Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 110704	2010-06-29 01:37:00	PC Technician in North Canterbury - any recommendations?	John H (8)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1114346	2010-06-29 08:07:00	I could but he isn't keen. Besides he'd need something else to connect the drive to, so he can image it and then image it back to the new one. Which would involve more hardware. We have a old P3 laptop, the easiest way for us to do it was really pull the HD out and attach to the PC (using a enclosure that we had) and resize the HD with Windows 7, it works, we also made a image of it but see below. USB1 was too slow to use a external HD. Well you could :D But .. we created the image just by installing software onto the old computer. You normally can create the image file on the same C: in Windows. Then you jsut have to copy that to a DVD/CD or external HD or thru network. When you transfer it to the new HD, make a DVD with a bootable media (image software). We used the enclosure running thru USB2. You can also do it thru network once you install Windows might be the easier for some people, let Windows setup partition it for you, use network and dump it into D: Boot up with the image thingy and direct it to the D: for the file. Overwrite C: with the image file. Assuming the laptop might not have a optical drive and assuming USB1.	Nomad (952)
1114347	2010-06-29 08:44:00	Ha! The cowboys probably know more than I do so that might not work! I have a Fujitsu Lifebook that is about 5 years old. I want to replace the hard drive and migrate everything over to the new drive. I don't have the confidence to a. buy the right replacement drive, and b. fiddle around in the innards of this tiny laptop. It is one of those things that has a 10.6 inch screen. I have replaced the RAM, so I can get into it, but that is the limit of my ability I think... Where in Canterbury are you? I'm by no means a pro but certainly capable of handling such a task. 6 years of building, breaking and fixing pc's has taught me enough to get by. Flick me a PM if your interested. What OS is it running? And also what sized hard drive does it currently have and what are you wanting to replace it with? Edit: I see you're in woodend, you in central Christchurch very often?	hueybot3000 (3646)
1114348	2010-06-29 08:44:00	easiest way for us to do it was really pull the HD out and attach to the PC (using a enclosure that we had) and resize the HD with Windows 7, USB1 was too slow to use a external HD. But .. we created the image just by installing software onto the old computer. You normally can create the image file on the same C: in Windows. Then you jsut have to copy that to a DVD/CD or external HD or thru network. When you transfer it to the new HD, make a DVD with a bootable media (image software). We used the enclosure running thru USB2. You can also do it thru network once you install Windows might be the easier for some people, let Windows setup partition it for you, use network and dump it into D: Boot up with the image thingy and direct it to the D: for the file. Overwrite C: with the image file. Assuming the laptop might not have a optical drive and assuming USB1. Yes. See. Now what I'd do is connect the drive to my PC via adapter, image it to D:, swap laptop drives and image off D: back to the new laptop drive.	pctek (84)
1114349	2010-06-29 08:57:00	just to be a bother, it is possible to not need extra equipment, and to use just that (1) laptop, more a hassle thou, by do able. provided there is a optical drive :D or a really large usb stick.	Nomad (952)
1114350	2010-06-29 09:09:00	just to be a bother, it is possible to not need extra equipment, and to use just that (1) laptop, more a hassle thou, by do able. provided there is a optical drive :D or a really large usb stick. Exactly -- Did that sort of thing just yesterday - kind of a demo / Simulating a failed drive to a customer then restoring. Used a program That I have been playing about with off of a bootable CD - imaged the Original Drive (40GB) to a USB drive, ( image was roughly 23GB) then imaged it back from the USB to a blank drive (160GB). If you had another PC it would also be a simple case of connect both the Original drive after removing from the laptop, and the new blank drive, and simply cloning the old drive to the new.	wainuitech (129)
1114351	2010-06-29 09:28:00	Unless the laptop can take more than one hard drive no, unless you could use like a linux live disk to copy from a usb to the new drive? Edit: I see it can be done, pretty slow way of doing it though. I hate USB speeds	hueybot3000 (3646)
1114352	2010-06-29 10:01:00	I have a feeling those laptops don't use a standard 2.5" drive, more like a 1.6" or whatever the next size down is...could be wrong on that.	Alex B (15479)
1114353	2010-06-29 10:02:00	The program I'm using is Active @ boot disk (www.ntfs.com) -- The trial version allows you to make a Bootable CD, works Fine for 30 days (the imaging section anyway) you connect a usb drive, boot from the CD, start/programs/ Disk Image -- you select disk to image -- work through 3-4 screens, it images the current Drive to a USB or any other storage device, even over a LAN - then to put the image back attach the blank drive, boot from the CD again, this time select image to disk -- follow through. The demo I gave yesterday-- had USB 1 ports on the PC- had a 40GB drive, had the OS/programs and data. It took roughly 40 minutes to image the drive to the USB, take the side off the PC, attach a blank HDD and image it back to a fully working system + 1 cuppa coffee in between while waiting :p.	wainuitech (129)
1114354	2010-06-29 10:13:00	That sounds like an easy approach actually, especially if Alex is correct on the hard drive size although id assume it still uses a standard connection? Hmm really should get myself an external hard drive again	hueybot3000 (3646)
1114355	2010-06-29 21:50:00	You can, but I hate imaging via USB. Too slow. Anyway Hueybot has offered for you..........	pctek (84)
1 2 3