ok, i just bought a pretty big external hard drive. My laptop's HD is only 15gb. can someone give me a step by step guide on how to transfer ALL (yes, ALL) the stuff on my existing HD to my new one? Thnaks, Death- (+ rep if you can help )
I don't know if this will help you or not... but it's what I would do. <clip> opps... just reread your post. So it looks like it's attached externally. Just check Documents and Settings... and all your doc's should be there. You could also do a backup using Nero. Here again you'll have to burn DVD's or worse. CD's. Backup and then restore to your new HD. You can set the types of files you want to backup. Again, just be through. If you move program files you might have to reinstall them. I'm sure there will be other posts... so just wait a bit til other people see what you're tyring to do.
When you download new programs put them on the new hd click on a folder you want to move click on edit on the top toolbar in windows exploer and click move to folder and move to the other hd
based on what i did with mine, i just dragged and droped, but its different for all hraddrives. is yours plug n play?
easier Explanation TWO METHODS ONE ----- >>Click Start >>Go to All Programs >>Accessories >>System Tools >>Click Backup When program loads, click next You want to back up files (Not RESTORE files) You will now have 4 options: Chose the one that best suits you)..What you said in your message earlier you want to back up ALL DATA. So make sure the 3rd choice is selected. Chose the destination that you want to save the information to (YOUR NEW HARD-DRIVE+ and insert a floppy disk. This process will create a backup so if you lose your information on your 15gig hard-drive you will have the backup on the new external hard-drive to reload your main internal hard-drive if something goes hay-wire in the future. The Floppy disk is the device that will allow you to access the backup if things do go wrong. TWO ----------- Step One: Go to My Computer Step Two: Check to make sure that the new hard-drive, Once plugged in, Appears. Step Three: Double click the new hard-drive icon to make sure you can get into it without any conflicts or error messages. Step Four: Go back to My Computer and click c:\ Step Five: After you see C:\ highlighted, Press Ctrl and click your personal folders i.e...shared documents/And their should be a couple of other folders that you should see that you will probably want to copy across. ***Tip: The Ctrl command allows you to select multiple folders/drives/files without de-selecting another selection already made**. Once you are happy that everything is selected, right click either one of the selected folders/drives and click copy. This will copy all of the selected folders and files + drives. Step 6: Now double click your new hard-drive (external one), right click and "chose the command Paste". Now all your information will copy across. **Warning : This will be a slow process depending on how much information you have to copy across, what type of external hard drive it is, and depending on your Ram amount, Processor speed and also what interface your external hard-drive is connected through (i.e..usb etc). Hope this guide helps you do what you needed to do. Regards Osiris
wow WarRelm, that's a lot of info! I would rep you, but it says I have to spread it around... :x I just downloaded "Drive Clone". That program copied all the data on my old hard drive to my new, bigger one. Now what do I do? Thanks, Deathader
Oh cheers mate - I was going to do a 3rd point as well, and that was using Norton ghost to make a ghost image of the 1st hard drive and copy it to your 2nd hard-drive. Works like a breeze and is very precise and accurate. If I could make any suggestion or tell anyone to have a particular program on their computer, id go with Norton Ghost.
Yea, I have everything on my new HD. now what do I do? Like, how do I delete my old HD? Or clear it? or make a path to the new one? Or whatever I have to do... *confused*
If you have windows on your new external hd than you can make it the boot drive. 1.Go to you BIOS settings 2.click on boot order 3.selcet the new hd an uncheck the old one 4.restart the computer 5.see if windows starts up 6. if it does use the file killer hear to delete all the folders on your hard drive 7.If windows dosn't work make sure you selected the right hd 8.If that dosn't work use you old hd just to store windows NOTE: If you selct your new hd as the boot drive you will always need it with you to run windows. Also, it may slow your computer a bit +rep if this helps
Should mean its disabled. If the computer boots with the new hard-drive set up, then this is how you clear files easily. Right click on the drive that you want to clear once in the "My computer" menu, now you should come up with a few options. One of those is "Format". Click Format and follow the instructions. Warning : Only format the hard drive if you are satisfied that the new hard drive is booting correctly.
C is the drive letter for your old hd your new one should have the same icon escept a diiferent drive letter like f or g you want to reformat your old hard drive when you know you are booting from it To see if you are booting from your old hard drive remove the old hard drive if you can and see if there is a screen saying no os found then you are still booting from the old one. The one with usb by it should be your new one
how else could i tell if i'm booting from my old one? becuase my old HD is an internal one, and I don't want to screw up my laptop. BTW, i'm using another computer to type these messages if someone could go on MSN with me, that would be great
... You cant really tell too much...what you can do how ever is when you first restart your computer it should say what hard-drives booting. have you named your new hard-drive? If you have, if you notice that particular hard-drive name on the boot up then you can be pretty sure its booting. Thats the only real way to tell if you are booting from it. What you can do also is go into Device Manager (Right click My Computer>Properties>Hardware>Device Manager #. Disable your main harddrive...not your new one...then reboot and see what happens. If it fails to boot then you know you have a problem i.e..your new hard drive isn't booting. Then post a report on here and i'll help you get your machine back on its feet I'm pretty sure you will be fine though as long as in the bios you have selected to boot from your new external hard-drive.
BEFORE YOU DELETE/FORMAT ANYTHING.... backup everything you've got to DVD or CD. You never know if you are deleting something you might need. An Example: I have a ton of fonts in my system folder... you might want to back those up too... bookmarks, addressbook.. etc. Just backup the entire drive to a CD or DVD... Just IN Case!
Marlene that was already mentioned further up in the post, make a backup using the windows backup program. Also the fact that he copied C:\ and his personal folders out of My Computer would mean he got everything required. Copying C:\ copies system32 folder as well as all system files and data installed on c:\ after it was previously rolled. Its pretty hard to miss anything out if you copy c:\ straight from the folder. But yes, Backing up on a DVD is also a good technique just to be Double safe.
Call me an overly cautious person... but I'm always double and triple safe when formatting a drive. Just wanted to be sure death didn't forget... and once he formats, there's no going back easily. BTW WarRealm... your advice was excellent! +rep
Oh cheers - Yep you're right their..I've lost a lot of information/movies/music and the like by stupid mistakes, I know how it feels. Not cool at all.
ok, how do disable my HD? I'm in the device manager, but if I right click on it, it says: Update, Uninstall, Scann for changes, Properties.