Moving data from one Hard Drive to another?

Fewmitz · 10-04-2008, 03:39 PM

When I inevitably put my new computer together, I'm going to be getting a bigger hard drive. I heard/read that there are some issues putting Hard Drives of different sizes in RAID 0, so I'm just going to use the bigger one.

What's a quick and dirty way to get everything from one hard drive to another?

**blah789** · 10-04-2008, 07:29 PM

RAID 0 is baaad. (IMHO at least). It may seem to improve performance, but the risk you run when one drive fails is tremendous. The thing is the data is split at the block level, and you need both drives to get all your data. Think of a (contiguous) file as a row on a chess board - all the portions corresponding to black squares are on one drive, and the portions corresponding to white squares are on the other - you won't get your data unless both are running. Of course if you're not storing any important data on there (maybe it's just a boot drive with the OS only - no data), then you're free to use RAID 0.

If you want to just copy everything (OS and data) from one drive to another, try XXClone (freeware). http://www.xxclone.com/
You can find the manual's here http://www.xxclone.com/ixcman20.htm and there's a guide here http://www.techsupportforum.com/cont...ticles/47.html

After the operation completes, when you boot from your new drive, everything will be identical to the way it was on the old drive.

Fewmitz · 10-04-2008, 08:03 PM

And using xxclone, would I just have to connect the two Hard Drives?

**blah789** · 10-04-2008, 10:42 PM

Well yeah! The drives have to be connected if you're going to transfer data from one to the other (as in clone)! And not to each other! But yeah, they'd have to be connected to the motherboard.

P.S: Be sure you pick the correct source and destination. The last thing in the world you want to do is clone the empty drive and overwrite (and pretty much wipe) the drive with your data on it.

Fewmitz · 10-06-2008, 09:45 AM

Oh. Well, yeah.

As far as the new Hard Drive is concerned, am I correct in assuming that I need to format the new drive before hand? And, by extension, would that involve just plugging the drive in.

Hard Drives are not my strong suit. I've only ever had to buy one, and it wasn't formatted.

**blah789** · 10-06-2008, 02:59 PM

I think you do need to have the other drive formatted because xxclone copies file by file (aka it needs a file system on the destination to write to - it won't create one for you).

Is the destination drive new and blank? Or does it have data on it? If it's new and blank, to format it, go to disk management (start, run, diskmgmt.msc), then right click on the box that says disk 1, disk 2 or whatever and pick initialize, then right click on the unpartitioned space (black) and create a partition there. You'll get the option to format it too. It's good practice to do a full format the first time (could take a while - 3+ hours on a 500GB drive), but if you're in a hurry you can do quick format (20 seconds).

Fewmitz · 10-07-2008, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blah789

It's good practice to do a full format the first time (could take a while - 3+ hours on a 500GB drive), but if you're in a hurry you can do quick format (20 seconds).

Well I'm not really in a hurry....

But on the other hand, I don't want to wait 9 hours...

But yes, it's new and also blank.

10-04-2008, 03:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
Fewmitz Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 134 OS: Vista 64	Moving data from one Hard Drive to another? When I inevitably put my new computer together, I'm going to be getting a bigger hard drive. I heard/read that there are some issues putting Hard Drives of different sizes in RAID 0, so I'm just going to use the bigger one. What's a quick and dirty way to get everything from one hard drive to another?

10-04-2008, 07:29 PM	#2 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,234 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Moving data from one Hard Drive to another? RAID 0 is baaad. (IMHO at least). It may seem to improve performance, but the risk you run when one drive fails is tremendous. The thing is the data is split at the block level, and you need both drives to get all your data. Think of a (contiguous) file as a row on a chess board - all the portions corresponding to black squares are on one drive, and the portions corresponding to white squares are on the other - you won't get your data unless both are running. Of course if you're not storing any important data on there (maybe it's just a boot drive with the OS only - no data), then you're free to use RAID 0. If you want to just copy everything (OS and data) from one drive to another, try XXClone (freeware). http://www.xxclone.com/ You can find the manual's here http://www.xxclone.com/ixcman20.htm and there's a guide here http://www.techsupportforum.com/cont...ticles/47.html After the operation completes, when you boot from your new drive, everything will be identical to the way it was on the old drive.

10-04-2008, 08:03 PM	#3 (permalink)
Fewmitz Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 134 OS: Vista 64	Re: Moving data from one Hard Drive to another? And using xxclone, would I just have to connect the two Hard Drives?

10-04-2008, 10:42 PM	#4 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,234 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Moving data from one Hard Drive to another? Well yeah! The drives have to be connected if you're going to transfer data from one to the other (as in clone)! And not to each other! But yeah, they'd have to be connected to the motherboard. P.S: Be sure you pick the correct source and destination. The last thing in the world you want to do is clone the empty drive and overwrite (and pretty much wipe) the drive with your data on it.

10-06-2008, 09:45 AM	#5 (permalink)
Fewmitz Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 134 OS: Vista 64	Re: Moving data from one Hard Drive to another? Oh. Well, yeah. As far as the new Hard Drive is concerned, am I correct in assuming that I need to format the new drive before hand? And, by extension, would that involve just plugging the drive in. Hard Drives are not my strong suit. I've only ever had to buy one, and it wasn't formatted.

10-06-2008, 02:59 PM	#6 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,234 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Moving data from one Hard Drive to another? I think you do need to have the other drive formatted because xxclone copies file by file (aka it needs a file system on the destination to write to - it won't create one for you). Is the destination drive new and blank? Or does it have data on it? If it's new and blank, to format it, go to disk management (start, run, diskmgmt.msc), then right click on the box that says disk 1, disk 2 or whatever and pick initialize, then right click on the unpartitioned space (black) and create a partition there. You'll get the option to format it too. It's good practice to do a full format the first time (could take a while - 3+ hours on a 500GB drive), but if you're in a hurry you can do quick format (20 seconds).