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I currently have an 80 and a 120 GB harddrive. The 80 is my master while the 120 is the slave. I've been running out of room so I just bought a 320Gb HD. I would like this to be my master HD.
How can I copy my entire 80 onto the 320 so Windows still works? I can re download/install other programs, so my Windows is the only thing concerning me. Would just highlighting everything on my 80 and selecting Copy and then Pasting onto my 320 work? Would Windows still work once I installed the 320 as the master?
If this wouldn't work, can someone please help me find a method that would? Thanks a lot.
If you use Ghost, you can write an exact image of your 80GB HDD onto your 320GB HDD.
Your 320GB HDD manufacturer may also have provided software to do the same thing.
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Is Ghost, Norton Ghost? Is it a free program? I'm looking for a free way to do this. I bought my 320 off New Egg (It's a Western Digital BTW) so it shipped with only the HD, not even a manual.
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I can't think of any good reason to run winders on the 320.
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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Mechanix2Go: Why? I want it to be my master HD and the 120 to be the slave. Windows is on my 80, so if I'm getting rid of it, I need the OS on my master.
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I agree with Mechanix2Go. I would leave the 80gb as the OS drive. If you are running out of space on the 80, move some of it off to the 320.
It's best to keep your OS drive small. Mine is only 10gb and only half full. I have all programs and data on other drives.
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!!!
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So, you are suggesting I keep my 80 (really a 100, I just checked again) and get rid of my 120?
That seems like a wonderful idea and I originally would have done it, but heres the problem:
I have about 100 gigs of movies/tv shows/music on my 120. If I can only have two HD's in my computer at once, and one has to be the 80, how can I copy my 120 to my 320?
If it weren't for this problem, I would love to keep my 80 as my master HD.
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Here's a novel idea. Is it possible to have three internal hd's? When I tried to install my 320, I saw that there are only two places to plug an HD into, but could I buy another ribbon wire that allows three? Is that even possible?
If not, is there a solution to my riddle about transfering the data from the 120 to the 320?
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Go to Maxtor.com. Get MaxBlast. Install MaxBlast on a disk. Boot to that disk with both drives attached correctly to the system. Should even work if your drive isn't Maxtor.
http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.8db0c3d6932ced37294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads/Top%20Downloads
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Most mobos less than, let's say, ten years old will run at least 4 IDE drives. I guess a P4 CPU falls into that category.
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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2Go
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jer...: When you say "Install MaxBlast on a disk. Boot to that disk with both drives attached correctly to the system.", do you mean my 120 and 320? Would that download allow me to boot up my computer without an OS so I could copy my 120 to my 320?
Mechanix2Go: When I open up my comp, it only has a plug for two HD's. How can I remedy this?
Thank you to everyone who has helped me so far. Continued help until I get this sorted out would be wonderful.
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jer...: I looked at MaxBlast and it said "Note: There must be at least one Maxtor ATA Disk Drive installed in the system for MaxBlast 4 to run."
So I guess thats out.
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Badboy: Would that allow me to have all three of my drives? If so, I would LOVE that. What kind of product am I looking for when your say 'enclosure'?
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MS says to use ntbackup and then restore.
You could just attach drives to the C:\ as folders and be done with it.
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TDDx8:
Here is an example of an enclosure:
http://www.trittontechnologies.com/products/TRIXHD352.htm
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I've also used Nexstar enclosures by Vantec:
http://www.vantecusa.com/product-storage.html#
They are cheaper but they are pretty sturdy and small.
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The ribbon cable that your CD-Rom uses should have a spare connector (assuming you have only one optical drive). You can use this connector for your third hard drive. Don't forget to set the master/slave jumpers appropriately.
Alternatively, you could add a PCI IDE Controller card (assuming you have a spare PCI slot), which would allow you to connect an additional four IDE drives.
Please let us know if you found someone's advice to be helpful.
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Sci-Guy: Thats a good idea. I have a DVD drive and a DVD-RW drive, but I guess I don't need that DVD drive since I have a DVD-RW. I'll try it.
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Sci-Guy: Thank you very much for that recomendation. I took out my DVD drive and replaced it with my 320. Now I still have a DVD-RW drive and all three of my HD's.
Thanks a bunch to everyone that tried to help. You were all very helpful in one way or another.
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G'day TDD, you might bear in mind that swapping the OS from one HD to another and making the new one as C: might cause the activation gizmo to think you have a different machine and might halt at startup or at least you may have to reactivate Windows again. Your registry might get confused with regard to HAL entries for installed hardware.
I'm just guessing so be fore-warned just in case. Don't wipe the old drive yet.
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