Just got a new 2T HDD - easiest way to transfer all media from 500g?

Ok the 2T is on the last lap of copying everything over via drag & drop in chunks.

From time to time the new HDD is making weird noises, then it goes silent...

I mean I know what a HDD sounds like when it normally runs, this one sounds weird from time to time... is there anything to be alarmed about, or is it normal?

I havent decided how I want to transfer the OS yet, I'm still going back through & reading everyones suggestions.

I should also state this: my OS HDD is in two partitions, one partition is for Win7 64 & the other is for Ubuntu 64 - and I want to transfer both OS... so what is the best program/way now that I've brought this wrench into the scenario?

For me, I use Acronis but mine is the older version but it still does its trick. Using that, you can transfer the entire OS from your 500GB HDD to your new 2TB HDD. Of course, the backup can help you select which partition to 'restore' back and you can adjust the partition size as you transfer to a new and bigger HDD size.

That's IMO.
Thanks for looking.

Ok so all of the moving/copying is "done" but I dont think it all transfered...

My old 500g of used space: 454 GB

My new 2T of used space: 446 GB

So clearly I'm missing something

How can I find out what files I'm missing with out going through them one by one? (there are obviously thousands)

I'm so stupid. I just remembered I had second copy n here.

damn it.

Hmm but now I'm running Secondcopy as an Exact Copy option and the profile runs for a second & then stops.

I wish I would have just remembered this before.

Ok its odd, so second copy is working & adding any new files when I run its profile.

But why is there such a large difference in the size of the used disk space? I mean almost 10g is a lot to just have dissapear...

Ok this just doesnt make any sense. I'm using secondcopy to mirror & make exact copies of my main 500g Media drive (D:)

I'm backing it up on my new 2T drive: (M:)

And also on my 500g passport (k:)

Now M & K actually have 2.32 g MORE files than the D

So why does D still have 454 while the other two have 448? (At least I'm getting 2 out of 3!)

But they are both being exactly copied off of just D:/ ?

And I was thinking for the OS situation, I was just going to use second copy to make an exact copy after I format the 500g drive

Should work & also copy the Ubuntu partitions properly shouldnt it?

Ok so I just went through every folder I moved (theres about 10 of them) and right clicked & hit properties on the old & the new and all of the folder sizes we the same, but for some reason the HDD's are still reading different overall used space?? Weird.

Anyways, now I wanted to format the old 500g media HDD (yes everything is backed up, twice!)

But under disk managment when I right click on that particular HDD, the Format option is ghosted out?

Any ideas on how to get this to un-ghost?

Hi there
Usually this is nothing to get worried about -- when for example you change a file a new cluster (or several) might be added to the file in say 4 or 6K chunks.

If a file is extended several times then there is also directory information linking the "pieces" of the file to it's physical locations on the disk.

Copying to a NEW file on a new disk will "merge" the "fragmented" pieces of the file into the base data area requiring less overall space even though the size of the file is reported as being the same.

Not a very technical explanation but I hope it helps.

For really in depth treatment you will have to look at how NTFS allocates files on disk.

Cheers
jimbo