Solved Can i Transfer current Vista OS to My new Hard drive?

[marinechaos]

Im going to buy a new hard drive, I was wondering if i can some how copy my current vist home premium into a back up disk and use that to boot up my new hard drive.
I will not be plugging them in at the same time, im going to take the old one out and put the new one in.

I have heard of cloning or something but i have no idea what that is, also i do not what any files that are in my current hard drive transferred to my new one, all i want is the OS nothing else. So any lose of files that are not required for the vista OS i can do without.

I don't what to buy a whole new windows vist CD, i think i would have to buy windows 7 instead which is expensive.

Any help or specific tutorial i can use on this? remember i do not want previous files to be recovered all i want to do is transfer the vista OS alone if possible THANKS

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya and welcome marinechaos mate I think you can just do a straight clone if you want the whole disk as is

Macrium Reflect Free - CNET Download.com this will do the trick - be aware of some of the ads for add on bars when you download the app - but just pick the drive you want to clone and away you go!

You will need to find some way of hooking the old drive to your machine - there are gadgets that connect a drive via a USB connection or if you have access to the inside of your desktop - if that is what you have just run an extra SATA and power cable to the new drive. It will show up in Computer and or the Macrium app. The alternative is to clone the new drive before you take out the old one

If your machine is IDE then it's best to get he gadget. Another option would be to clone to an external drive - then replace the internal drive and clone back to it form the external.

 

[5c0tt]

Hello marinechaos,

Could you please tell me if the method worked for you.

Thanks for the advice ICit2lol I've seen this software mentioned elsewhere but would like it confirmed by someone who has used it.

 

[gregrocker]

If you have WD or Seagate HD in the mix, you can use their free premium Acronis cloning app.

Otherwise Macrium is very popular and highly recommended here. I believe it will also clone which of course is more direct. Macrium - Image your system