Laptop Data Transfer

[Lojik Supreme]

I have a thinkpad with a 30 gig harddrive in it and i want to transfer the all of the information to a new 60 gig harddrive. Problem is my laptop only supports one HD at a time. Normally i would use partionmagic with 3.5 drives but with a 2.5 i'm at a loss. I don't want to have to reinstall windows because i've really customized the system to a tee and i don't have an adapter for the drive. what's the best way to do this.

My idea is to use partition magic (if it will let me) backup all of the information over my network to my workstation, and then transfer it back. But there is a missing step in there somewhere. like to how to transfer it back with out a operating system on board. I do have a Winternals ERD Commander 2005 boot cd. I wonder it that has a backup utility on it.

Once aqain, any suggestions?

[parkerkane]

Best bet is to get a hold of Ghost or Acronis Drive image. Haven't used Acronis but heard lots of good things about it. They both allow you to make an exact image of your drive across a network (even a small peer to peer job) and then via network boot disk bring it back down to a clean hard drive. Hope this helps.

Edited September 30, 2005 by parkerkane

[IcemanND]

Check out http://www.apricorn.com, they have usb and pcmcia adapters that come with software to do just what you are after, for $80-$100. Or get two 3.5" to 2.5" hard drive adapters to put the drives in a desktop and duplicate them there. If you are using the IBM installed OS and it has the diag/utility partition on the front sometimes they won't boot from the new drive after using Ghost.

[ringfinger]

I'd recommend a USB external enclosure for the new HD then copy the image. Check Here. You may not need to go all out with the enclosure since its a one time deal. Possibly just the cable iteslef for converting 2.5 IDE > USB/Firewire w/o an enclosure.

Edited September 30, 2005 by ringfinger

[LiquidSage]

1. Acronis TrueImage Server could take care of your problem w/ it's bootable cd and image creation (& network restore option)

2. Spend ~$10 for a 2.5''<->3.5'' IDE dongle.

From there, either transfer everything over the network to the new HD (which would be hooked up to a IDE channel on a PC) and then swap the notebook HD's.

or take out the old hd and connect to the pc to transfer everything to a 3.5 HD, reboot with the new one connected and transfer everything back. (This would be quickest)

I have seen many problems using usb/firewire enclosures. As a recovery/backup solution, I consider them to be unacceptable. Mainly due to problems w/ delayed write failures and software / mobo's not being able to use them properly as a bootable device.

[LiquidSage]

Here is a cheap one

Here is one that is cheaper still! (might as well get 2 and do a quick 1:1 xfer)

I have a few of them and they have never failed me.

Edited October 1, 2005 by LiquidSage

[gheron]

Try This

This is what I use all the time to transfer laptop data, if you do a bit of searching you will get it on ebay quite cheap.

[nmX.Memnoch]

Sabrent makes a nice adapter that you can attach any IDE drive to (3.5", 2.5" with included adapter, CD/DVD, etc).

http://www.sabrent.com/products/specs/SBT-UI235.htm

That can be found for less than $20. They're handy to have around.

You'll still need a boot disk and some sort of imaging software though. There is a Ghost plugin for BartPE. Just put the plugin in, boot the system from a BartPE CD and run Ghost...that's just about the easiest solution.

Edited October 3, 2005 by nmX.Memnoch

[tap52384]

You could also buy a drive caddy (from IBM or eBay), which will slide right into your ultrabay slot on the side of your computer. I use that for my hard drive...unfortunately, I don't know where I can buy another hard drive that would fit this caddy for cheap...