[Darkknight]

Hello I have a Gateway P-7811fx laptop and I'm running out of hard drive space. I want to upgrade the hard drive but need a little guidance as to how to go about it.

1)The specs for my computer say I have a 200 GB - Serial ATA-300 - 7200 rpm with 16mb cache, now what confuses me is I thought i had two hard drives that amounted to 200gb. So I don't know how many drives to buy I would like about 320gb.

2)What is the best way to clone my hard drive so I can just increase my capacity without losing my programs and OS. Recommended hardware, software, etc.

I've had great success with my questions on this website so I would like to thank you in advanced.

-Julian

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if this is a laptop i highly doubt that it's got two hard drives....it may have two partitions on one...but i doubt it's got two...

right click on my computer, then choose manage, then choose disk managment...if you can, take a screenshot and post it with your reply so we can look at what you've got

for the clone....i would suggest getting something like Norton Ghost or acronis true image to backup your current drive (neither of these are free but they're both well worth the price.... you're wanting to replace the hard drive with a bigger one you'll have better luck with these...MOST free software won't clone to a larger drive)...since this is on a laptop...you may need to get an external hard drive large enough to hold your current drive's contents...when you make the clone...it's got to have somewhere to go...then you can restore the image to the new drive once it's in the laptop....you could also just buy a 2.5 hard drive enclosure (make sure it's the right type for your hard drives) and clone the existing drive to the new drive that would be mounted in the enclosure...then swap the drives out

of course...at that point...you could also just get a large capacity external hard drive and store your extra files there

[dsenette]

if this is a laptop i highly doubt that it's got two hard drives....it may have two partitions on one...but i doubt it's got two...

right click on my computer, then choose manage, then choose disk managment...if you can, take a screenshot and post it with your reply so we can look at what you've got

for the clone....i would suggest getting something like Norton Ghost or acronis true image to backup your current drive (neither of these are free but they're both well worth the price.... you're wanting to replace the hard drive with a bigger one you'll have better luck with these...MOST free software won't clone to a larger drive)...since this is on a laptop...you may need to get an external hard drive large enough to hold your current drive's contents...when you make the clone...it's got to have somewhere to go...then you can restore the image to the new drive once it's in the laptop....you could also just buy a 2.5 hard drive enclosure (make sure it's the right type for your hard drives) and clone the existing drive to the new drive that would be mounted in the enclosure...then swap the drives out

of course...at that point...you could also just get a large capacity external hard drive and store your extra files there

[Darkknight]

Attached is the information you asked for.


A few more questions would the 2.5 hard drive enclosure be the easier option, and any recommendations for a reliable hard drive replacement.

The reason I need more space is because I purchased the adobe master suit and I need about 25gb for all the programs which is all i have left on my C: Drive partition/drive. I have most of my files on my d: drive and an external.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by Darkknight, 14 August 2009 - 03:25 PM.