copying partitions

If it were me, I would use Robocopy, which comes with every version of Windows. Or you could drag and drop in Windows Explorer. With that much data, I would run a checksum on the top-level folder before  the transfer and check it after, to ensure that everything was captured accurately. I like the free Corz Checksum.

Johann, in addition to the advice from tuttle, you can also use ATIH to do either a disks & partitions or a files & folders backup and then restore this to the second disk drive.

A lot really depends on what types of files you have stored on the source drive and what size of files these are?

If you have a small number of very large files which are of an already highly compressed file format, i.e. video files, audio files etc, then perhaps using a copy utility like Robocopy, or a file/folder synchronisation program would be quicker, but if you have a large number of small files involved, then doing the backup and restore should be as quick as any alternative approach.

A disk & partitions backup should only be needed if you have system type files on the partition but if this type of file is being moved, then you should be giving the destination drive the same drive letter as was given to the source drive if you want those files to still work correctly (and give the source drive a different letter).

Thanks very much guys!

Ok, so i am going to do :

open cmd.exe -> and enter: "ROBOCOPY D:\ I:\ /MIR"

...and i hope this will do what i want! (Never used Robocopy before)

I also downloaded checksum from corz, but i am not familiar with how this work either. If i launch it i see a "simple checksum" and if enter a directory like "D:\", i get the message that "directories cannot be hashed (use checksum)".

So, what do i have to do to control afterwards if  D:\  =  I:\  ?

Johann, see webpage: http://www.computerhope.com/robocopy.htm for details of all the command options for using Robocopy.

In terms of what you do with your D: and I: partitions after doing a successful copy from one to the other, it really depends on what you want to do with these drives?

If the intent is just to move the data from D: to the larger I: drive then you could reformat the smaller D: drive and reuse that drive for any new purpose.

I think you missunderstood me. I wanted to ask tuttle how to use cashsums to compare two whole partitions. Robocopy already successfully worked (at second attempt). Thanks for the good tips.

Johann, from taking a quick look at the checksum program recommended by tuttle, it looks fairly simple to do what you are asking.

Open Explorer to My Computer where you can see your partitions / drives, then right-click on each one and take the option to Create Checksum.  Finally compare the checksums.

Note: I would expect creating a checksum at a partition/drive level will take a long time to complete, and assumes you have already installed the checksum program to get the Windows integration that gives the right-click menu choices.

Yes, thank you, good idea. But i just saw, that my two partitions aren't exactly the same size.

The original has 96,2GB used of 199GB total space.

The copy has 95,4GB used of 195GB total space.

In the ROBOCOPY i used the command: ...>ROBOCOPY D:\ I:\ /MIR /XD "$RECYCLE.BIN" "System Volume Information"

But is 0,8 GB a realistical difference respectively realistical size of "$RECYCLE.BIN" "System Volume Information" - Data?

Everything else, folder- and file-wise looks identical at first glance...

Johann, I would assume that you could have upto 0.8GB in the excluded items, so doing a checksum compare at the partition root level would not match, however, you could create checksums at a folder level for comparison, though you would need to do this for each of the folders you have that are common to both drives.

The alternative approach would be to use a file & folder synchronisation and see if this throws up any differences between the two partitions?

One free sync program that I use is: SunchFolders which can do such a comparison.

Brilliant! ..Am scanning now! Thank you two very much, you're very helpful!

Good to hear that it is going well Johann.

Scan worked. No differences. I excluded Sys Vol Info and recycle.bin and recycler from the scan.

Perfect. Then i will format the original drive and use it for regular backups. I am using an additional USB hdd for monthly clones too, as discussed in another thread.

I very much appreciate the quick and great help from you guys. Have a nice day!

That is great Johann, glad to have been able to help.