BF2S Forums copy a harddrive to a new harddrive

you are changing radically different hardware, I doubt moving the disk image (ghost) will be kind to you.

If you want to back up your data then i suggest Symantec Ghost (version 11 i think) or if you want an identical 1 to 1 copy including desktop layout and installed apps...all that stuff, i would go for Acronis True Image Workstation...Best thing about that is it will copy across an identical image even if the hardware is completely different...works great for rollouts

You cannot move a hard drive from one computer to another and keep your programs and OS installed. (Whether you are moving the physical hard drive, or just the contents of it onto another drive)

You need to reformat. You can back up your data, but you will have to reinstall the OS and all your programs.

If you were moving the drive to a computer with the same hardware, it might work, but you will be putting it into a completely different computer, windows will not boot up and you will have to reformat.

Cheez wrote:

Oh, I see. I just assumed Hard drive => Hard drive.

In this case, I would not attempt to image but use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard built into Windows. It'll copy your documents, and (if you manually copy your Program Files too) most of your programs should continue to work.

Not true, programs do not work if you simply copy the files in the "Program Files" directory, they are built into the registry, and if you do not copy the registry, your programs will not work because they will not know where their files are located. You cannot migrate the registry to a new computer though without major conflicts, it would be much better to just start from scratch, or you will have a system that will either not work at all, or work but have lots of errors.



It is really not that hard to install programs, one way to get around losing data is to do this:

1. Copy the program files from the directory (example quickbooks) and find where it stores data, in my documents or a temp directory or local settings.

2. Install program on new computer.

3. Copy old program file from old computer to new one. This way, you will keep all your settings/information, but the program will be installed correctly.

Last edited by jamiet757 (2008-09-23 19:39:59)

jamiet757 wrote:

Not true, programs do not work if you simply copy the files in the "Program Files" directory

Did you even read the first half of my sentence?

Also key word: most. Office will definitely not work even if you use FAST.

Isnt platespin made for more virtual desktop solutions? Is it a rival for vmware?

If you're at all comfortable with Linux, you can use the built-in command "dd" to copy the drive partition over to another drive, bit-by-bit

http://www.linuxweblog.com/dd-image

"dd" is like the great-grandfather of Ghost.  Command line, baremetal, just the bits ma'am - no flashy features or gui.

If you're not comfortable with that - perhaps you can find a Friendly Neighborhood 'Nix Geek to help.

Afroman.exe wrote:

Cheers for the clear up, i would karma ya but dont have enough posts yet lol

I have that same avatar and used it for a few years.

If your willing to pay for a licence..Acronis will fix all these problems with different hardware, repairs, reformatting, install of OS, install of programs, all fixed in a 45 to 1hr restore session....if cost is an issue then by all means do a raw data copy like docs, .pst files, favourites all that jazz.....if cost isnt a problem...Acronis all the way no doubt about it