
> device as a supplementary backup device.)
>
> Just a few words about a disk-to-disk cloning program.
>
> This is something you should really consider for the future now that you
> will have two reasonably large HDDs installed as internal drives in your
> system. A disk-cloning program such as the ones discussed are a valuable
> (actually in my mind indispensable) tool for establishing & maintaining a
> comprehensive backup system that you can employ on a routine basis.
>
> While the ones discussed are generally reliable & effective programs
> (although I have to admit we've run into problems with the Seagate
> DiscWizard program in the past and no longer use that program, but I'm not
> sure whether it has been updated since it's been some time since we last
> used it), the particular one that we highly recommend for users is the
> Casper 4.0 program because it is simple to use and quite effective. It is,
> however, not a "freebie". As a matter of fact it's more expensive than most
> other commercial disk-cloning programs. But we feel that it's such a fine
> program in carrying out routine disk-to-disk cloning operations so as to
> maintain a comprehensive backup program as noted above, that it's easily
> worth the additional cost. Anyway, if you or anyone coming upon this thread
> is interested in more details about that program I'll be glad to post them.
> (I've posted detailed information on that program a number of times in this
> and other XP newsgroups).
> Anna
>
>
>