C: Drive swop drive for larger faster one?

[Beemer2]

I own a legal Windows 7 Pro 64bit OS. I mistakenly loaded this onto a new 500GB 5400rpm drive thinking that it would be much quieter as I have another four 7500rpm SATA drives running with two of them in RAID 1 for photograph and documents. Of course now i find that the 5400rpm speed is much too slow for my workflow.

The C: drive only contains Windows and programs.

Is there any method whereby I can change the 5400rpm C: drive for a 2TB 7500rpm or 10000rpm drive without having to reload the OS and every program?

I have read about "imaging software" but can this work with the set-up I have described and also will I be able to authorise same with Microsoft?

Surely by now Microsoft could have produced a method where a licensed OS and its installed user programs could be easily transferred to a new disk?

Beemer

 

[richnrockville]

I own a legal Windows 7 Pro 64bit OS. I mistakenly loaded this onto a new 500GB 5400rpm drive thinking that it would be much quieter as I have another four 7500rpm SATA drives running with two of them in RAID 1 for photograph and documents. Of course now i find that the 5400rpm speed is much too slow for my workflow.

The C: drive only contains Windows and programs.

Is there any method whereby I can change the 5400rpm C: drive for a 2TB 7500rpm or 10000rpm drive without having to reload the OS and every program?

I have read about "imaging software" but can this work with the set-up I have described and also will I be able to authorise same with Microsoft?

Surely by now Microsoft could have produced a method where a licensed OS and its installed user programs could be easily transferred to a new disk?

Beemer

Beemer2, Microsoft's image backup program will create an image on a second disk or external hard disk

Backup image limitation is only for the same or larger hard disks.

I would disconnect all other hard disks, run the backup image creation to an external USB hard disk, create the restore cd from within your backup windows program and then remove the old hard disk. Put the new one in and connect the usb drive. booting from the recovery cdrom.

You should be in business. But you might have to reboot a couple of times to get the disk drivers to work properly.
When it all works. you can then attach your other hard disks.


rich

 

[gregrocker]

Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery
Alternative in case Win7 imaging gives probs: Macrium - Image your system

If you have WD or Seagate HD anywhere in the mix you can also use their premium Acronis Cloning/Imaging app to directly clone HD over to new one while both are connected.

Consider an SSD for even better performance than fastest HD.

 

[1Bowtie]

Beemer[/QUOTE]

Beemer2, Microsoft's image backup program will create an image on a second disk or external hard disk

Backup image limitation is only for the same or larger hard disks.

I would disconnect all other hard disks, run the backup image creation to an external USB hard disk, create the restore cd from within your backup windows program and then remove the old hard disk. Put the new one in and connect the usb drive. booting from the recovery cdrom.

You should be in business. But you might have to reboot a couple of times to get the disk drivers to work properly.
When it all works. you can then attach your other hard disks.


rich[/QUOTE]

Windows7 backup is limited from what i tried, it would NOT transfer the image to a new drive which i thought was the whole point of haveing a backup. It will restore back to the original drive but not to a completely different drive. For that reason i went looking for a better alternitive. Correct me if i'm wrong, it is possible i did something wrong.

 

[gregrocker]

You may have had bad luck Bowtie because it is supposed to restore to a replacement HD.

However there are enough problems reported with Win7 backup imaging that I give Macrium and superior Acronis WD/Seagate cloning apps in addition to the built-in imaging.

In this case OP has the luxury of trying more than one if needed. I would myself clone it over using Acronis which is easiest of all.

 

[1Bowtie]

Thanks Greg for the heads up, but i tried it many different ways such as moveing the image to a partition on the drive i wanted to transfer the image to with no joy, did try many different ways with no luck. So most likely Macrium will be the choice. Thanks for the input.

 

[gregrocker]

I keep hoping for better reports on Win7 backup imaging but it isn't catching up with the OS.

I'm going to bring this to MS attention at the MVP Summit in Seattle later this month.

We shouldn't have to work around a Win7 feature for so long.

Thank you, Bowtie.

 

[1Bowtie]

I keep hoping for better reports on Win7 backup imaging but it isn't catching up with the OS.

I'm going to bring this to MS attention at the MVP Summit in Seattle later this month.

We shouldn't have to work around a Win7 feature for so long.

Thank you, Bowtie.

That may help Greg, because i thought the whole point of Windows backup was in case you had a hard drive failure, virus, and many other reasons was to backup, now i will say this, it makes a system image in about 10 minutes and restore that image back to the same drive in 10 minutes, that part works great but that's all it's good for. Not for hard drive failure.

 

[Beemer2]

Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery
Alternative in case Win7 imaging gives probs: Macrium - Image your system

If you have WD or Seagate HD anywhere in the mix you can also use their premium Acronis Cloning/Imaging app to directly clone HD over to new one while both are connected.

Consider an SSD for even better performance than fastest HD.

Greg,

Thanks for that as I get the feeling that my disk change requirement might be easier than I thought. That said:

a) the posts following your reply kind of confuses the issue.
b) Acronis Cloning/Imaging app is not a listed program here in the UK

Beemer

 

[gregrocker]

Do you have a Seagate or WD Hard Drive so you can use the Acronis free app?
WD Acronis free cloning app
Seagate Acronis cloning free util

If not then as stated you can use Win7 backup imaging since if it doesn't reimage to another HD you can try Macrium instead. A second backup is always a good idea anyway.

Does this clear up any confusion?

 

[Beemer2]

Yes thanks for that

Beemer