Planning to replace HDD

Planning to replace HDD Need tips! :)

#1 alpha4345

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Posted 03 September 2011 - 08:50 AM

Hello guys!

I recently got a 500GB 7200RPM HDD and I am planning to replace my crappy Western Blue 250GB 5400RPM HDD. My actual HDD is full, and I want to transfer ALL his data on my new HDD.

Now I want to know...

1. What is the easiest/fastest way to do it.

2. How to do it (short tutorial)

3. Will I get ALL the data that I previously had?

All tips are welcome! ;)

Thank you very much!

Alpha4345

#2 Allan

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Posted 03 September 2011 - 12:52 PM

paid: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/page.html

free: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

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#3 AustrAlien

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Posted 04 September 2011 - 01:10 AM

If you are using at least one of either Seagate or Western Digital branded HDDs in the system, you can take advantage of the free version of Acronis' imaging and cloning software provided by each of those manufacturers. The Acronis software can be run either from within Windows or from a bootable CD, which can be created once the utility is installed on a Windows system (and it is a wise to create this CD immediately). The bootable CD will be needed if ever the Windows system is not accessible.

Seagate: DiscWizard

Western Digital: Acronis True Image WD Edition

The quickest and easiest way ... is to clone the whole hard drive to the new hard drive, using "Automatic" selection rather than the "Manual" selection when prompted. Everything will be exactly as it was, except the once-too-small partition(s) will now occupy (and have available) the whole new HDD.

You will find all the information you are likely to need at the websites where you download the above-mentioned tools.

AustrAlien
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#4 alpha4345

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Posted 04 September 2011 - 01:17 PM

I finally decided to use the free macrium reflect software because people says that it is the better free software for system imaging on the web...

So I made a system image and a Linux-based boot disk in order to deploy my new system image into my new drive. The image has been deployed successfuly, so I rebooted my PC as suggested by Free Macrium. I clicked "ok", and it rebooted.

I was like: "yay! its over!" until I saw an error message:

"bootmgr is missing press ctrl+alt+del to restart windows 7"

I searched google for it, and the recommended way to solve the problem was to insert the Windows 7 CD and choose the repair option.

Here comes the real problem: I do not have any Windows 7 CD because my laptop is in fact a netbook! I have an external CD-Drive but no Windows 7 CD...

Now, I don't really know what to do... If it helps, my Windows version is Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.

Need some help over here!

EDIT: SCREW ALL THAT GUYS I ALREADY FOUND A WAY TO GET THE BOOTMGR ALL IS FINE NOW.

BTW, thank you very much for helping!

Alpha4345 ;)

This post has been edited by alpha4345: 04 September 2011 - 04:15 PM