Copying hdd's

[T0MMY]

I've just got a new harddrive id like to use as my master and want to copy the settings/files from the hdd im using now. But i've been told its not as easy as it sounds, and need to use a program?

[peet]

http://www.ghost.com/

[T0MMY]

Ah cheers. but seeing has im only gonna use it once is there no free programs that will do the same?

[peet]

how about this then http://www.twocows.com/system/preview/222353.html

maybe you can use this without having to buy it... not sure

[peet]

http://www.twocows.com/system/harddrive95.html

[JoshT]

If you bought a retail hard drive, it might even come with a program that can do this for you.

[JungleMan]

Similar to what JoshT said, you can download a utility to do this for you, perhaps, on your manufacturer's site.

[msimmons]

I always do through DOS. I believe the command is:

xcopy D: C: /h /e /c /r /y

Thats just from memory but I'm pretty sure it is it... you may want to double check my peramiters.
Michael

[Lord Orwell]

NO you didnt quite get it.
You have to include /s to get subdirectories.

BUT you can download a trialware version of norton ghost from symantec.com and it will work great.
im not sure but after you do the xcopy you might need to run this
sys c: d: It copies over system files and makes the drive bootable.

[Kzin]

Originally posted by T0MMY
I've just got a new harddrive id like to use as my master and want to copy the settings/files from the hdd im using now. But i've been told its not as easy as it sounds, and need to use a program?

drive2drive will do it and is free

[Guv]

Drive Image from PowerQuest is well worth the $50 to $60 American, and can sometimes be found at a discount.

I use DI to backup up my system. Whenever I do something significant, I first make an Image of my two major partitions. If anything goes wrong, I restore from the images. The images have everything: Registry, device drivers, files, OS, desktop setup, et cetera.

[Kzin]

Originally posted by Guv
Drive Image from PowerQuest is well worth the $50 to $60 American, and can sometimes be found at a discount.

I use DI to backup up my system. Whenever I do something significant, I first make an Image of my two major partitions. If anything goes wrong, I restore from the images. The images have everything: Registry, device drivers, files, OS, desktop setup, et cetera.

I do the same with Drive2Drive and it has saved a lot of problems.

[numtel]

I thought Ghost was free....I guess not....Kazaa thinks so too....

[Lord Orwell]

ok i did some experimenting since i needed to clone a drive myself.

1. I was wrong before. You don't need /s if you use /e.

2. if you use win xp, you cant do xcopy to transfer everything because it will give a sharing violation and refuse to transfer some vital system files.

3. Xcopy32 for dos (assuming you didnt convert to ntfs) doesn't copy files with the system or hidden attributes set, and there is no way to make it do so. Plus it doesn't duplicate long file names unless you use it in a shell.

4. Not one of the mirror programs available on download.com worked for me. Even though my hard drives were not only the same size, but in fact the same MODEL, it said there wasnt enough room on the destination drive to copy the source.

Since i am copying from one drive to another of the exact same model and size, i am going to try going to that drive's website and looking for dup. programs there.

Good luck.

My whole experience was aimed at duplicating my xp install so i wouldnt have to come up with a new code. However, calling microsoft and telling them that i broke the 1st computer got me a new code anyway.

[Lord Orwell]

ok i found a program on maxtor's web site. its free of course, and it doesnt care what os, etc. your drive has on it.

http://<br /> <a rel="nofollow" hre...24023.html</a>

[Warmaster199]

Do what I did when I got my 40GByte Maxtor drive. I went through all my game folders and found the save games. I then took anything else I wanted to keep(all my pictures, sound, music... 5GBytes of stuff total) and just dragged everything I wanted to keep over (AFTER REINSTALLING WINDOWS). Then, you just reinstall all of the programs and your system is good as new. Do this ONLY if those utilities don't work for you...