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Thread ID: 36916	2003-08-23 09:16:00	copying from hard drive to another hard drive	Term_X (560)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
169887	2003-08-23 09:16:00	Hi Folks ;-) Just bought another hard drive and got it connected at the moment as a slave. in windows xp how can i copy the entire contents of my master drive to the slave so that i can then switch drives and then run the slave as the new master ( and after of course switching the ide cable connectors and changing the appropriate jumpers on each drive) is there an easy way to do it in windows xp pro or do i need another program to do this? cheers	Term_X (560)
169888	2003-08-23 09:22:00	You need to use a drive imaging program such as Drive Image, Norton Ghost etc. Try the webpage of the drive maker, they probably have software to download to do what you want as well. You can't just "copy" them across under XP, as many are in use and therefore protected.	godfather (25)
169889	2003-08-23 10:26:00	Godfather is quite correct as usual. I use Nortons Ghost to do the job but I am aware that both Maxtor and Seagate have software to do the job as well. Be aware that all tools that allow copying a full partition drop into a version of DOS like MSDOS or PCDOS to copy all files to a new Hard drive. Most system files can't be copied under Windows ( any version ) while being used. That's why it's a DOS thing!! :-) Be aware that the DOS thing will do the copy OK but before you format the old hard drive make sure you can boot off the new drive. Be aware that there are differences in just doing a copy of a PARTITION or a whole DISK including ALL partitions.	Elephant (599)
169890	2003-08-23 11:25:00	I'm thinking DriveCopy (www.powerquest.com) from PowerQuest might be a better idea. Its more drive migration software, ie copy everything from one drive to the other (hard drive upgrade) so you can make the new drive the primary one. DriveImage, is for backing up partitions. You might run into trouble with DriveImage when doing something like copying the whole drive, as I think it only copies partitions and you need it to copy the bootloader and Master Boot Record as well so you can boot from the new drive. I think thats how it works anyway, correct me if I'm wrong.	PoWa (203)
169891	2003-08-23 11:59:00	Hmmmmm..... What happens when you have a 20 Gig drive with 2 partitions. Partitioned 10 Gig primary and 10 Gig extended. Within the 10 gig extended there is D: and E: Use DriveCopy to put all on the new 120 Gig hard drive. Do I end up with C:, D:, and E: occupying 20 Gigs on the new 120 Gig drive and what happens to the 100 Gigs left over? Do I have to make a new partition for the left over space? If so then how do I do this without losing the new drives I just copied? I guess I could by using Partition Magic but wouldn't I have to buy more software? Partition Magic Ver 8 allows you to do this anyway rather than using Ghost. I use Ghost to back up a partition to a partition on a weekly basis but I don't buy a new ( and bigger ) hard drive on a weekly basis. What are your thoughts on this?	Elephant (599)
169892	2003-08-23 14:16:00	the last guy lost me im not sure what ur on about but hey guys ive jus copied my my master onto the slave and then swapped them including jumpers etc..okay it boots fine into windows as per the old master and evrything looks great but in my computer the new boot drive still shows as F: why is that? i thought it would automatically become the new C:? my dvd rom is d: and cd writer is e: in disk management the new drive shows as "system"but why didnt it change to "c:" cos it still shows as f: even though its the new boot drive?.. someone help me! cheers	Term_X (560)
169893	2003-08-23 14:41:00	If the windows is now F: instead of C: then you have only one option, format the windows partition completely, or get Partition Magic 8 and change the system drive to C: More info on that in FAQ 34B, near the end. TermX - What did you use in the end to copy all the data? >What happens when you have a 20 Gig drive with 2 partitions. >Partitioned 10 Gig primary and 10 Gig extended. Within the 10 gig extended there is D: and E: >Use DriveCopy to put all on the new 120 Gig hard drive. >Do I end up with C:, D:, and E: occupying 20 Gigs on the new 120 Gig drive and what happens to the 100 Gigs left over? You have 3 partitions there mate. Each extended partition can really be classed as a separate partition. Primary partitions are bootable, extended are not. I might have to do some more reading up on them myself :) If you used DriveCopy (I haven't used it myself) but I would imagine it copies it exactly what you have on the old one to the new hard drive. So you are still going to end up with your Primary C, and D & E inside an extended partition. The leftover 100Gb, will be 'unused/unallocated disk space' and to use it you'll have to make a partition/s on it. You can do that via disk management if you are using 2k/XP, or even fdisk. PMagic will do the job too. Just be careful and know what you are doing. Word of warning: don't make NTFS partitions with PMagic, it creates corrupt NTFS partitions and causes windows to die within 10mins, requiring full format of the corrupt NTFS partition. I actually emailed PowerQuest about it, but they don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. Tried to tell me to make fat32 partitions with PMagic and then convert it :| How lame is that. Cheers :)	PoWa (203)
169894	2003-08-23 21:46:00	Yep.... I must admit that I don't use NTFS partitions. Too much trouble to rescue when something goes wrong. :-)	Elephant (599)
169895	2003-08-24 07:37:00	@ Powa..i downloaded a disk utility from maxtor's website because thats my primary master is a maxtor and used that to copy the partition from the master to the slave drive (only 1 partition on the master) and i didnt expect that the drive letters would stay the same so downloaded partition magic to change the drive letters and im done.. phew..wish these things were a lil easier thanks for evry1s input!	Term_X (560)
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