[johnsoncolleena]

replacing master hard drive with seagate 160g

backed up old hd with nero back it up onto 3 dvd's

install hd and reboot with nero discs first or do i install the hd with the disc wizard first
probably stupid question im lost

thx

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you likely do not want the discs you created for anything other than archival purposes

nero is a backup utility not a cloning utility

a better solution is to use the system rescue cd

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

With this CD, you can use Partimage to clone the drive to the new drive, then use QtParted to enlarge the partition to use the entire drive (I am assuming you are moving from a smaller drive to larger drive)

[gerryf]

you likely do not want the discs you created for anything other than archival purposes

nero is a backup utility not a cloning utility

a better solution is to use the system rescue cd

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

With this CD, you can use Partimage to clone the drive to the new drive, then use QtParted to enlarge the partition to use the entire drive (I am assuming you are moving from a smaller drive to larger drive)

[johnsoncolleena]

how do i clone it to the new drive?
yes old hd 20g new one 160g
any help? doing this in the morning
should i unplug secondary hd until i get the primary going?

[gerryf]

No, you need them both in there...boot with the systemrescue cd, choose the image program, choose the 20gig as source and the 160 as destination

[johnsoncolleena]

so i should copy the 20g image to my secondary 160g hd
then install new 160g to replace 20g then do i install disc wizard that came with new hd or windows first or what i have the nero back it up disc the systemrescue bootable disc and bootable floppys for the new hd
im lost sorry for all the questions dont want to mess this up
thxs again

[johnsoncolleena]

any last minute advise before i do this

[gerryf]

sorry, missed the last post

After the process of imaging is complete, you shut down the PC, remove the old drive, 20gb, and set the secondary drive as a master and insert it only in the drive.

Windows should start as it always did, but now it will start on the larger drive.

After starting from the new harddrive, it will only have used 20gb of the drive

That is when you need to use qtpartd


Reboot with system rescue cd, run qtpartd, and adjust the new drive that is only using 20gb to use the entire partition, then you can restart and have your entire drive

If you are willing to part with $30, there is a program called trueimage that will do this all from windows and in one step. It is available from newegg.com as downloadable software, runs in windows (mostly, it reboots to a linux OS, but you do not need to do anything).

But, you can achieve all this with teh systemrescuedisk for free.

This process will not damage or alter the original 20gb drive, so if there is an issue, simply reinsert the 20gb drive as the master and you will be back to where you started

[gerryf]

OK, I just realized (sorry) this is not going to work to well given your current setup, since you're going to need a third drive to store the image.

Sorry, it's been a while since I've used this, and I forgot that you needed the second step and cannot merely clone a disk

This program might woork better for you can do this in one step

http://visopsys.org/partlogic/

[gerryf]

Here are two other programs, or rather a step by step guide to using the two other programs

http://www.pcstats.c...leid=418&page=1

The free ones are HDClone and Ranish Partition Manager...they will make a disk to disk clone without a third party storage device

[johnsoncolleena]

After the process of imaging is complete, you shut down the PC, remove the old drive, 20gb, and set the secondary drive as a master and insert it only in the drive

this is the problem ihave
i already have 160g secondary drive for media (about 100g of it) and want to keep as secondary
i want to replace the 20 g thats failing with the new 160g as master
the data on 20 is not that important since its backed up

[johnsoncolleena]

dont want to lose the secondary drive data

[gerryf]

Well, that is an issue

Can you back up that info to a dvd or second computer because what you're looking for is a little trickier

[johnsoncolleena]

no dont have enough disc or second pc
can i unplug secondary drive install new master hd and os
reconnect and detect secondary hd or something simple

[gerryf]

ok, I'm confused, how many actualy physical drives do you have here.

one 20
one 160

or is there yet a third 160?

[johnsoncolleena]

old 20g master new 160g to replace master
old 160g secondary

im confused to
dont even want to get started until im sure im not gonna mess it up