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Can I reverse the roles of internal and external hard drives?

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  shawnpb 
#1 ·
My 75 gb internal hard drive is so full that I keep getting warnings, but I also have a 300 gb drive, plugged into a USB port, that I use to back up documents, photos, etc. Would it be possible to reverse the roles of the two drives, put everything on the external hard drive and use the internal drive for backup?

If so, how complicated would it be, and how would I proceed? (I am almost completely lacking in technical skills, but I follow directions fairly well.)

Thanks
 
#2 ·
Since huge Flash Drives are available, your first step would be to copy everything from the external HD to a Flash Drive. After reformat of external, you would then copy the entire contents (including OS) of the internal to the external most easily done with a 3rd party program like Ghost or True Image. Now comes another problem. Setting up to boot from a USB drive is tricky and when using the drive, things are going to slow down quite a bit.
If all this didn't discourage you, let me suggest this.
XP is in it's last days (OK a year and a half). Therefore, putting in a bigger internal HD still results in an outmoded system. Delete everything you can off the 75gb HD and try to get another year out of it. Alternatively, buy a new computer with Windows 8 next month with all the bells and whistles you want and continue to use the external HD as your backup.
 
#4 ·
Of course that's another option, but OP would still have to install his OS and programs on the large drive, best done when it's "clean" then update everything.
 
#6 ·
If your internal drive is a drive with Windows on it, then you can do as undeadbanana suggested; Format (Erase) the External drive, and Clone the Internal HDD to the External. Then Remove the HDD in the external enclosure and swap it with the Internal. If the computer boots and all of your files are intact, then put the old Internal drive in the USB enclosure and then once you are satisfied, you can format the smaller drive and make that your backup drive.
This might be a little too complex, but it would do what you are asking. Other then that follow Cordays suggestion in Post#2
 
#7 ·
Hi Spunk.funk,

That is way too complex. I guess I should have mentioned that I'm fairly illiterate when it comes to computers.

I'm trying to follow Corday's suggestion of getting some space by deleting things, but I'm not getting very far. If I stored my pictures online would I be able to safely delete them from my internal HD? That would free up more than 12 GBs. Maybe for redundancy I could also keep them on my external HD. Is this a possible solution, or just a nutty idea?

I know I need to invest in a new computer, but that's not convenient right now.
 
#8 ·
You can do the same as you have mentioned but I would suggest you to keep the necessary data to any other external magnetic storage device as you need to format the HD. The reason you would have to format is when you would plug in the external HD as internal one, it will show you as a RAW storage. You will have to make it NTFS or FAT. This requires a format.
 
#9 ·
Maybe for redundancy I could also keep them on my external HD.
Yes, Any files you cannot live without should be kept in more then one drive. If you have your pictures stored in online storage and Move them to a USB external drive, then you will have more space. Also, move documents, Music, Videos etc. Then Go to Start/Run and type appwiz.cpl and press enter. In the Add Remove Programs, uninstall any programs you no longer use or need. (Toolbars, Instant Messengers, Trial Programs etc)
If you have an automatic backup program, make sure it is backing up to your USB drive and not to your C: drive as that can be a common mistake. Then do a Disk Cleanup after moving your personal files, and that should give you more space
 
#10 ·
have you tried CCleaner or performing Windows Disk Cleanup to free up hard drive space on your hard drive that Windows is installed on? In Disk Cleanup pay attention the portion of the linked page I provided to cleaning up "Restore Points" in time month or years those can take up a lot of hard drive space, up to 12GB to 20GB of hard drive space. Cleaning up old unneeded restore points can significant free up hard drive space.
 
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