I have an extra HDD in my old Vista machine that I'd like to make a copy of and add it to W7. It holds all my digital photographs only and with a better, faster computer as W7 I could do post processing with the photos much faster including the uploads to that drive from the camera's card via a card reader.
Is there an easy way to do this other than having to take that HDD out and give it to the local gurus to make a copy?
I'm not quite clear on what you have or what you want to do.
I assume you have 2 working PCs and want to keep the old Vista machine in working order.
Do you have an external drive that can be connected to the Vista machine?
Does this Vista hard drive with the pictures also contain Vista--or is it a data drive only?
What's the total size in gigabytes of these pictures?
How much free space in gigabytes do you have on the Windows 7 hard drive?
How reluctant are you to remove this drive? You have to weigh that reluctance against the alternatives---getting involved with imaging, using USB flash drives, buying an external hard drive if you don't already have one, etc.
I have the Vista computer downstairs with the extra HDD for uploading photos. That's all that's on it. I call it (F) drive and of course the OS is (C) drive. I want to keep it operative. I have the newer W& computer upstairs and want a clone of that other HDD that's in the Vista machine for the new computer upstairs. There's many folders on that drive that contain photos but I couldn't hazard a guess as to the size of them. The HDD is a 500G with right at 365G left on it.
I don't have an external HDD but do have a 500G HDD still in the box. I'm not reluctant to move the drive but wanted a clone in the event the other one crapped out and also to use the copy in the other computer since I have the same post processing software loaded.
W7 has a 1tb HDD and lots of space since it's new...probably at least 750GB if I remember correctly.
Macrium Reflect Free can be used to clone your photo drive to another drive. You will need to initialize and format the new drive before you can use it. To do that, you either need a dock to plug the drive into or temporarily install the drive into your computer.
You refer to 2 drives on the Vista machine: C and F. Are these literally 2 separate drives? Or are they just 2 partitions on the same drive--C for Vista and F for the pictures?
Do you have ANY backup of the pictures now on the Vista drive? If that drive drops dead in 1 minute, are those pictures gone forever?
Offhand, here is what I'd consider:
I wouldn't make a "clone". I'm not sure what you mean by that. You may mean it formally (requiring an application to make the clone) or you may mean it informally as nothing more than a copy with the mouse.
I'd probably connect the new unused 500 GB hard drive to the Vista machine and copy the pictures to it. I'd then take that new drive upstairs and connect it to the Win 7 machine and copy them wherever needed. You could open up the case to connect the new drive, or you could use an external "dock"--they cost 20 or 30 bucks.
I'd then develop some sort of a formal backup procedure which I assume you now lack. That would probably involve an external drive.
When I said "clone" I meant an exact copy of all folders/pictures on that HDD. There's no more room inside the vista computer for another HDD and so I can't get a power source for the HDD. Now, the W7 upstairs has ample room for about three extra HDD's-no problem there. Once I get a copy one way or the other, of the photos on Vista I can just install it in the W7 computer and be home free.
i guess what I need is something to put this HDD in that has a power source in order to hook it into a USB port for copying the Photos from the drive I have. I once had something like that called Kanguru, I believe it was but can't locate it.
You don't need room inside the Vista PC to mount it as you would for a permanent drive installation. You need a spare cable from the power supply, a spare motherboard port to connect the unused 500 GB drive and a cable to connect from that port to the drive.
If you don't want to get involved with that, you can use a dock and your unused drive as mentioned. That would require a USB port on the Vista PC and a USB port on the Windows 7 PC. The docks typically have 2 connectors---one would go to a wall outlet and the other would go to the USB port on the PC. You'd avoid having to open the case and getting involved with your power supply and motherboard.
Another alternative is an ordinary USB flash drive. It would be slow and require multiple round trips downstairs to upstairs, but it would get the photos copied with minimal expense.
I'd get a dock.
I hate to sound ignorant but what is a dock?
Newegg.com - hard drive dock
Think of it as an external drive, open at the top so you can insert an ordinary internal drive into it.
Functions much like a USB thumb drive.
Several varieties: USB 2, USB 3, eSATA.
USB 2 would be cheapest but slowest.
This was one of the few five star docks I saw but only USB 2. The W7 does have slots for USB 3. Still, it's a start to getting me where I want to go.
StarTech USB to SATA External HDD Dock for 2.5 or 3.5in Hard Drive - Newegg.com
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