Windows 7: Swapping a hard drive

Hi

This is where I'm at.

I am writing this on a new build PC with Win 7 RC installed.

The problem benig I installed a small spare HD, I have got so involved in learning Win 7 and liking what I'm seeing that I got it set up great but the HD is not the one I want to use.

My other internal HD of an other PC is much larger and the one I wish to use.

I don't know how/the procedure in transferring my settings files, folders from the small to the larger HD.

I have every single folder, file, emails and so on backed up on an external HD, so once larger internal HD is up and running I could restore/transfer my files/folders/e-mails/favorites that way but what about settings.

The larger HD as yet does not have Win 7 RC installed and this will have to be done first.

I do not wish to partion the larger HD yet.

There are possible several effective ways to transfer everything, settings and so on from the small to the large but need the procedure explained, simple works best with me.

Or would it simply be best to install Win 7 on big HD and then transfer/restore, files,folders and so from the external back up HD.

I'm using Acronis True Image and save my systems as a backup image in my external HDDs.

Using Acronis ... I can recover/build a new or spare HDD from my backup images.
I can even partition the HDDs as I build them up.

I haven't tried to Clone a HDD yet in Windows 7

You could create a system image and then restore that onto the larger hard drive. You would have to create the system image on your external hd and then restore it on to the new one using the recovery disk. See the tutorials here:

Tutorials - Windows 7 Forums[2]=Backup%20Restore

I have several Backup programs, including Acronis True Image but my all time favorite program for doing all backups is Ghost 11.5.
I have it on a Flash Drive and on CD.
I would just do a simple clone of the old drive to the new drive.
Or I could also use the backup and restore routine mentioned above.
I've done it both ways. But for the backup to work for a new HD, the backup and restore would have to be a DISK to DISK or Disk to Image and Restore from Disk Image.

A backup of just a partition won't carry with it all the boot sector info, resulting in a new drive that won't boot. I'm speaking of Ghost here.

Both Ghost 11.5 and Acronis True Image can be had for free, if you look hard enough.

Doc

Right .. You'll need to restore, or build, the Boot sector, the C partition and the MBR.

In my case .. I can replace the System .. and my data partition remains unaffected.

Whoa! I thought I already covered that.
If you do the CLONE or backup and restore properly you won't have to rebuild anything.
A Clone with Acronis True Image or a DISK to DISK copy with Ghost copies everything including all the boot sector, MBR, etc. There's no need to fuss with it.
Just do it right in the first place and you won't have to fuss with it later.

In my business, I clone small HD's to larger ones all the time, either as an upgrade or as a repair. Been doing it for years!
If you do it right, you can just Clone-n-Go.

Doc

One option tried out here was simply using the builtin backup utility to shadow copy the entire drive seen with 7. Once you have a cliean install running on the larger drive you use that to restore the backup. Of course here I saw a recovery partition made for that purpose on each drive to start off with except the main storage drive.

Just tried to help by adding pictures and including the MBR

I think one thing everyone is missing out on here so far is the efforts that went into the guides prepared for seeing even the drive imaged as well as restoring the system from an image with the options already included in 7 as well as a free Macruim Reflect tool also available. If you look at how the drives were set up here you can see how I have everything already set up for disaster recover if needed.

For creating a system image, Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup[2]=Backup Restore

For seeing everything brought back to life the way you had it from an image created, System Image Recovery[2]=Backup Restore

The entire section on this is seen at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/?filter[2]=Backup%20Restore

I use Acronis True Image and I feel it the easiest and I even restore my OS Image backups to other systems with Universal Restore....