Cloning to new internal drive
I need to replace the old hard drive in my WinXP computer. My plan has been to clone the old drive to an external hard drive (I use Acronis True Image 11 Home), remove the old drive and replace it with the new one, attach the external drive, boot into True Image with the bootable CD, and then restore from the external drive to the new internal drive.
However, in responding to another issue on a newsgroup, one person said he had used a USB adapter to attach his new internal hard drive to his computer. Then he cloned the old drive directly to the new one, put the new one in place of the old one--and the computer booted up and ran just fine.
Is this method a reasonable one to try?
Thank you!
Jo-Anne
Thank you, Scott! Now all I have to do is conquer my reluctance to touch the hardware. I've never exchanged drives before...
Jo-Anne
Jo-Anne,
If you need a little more assistance with procedures, perhaps my guides can help. Click on my signature link below and read items 7-A, 7-B & 7-C and then choose which you want to use. All are geared for your version of TI.
Hi, Grover,
Your guides are fantastic. I followed your backup guide the first few times I backed up my computer with Acronis, and I'm looking forward to using your restore guide.
I do have two questions. My old drive is 60 gigabytes, and the new one is 160. There is one hidden partition on the old drive--a FAT 16 (I think) partition created by Dell; I think it's intended for restoring Windows XP to its original state. I've always backed it up. I've never partitioned the drive beyond what Dell did.
1. When I do the restore to a larger drive, I gather that I need to use your "Partition Restore with Resizing" guide. If I did just a simple restore, would I end up with only 60 gigabytes of usable space rather than the 160 available? Or would there be some other problem?
2. I had trouble one night backing up my hard drive with Acronis (the backup didn't complete, and the screen wouldn't unblank; I had to remove the external drive and restart the computer). I think the drive is failing. I ran CHKDSK/R, and the next night I was able to do a full backup with Acronis. Can I assume that the successful backup (with validation) is OK to use for the restore?
Thank you, Grover, for all your wonderful help!
Jo-Anne
One nice thing about TI is that it allows you to practice all the way up to your choices on the Proceed/cancel screen. Click Cancel to stop the practice.
You can practice do the disk restore and look at the summary screen. I believe it will show you that the new drive will be restored as 60 GB but they might be able to be changed later. right click on the MyComputer Icon and select Manage. Then select Disk Management and look at the graphical view of your drive. Which partition is first and which is last? If you wish to try the disk option restore first, can always do the "Restore with Resize" later if needed. If after a disk restore,you have unallocated space, this should be able to be resized into the main partition with some other some other free utilities or Acronis DD10 or DD11. Some of the Dell hidden partitions can be troublesome but tell us what you see in Disk Magement--or post an attachment.
Boot from the TI Rescue CD and validate the backup again. If the backup file validates from the CD, it should be usable.
Thank you again, Grover. It's looking more and more like I'll need to use your "Restore with Resize" option. Following is a link to my disk management screen print:
http://yfrog.com/j5diskmanagementscreenj
Last night I was able to make another successful backup of my drive. What I'm thinking now is that tonight I should try using the restore CD to get into Acronis and make the backup from there, as usual with validation. I'm guessing that one will be be the easiest to restore--right?
Thank you!
Jo-Anne
(Edit: Duplicate text removed as not intended to be posted. )
Yes, it is a good idea to perform a backup and validation when booted from the TI Rescue CD and make sure the type of backup you perform is where you checkmark the Disk option so all partitions become checked. You can then use this backup for your restore onto the new disk.
1. Since you are not familiar with changing a hard drive and your attachment make it look like you will be switching an IDE drive, go to the Dell website and look up your model number, etc and you should be able to find lots of info and illustrations about your specific computer. I am hopeful that both the old and new drives are connected via a "cable select so that you will not have to be setting jumpers, etc. I believe your biggest problem might be getting the old drive out and the new drive in and whether adjustments are needed to the jumpers.
2. As I look at your Disk Management partition structure in your attachment and since I am not familiar with the Dell computer, my suggestion for restore is NOT to use "Partition Restore with Resize" but to use a simple Disk Restore as discussed below. I believe this method will give us the best chance for a new bootable drive when considering the Dell partition.
a. Perform a simple disk option restore where you checkmark the disk as the selected option. This will also cause the Dell partition to also become checked. In order to do this, you will need to using a backup which included all partitions checked. This restore is illustrated in the restore part of item 7-A of my index. The procedure is almost identical to what you wrote in your initial posting except imaging used rather than cloning.
This restore process will create a new disk identical to the old disk and the partitions size and disk size will be same as the old. The resulting increased size will initially be seen as unallocated space--when viewed in disk Management.
3. After the restore has been completed and the new drive has booted and running successfully, we will then use a free program called "Partition wizard" to change the unallocated space into usable space on Drive C--which is your end partition.
a. Now before you get perform the restore, visit this website and download the bootable CD for Partition Wizard. Burn the iso download into a bootable Rescue CD. The program's resize option is very easy to use to resize the unallocated space. That will be the easiest part of the whole procedure.
http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html
Actual File download
http://www.partitionwizard.com/download/pwhe5.iso
Instruction illustrations on How to resize and move a partition instructions are along the middle left margin and also built into the program's help file.
4. In summary:
a. Install the new drive.
b. Boot from the TI Rescue CD.
c. Use the restore option and restore the entire disk by checkmarking the disk which will include all partitions.
d. Remove the boot CD; Shutdown; and disconnect the external.
e. Reboot and expect good results.
f. Again visit the Disk Management option and look at the graphical view. You should see the dell partition and then your drive C and then about 90-100GB of unallocated space.
g. Shutdown and reboot using the Partition Wizard bootable CD created by you.
h. Use the Resize/move partition option and extend the right boundary of your Drive C into the unallocated space so all the unallocated space is assigned to Drive C.
i. Commit the pending resize to completion.
j. Remove the PW bootable CD and Reboot into Windows.
k. After bootup, examine the Disk Management graphical view again to view the results. The small Dell partition should still be first (65 MB in size) and all the remaining space assigned to Drive C with no unallocated space.
l. While inside the Disk management feature, change the volume name of your new disk. Right click on the Drive C partition, click properties, and change the volume name to whatever you want for its new name--such as IDE_160-C
m. It might be a good idea to check the new disk for disk errors which may have been carried over from the old drive. Then begin you new set of updated backups.
n. Good luck and ask if you have questions.
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2010/01/7523/restore…
When attachments are needed, the attachments can be uploaded to the Acronis website as per these procedures.
Thank you again, Grover--for both of your latest posts! I didn't realize I could attach anything here. I'll keep your note on file for future reference.
I'm going to be away from the computer for a couple days but will follow your instructions when I return.
A few responses for now:
2. Yes, the old drive is an IDE (I named it per your instructions when I first went through your backup manual--and have similarly named all my external drives as well). I just looked at the packing slip (I bought this drive almost a year ago), and it's a WD ATA100 internal drive, which is supposed to be OK for this computer.
2a. I'll check the new drive to see if it has a ribbon cable. I hope it does.
2b. The new larger disk will be the only one, but I'll definitely check the instruction page for jumper pin settings. I don't know if the two CD/DVD drives are on their own cable(s). I hope they are. (There's also a floppy drive, which I suspect I've never used; the computer dates from 2003.)
2c. Yes, I plan to remove the old disk and not reattach it.
I'll definitely download the partitioning program before doing anything else.
More after I return!
Thank you again, Grover!
Jo-Anne