In need of help.

[ToasterMax]

my current hard drive has seen better days and now its almost full, i have defragged it, clear space, etc. but now the space is almost gone. I want to purchase another hard drive , preferable a large 300 gig drive and move everything over to this drive. I dont have the option of reinstalling everything but was hoping to somehow moving everything, including the operating system, all programs, data etc. on the current drive to the new drive and have that new drive become the new boot drive.

How do i do this? What tools do i need? The solution has to be id*** proof and very easy. Any suggestions??

Please help.

[Gee]

Use Symantec Ghost, it will basically "photocopy" your existing hard drive.

[ToasterMax]

Use Symantec Ghost, it will basically "photocopy" your existing hard drive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

any specific version of Ghost?? and is it self explanatory ?? the process?? how would i do this??

I ghost the current drive to where?? how, i only have one new hard drive.

[interminded]

Max,

Your problem is that you don't have the space to store your image, isn't it ?

I don't know how large your current HD is, but of you want to make a copy of your whole HD (system + data), it wouldn't even fit on a DVD.

So I guess the only brave thing to do is to take the afternoon off and do clean install..

Actually, I always prefer to make a fresh, new start when I get a new HD.

But that's just me...

[ToasterMax]

Max,

Your problem is that you don't have the space to store your image, isn't it ?

I don't know how large your current HD is, but of you want to make a copy of your whole HD (system + data), it wouldn't even fit on a DVD.

So I guess the only brave thing to do is to take the afternoon off and do clean install.. 

Actually, I always prefer to make a fresh, new start when I get a new HD.

But that's just me...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dont have that option. I have software installed that cant be reinstalled. I need to make an exact copy of one drive to another.

How should i go about this?? How many drives do i need? Can i have an external drive involved?

[interminded]

Max, how much data do you have ? Is it 500 MB, 1 GB, 5 GB ?

Be aware of the fact that you have to store that "copy" somewhere.

And if that's a couple of gigabites, your current HD won't do the job.

[ToasterMax]

my current drive is 20 gigs.

[interminded]

Allright,

Since you told me that your drive is almost full, there will be no space to store your image (=copy) , am i right ?

The options you have:

1) attach another PC (through a cross-cable)

2) connect to a network

[ToasterMax]

I dont have any more space on the current drive.

how do i attach another pc? what do i use?? and what steps should be taken , such as what program do i need? cables etc.

[interminded]

take a look here:

connect two computers over the internet

GUIDE

If you want them to connect directly, you'll need a so-called CROSSOVER cable.

You can make them yourself, but maybe it's best to just buy one.

good luck !

If you need any help with connecting, just type in google:

CONNECTING TWO COMPUTERS CROSSOVER

You'll get al lot of feedback ! Believe me, you're not the first one to try..

[ToasterMax]

after connecting the two pcs together ,then what?? i use ghost?? what is the procedure?

[interminded]

Max,

You have to have a piece of software that can make a copy of your entire harddrive, as mentioned earlier.

You can use Norton Ghost or Acronis.

These are fairly easy to use and probably will do the job.

This is how it works:

You're going to make an image of your PC, this is generally done by just the wizard that these two types will have.

You have to set the path to write this image to the PC you have connected.

But keep in mind that the other PC has to have at least 20 GB of free space, otherwise the "copy" won't fit.

When the HD has been copied and you have a new HD purchased, you have to take the harddrive of the other PC and put in your PC as well.

Then you format the new HD, take the bootdisk (you have to make a bootdisk with norton or acronis, so you can load the image!!) and let your PC boot.

A DOS-menu will start and you will be able to browse to the image on the other harddrive to load it.

This should get the job done.

Are you sure you want this ?

It's quite a lot of work, even for a skilled person.

And don't get me wrong, but I don't think you're very experienced user, are you ?

I say this respect, because at least you're willing to tackle the problem !!!

But you got a load of work ahead of you !!

[firefoxthebomb]

forget all that cross conect cable and network stuff. Install the 300gb drive to your exsisting computer as a slave drive, then use Norton Ghost to clone the 20gb drive to the 300gb drive and once it is done, remove the 20gb drive and make the 200gb drive the master. And you are done. I use ghost ver 8.0. Once you boot with the ghost disk, you will do these steps:

Local

Disk to

Disk

Seleck the first 20gb disk as the original and the 300gb as the destination. PM me and I can get you a boot disk.

[ToasterMax]

PM sent. Thanks. So i just install the second drive as a slave, do i have to format it and enable it within disk management? what steps should i take?

[interminded]

Firefox,

You'r ABSOLUTELY right !!

Reading your post, I honestly don't know why i came up with such a s****y answer.

Of course... why try the easy way if you can do it the hard way.....

Max, firefox's solution is way better ! (like you didn't know)..