Help on Imaging Scenario

Hi everyone!

I'm going to be asking for certain advice regarding my current HDD setup that I'd like to change.

My current setup is this:

1 X 80GB Physical HDD as my OS drive
1 X 500GB Physical HDD as program files and other data storage.

I'd like to have the contents of both HDDs on the 500GB physical drive. So in other words, I want the setup to be the exactly the same but on one physical HDD.

I also have a 1TB external drive that I can use to store the images on.

My current imaging program is Macrium Reflect.

Is there a way to do this? Please let me know in a step-by-step manner as I am an admitted noob when it comes to imaging, MBRs and the likes.

(Edit) P.S. The reason for this is there is no performance gain from what I did. Lol. I'll simply be giving the 80GB drive to my Dad for added storage for his netbook. I'll simply get a Sata to USB converter which is dirt cheap :)

mjf said:

oreo27 said:

My current setup is this:

1 X 80GB Physical HDD as my OS drive
1 X 500GB Physical HDD as program files and other data storage.

Can you give more details exactly what is on each drive.
Is time the only issue for you doing a clean install?

80GB, One partition, Drive C:\
-C:\Windows
-C:\Users
-C:\Program Files, Program Data - The ones that do not have the option to be installed in another drive or partition for that matter.

500GB, One partition, Drive D:\
-Program Files, All properly installed, Paging File.

Clean install was done along with formatting of both drives during setup.

Let me know if you need more info.

Time is very limited to me these days and quite frankly it takes me a week to set things up.

OS>Preferences>Updates
Program Files>Preferences>Updates (On my internet connection, this is horrible )
Games>Updates>Savegames

Not to mention my mediocre HDD, which I'm planning to upgrade to at least a WD Black.

I will do a clean install when time warrants it. In fact, I want everything on one partition. But until then, I'm looking for a shortcut to all this.

Thanks for the time to help

mjf said:

I started typing instructions to do this but is really quite messy and therefore risky. I'm going to be conservative and suggest you wait until you buy a new HDD or else you could be without a working system for longer than you'd like.

Hmm, what do you mean a new HDD? I think I've confused you somehow mate :)

I simply want to transfer the content of the 80GB + the 500GB to the 500GB. I have a 1TB external in which I can place the image files :)

P.S. You meant the new drive purchase? That's not going to happen for a while :)

Hmm, there may be some hidden active partition. It would be helpful if you posted a picture of your Disk Management. Then it may be possible to avoid the repair/install. The MBR you can most likely fix during the Macrium restore.

But the procedure that mjf posted should work too. I just would use Disk Management in lieu of PW where possible. With PW you can more easily make a mistake.

mjf said:

Ok here is the "shortcut" I saved but you may very well need to do a clean install so make sure you have everything backed up to do one! The fact that your page file and some installed programs on a separate disk complicates things.
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I would keep installed programs and page file on the OS partition never mind HDD but that's history.

As long as you understand that these changes aways come with risk. Assuming one partition per HDD -
1) shrink d: partition by say 100GB using Partition Wizard.
2) Image c: and d: with Macrium.
3) remove HDD c: and put HDD d: in its place
4) repartition old d: to contain new partitions c:, d:. c: to 85GB, d: to remainder. Use Partition Wizard bootable CD. Make partitions primary NTFS C:, D:. Make C: active.
5) reimage with old c:, d: images with Macrium to C: and D: respectively. When reimaging C: and D: do NOT replace MBR. You want to retain the partition table of the new d: HDD. Make sure C: is active.
6) Run startup repair up to 3 times from the system repair CD. This is to repair the MBR boot code and other boot files.
7) Fix up unallocated space on the new d: disk (C:, and D: partitions) using Partition Wizard.

See free programs section for Partition Wizard.
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If another member has a simpler approach then please chip in.

Awesome man. I'll try this out when I have two or three hours to myself tomorrow. At least, I can re-image my disks in case I muck up.

Just to stress again do not (untick) the replace MBR option when doing the Macrium image restores. When you repartitioned the the new d: you create a new partition table in the MBR. It is critical not to overwrite this with one of the old ones.

Edit: Rather than the System Repair x 3 which is often used you may want to get the new d: booting by explicitly fixing the new boot sequence:

1) Get a command prompt from system repair disk
2) Enter
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildBcd

Then restart.

Looks like this will be delayed a bit. I'm going to download and familiar myself with Macium Reflect v5. Hopefully it's much like v4. Anyway. I'll post updates here. During the restoration, I'll be using my smartphone to read the instructions here and browse the forums :)