move os to another drive

[fitnessman]

Hi guys, i have a 1tb samsung F1 drive as my c drive and a WD caviar black 160gb as a second drive. my F1 sounds as if its about to die, clicking on boot and not booting for 3-4 tries so i want to move my OS to my 160 gb drive and make it my boot drive, what do i need to do this and how can i get everything to save on the F1 disk?

If i create a RAID set up is it possible to have both drives as c: drive but specifically have the OS and program files on the WD 160gb and everything else on the F1 or not? that way if the F1 dies i can just back up clone and swap it out without it effecting the system

any help if apprechiated thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Better to clone or copy Win7 to the other HD.

You can first try built-in Win7 Backup Imaging to save an image externally or to a partition on old HD, reimage to new HD using Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD.

Another free imaging program to try: Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition - Free Download

You can copy using free Partition Wizard CD: boot it, select 1 for screen res, rightclick on Win7, Copy, then point it to new HD unallocated space, Copy it over, making sure it remains Active partition.

Now unplug old HD, make sure new Win7 HD is set first to boot in BIOS, reboot into Win7 DVD Repair console, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times to repair or rewrite the MBR which might not be copied correctly.

 

[foadywm]

Better to clone or copy Win7 to the other HD.

You can first try built-in Win7 Backup Imaging to save an image externally or to a partition on old HD, reimage to new HD using Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD.

Another free imaging program to try: Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition - Free Download

You can copy using free Partition Wizard CD: boot it, select 1 for screen res, rightclick on Win7, Copy, then point it to new HD unallocated space, Copy it over, making sure it remains Active partition.

Now unplug old HD, reboot into Win7 DVD Repair console, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times to repair or rewrite the MBR which might not be copied correctly.

you may need to resize your os partition before copying it. once it is copied shut down the computer remove the 1tb drive, turn the system back go into the bios and set your boot order, cd, then 160gb drive. then save and exit the bios and see if you can boot into windows. if you cannot then pop in your win 7 disk, restart the system and run the repair wizard.

 

[gregrocker]

If the MBR is not copied, it may take more than running the Repair Wizard to write the MBR to copied Win7.

After booting Win7 DVD Repair console, click through to Recovery Tools list, select Startup Repair and run it up to 3 separate times with reboots.

It will first attempt to repair and then rewrite the MBR, using all former bootrec and bootsect recovery commands as well as its other myriad tests.

Some give up too early but as long as partition is marked Active, it will work if run enough times.

 

[fitnessman]

is it possible just to clone the windows and program files as i have a lot of video files etc on the 1 tb that exceeds 500gb

 

[theog]

is it possible just to clone the windows and program files as i have a lot of video files etc on the 1 tb that exceeds 500gb

Best to clone to a empty HD.

 

[gregrocker]

Yes you can clone one HD to the other using a cloning app. I dont' know of any free ones; maybe someone else does.

Sometimes the HD maker has cloning software on their Support Downloads webpage for this purpose.

You can consolidate your existing files into a partition so that a good copying app like free Partition Wizard CD can copy your existing OS into the remaining unallocated space. If you want to make the space at the beginning of the HD to copy into, PW can do that by resizing existing partition over to the right.

 

[neo101]

Yes you can clone one HD to the other using a cloning app. I dont' know of any free ones; maybe someone else does.

Sometimes the HD maker has cloning software on their Support Downloads webpage for this purpose.

You can consolidate your existing files into a partition so that a good copying app like free Partition Wizard CD can copy your existing OS into the remaining unallocated space. If you want to make the space at the beginning of the HD to copy into, PW can do that by resizing existing partition over to the right.

Look on Western Digital website under "Software downloads" They provide free cloning/copy/partion software!

I expect Seagate, Hitachi, Samsung etc also provide similar free programs.
Western digital also provide a free version of Acronis copy/partion prog fully working - no time limit!

 

[whs]

is it possible just to clone the windows and program files as i have a lot of video files etc on the 1 tb that exceeds 500gb

I would first create a seperate data partition and move everything that is not system files (videos, pictures, music, etc.) to that partition. Here is a little video tutorial I once made that shows you how to do that. Later you can "include" all those into the libraries without moving them.

PS: for shrinking, you may have to temporarily move some of the data to an external disk - just to get the room.

 

[Saltgrass]

Edit: Drive size required to restore an image seems to depend on the total partition space on the original drive. Even though it looks like it is just backing up the C: partition, if you have another partition that exceeds the new drive size when combined with the C: partition, it appears it will not restore the image.

Something like Acronis will give you more options.

Someone in another thread did suggest DriveImage. I tried it once and it seemed to work, but I cannot verify any more than that.

 

[mvnsnd]

I used Driveimage to clone one Win7 160Gb drive to a 320Gb drive. I had no issues.

 

[whs]

I used Driveimage to clone one Win7 160Gb drive to a 320Gb drive. I had no issues.

the problems usually occur when it the other way around - image a big partition to a smaller partition. Then you need a true cloning program.