How to move only the C: windows system partition of a two partition disk over to a larger HDD
I currently have a 300GB HDD which has two partitions; the first is my system boot partition [C] containing only Windows XP and program files (partition size:40GB), the second partition [D] contains my data files eg docs, music, videos etc. (2nd partition size:245GB)
I want to transfer ONLY the [C] system boot partition over to a new larger 1000GB HDD (the 300GB HDD will be entirely removed from the PC). I want to manually resize the [C] partition on the new HDD to 55GB and leave the remaining space for a second partition [D], approx. 875GB, for data storage.
I have read extensively on the subject of imaging and cloning. It would appear the best approach for this is imaging and then restoring. Would it be okay if I just image the [C] partition located on the 300GB HDD rather than doing an entire disk image, as is always recommended in various Acronis guides, as I do not want to move the [D] partition data? Moreover, doing an entire disk image takes much more time than doing just the [C] partition.
I have read various conflicting bits of information regarding the procedure for restoring the image to a newly resized partition. During the restore process should I first restore the MBR and then go back and restore+resize the [C] partition to 55GB individually? And Is restoring the MBR actually required in this case as the newly created partitions will look totally different to the ones located on the 300GB hdd?
I will be carrying out the process using Acronis's CD Boot Rescue Media, and not in Windows.
Thanks a lot Lester for confirming that. Well I went ahead and imaged just the [C] partition of my 300GB HDD and then restored it, along with the MBR, to the 55GB partition on the new 1000GB HDD. I disconnect the 300GB HDD and booted up with just the 1000GB HDD to ensure Windows viewed the larger drive as the new active system partition. Everything seems to have worked perfectly and I have XP up and running on this drive, which is great!
I must say, though, I am actually quite surprised this worked as the 300GB HDD is an IDE drive and it was imaged in that position; my 1000GB HDD is in fact a SATA drive connected to a PCI SATA controller card (it shares this card with a separate SATA storage drive). I made sure I changed the boot sequence in the BIOS, prior to the initial loading of Windows, so that the 1000GB was listed first. Is everything set up correctly as does it really matter whether the image is restored to a SATA or an IDE?
That said, I do have a dilemma as I am considering purchase one of those SATA to IDE converters so that I can connect my SATA drive directly to the IDE port on my motherboard (like this:http://tinyurl.com/y7f86n3) as I need space to install other drives. Or should I purchase a PCI SATA controller card with more ports? My concern with buying the converter is that the bios/motherboard/Windows will get confused and not boot. Morever, regarding the SATA controller card I am not sure how stable running a system drive off one is even though that is what I am currently doing. If I purchase either of these pieces of hardware will I need to reimage my old system again?
Whether the drive is IDE or SATa does not matter to TrueImage.
I have had good success using a PCI Sata Controller. Mine only has two ports and I regret not buying the 4 port one--which I will probably do later. Be careful in your selection of cards. Some are the PCI and others are the PCE-express which is smaller. Check your user manual to make sure you are buying the correct type for your computer.
Whenever you change hardware, you should either create a new image or update the existing image an incremental, etc.
I am running an internal sata plus an external eSata from my added controller.
Thanks for the great points Grover, my PCI SATA controller card is also a two port version and does run really well. But I'm not sure whether to go for the SATA to IDE adapter or buy a larger four port SATA card instead? I can't seem to find a cheap/reasonably priced 4-port PCI (not express) card and I've read a lot of people have difficulties booting from these larger cards. I guess I am just lucky that my Silicon Image 3512 chip runs pretty good, but it only holds two drives.
I'll follow your instructions and make sure I update the image after I install any new hardware, thanks for the advice!