Calling all geekss! what is the easiest way to copy a pc hard drive to a new computer? Tanks?

Question

I have a pc with a fried motherboard. I want to clone the hard drive to a new computer but am not quite sure how to go about it. Computer 1 is inoperable, so I can't access it's own backup system for a transfer. Any help would be appreciated. I am at a fairly advanced user, and am familiar with terms and definitions. Thanks.

Answer 1

The best way is to disconnect the hard drive from your old PC and re-attach it to your new PC. Most hard drives for consumer-grade machines have an IDE interface, and so this is easy to do.

This is "easy to do", but probably will not work well. This usually creates more problems and trouble than starting fresh because
the drivers and other things such as the registry on the hard drive are all relating to the other PC and if you are able to straighten it all out it would have been less trouble to start with a format. Also, if you were running Windows XP, it might de-activate since the activation is somewhat hardware-dependent. You can call Microsoft and they will resolve this for you, but it is another hassle.

The best approach is to add your previous hard drive as a SECOND hard drive unit on your new PC, install the applications you need on your new (primary), then copy just the data files from your secondary (older) hard drive to your new, primary hard drive.

BONUS: Once you successfully move your data over to your new primary hard drive, re-format your older hard drive and use it as a backup drive or for additional storage. If your older hard drive is roughly the same size as your new hard drive, you could even install a software RAID (disk array, type zero) and nearly double the hard disk performance on your new system through a mechanism called "striping".

Answer 2

Norton ghost may be the best software for this but it's confusing if you are a beginner. Better to use copy commander. I bought copy commander at Fry's for $29.99 or you can get it online for $34.99.
The drive you want to clone is connected to the primary IDE and the new drive is connected to the secondary IDE, set both drives as master. Now use the boot up floppy or boot up disc you made when you installed copy commander and boot up with it. On the menu screen select auto copy to empty disc.
The problem you will have when you install the drive into a new system is drivers. If you have a disc with chipset drivers use it otherwise you will have to go into device mgr and reinstall drivers for any items that are not working.
Next (i almost forgot) is to active windowsxp again. You can do this online and some people here will say it's a hassle but I've never had a problem. Just go online and do it or call the 1-800 no. they give you and tell microsoft that you pc crashed and you had to reinstall a new motherboard etc.

Answer 3

I'll tell you. You can use Norton ghost. If you are using western digital hard disk then i can help you better. Personally i have used Western digital life guard tools. You can download it from their website. All you have to do is just put the second hard disk in your new computer, i mean connect it. Then open data life guard, go to utilities and do a drive to drive copy. That's the best way as far as i am concerned. Good luck
Alternatively you can also connect your old hard disk alone to the new computer and hope that it works. There maybe a problem with booting when you try this. If the old hard disk is not damaged then it wont be a problem.
Go to the website below to download western digital life guard tools
http://support.wdc.com/download
There is another program also which i have also tried
http://www.partition-manager.com

Answer 4

Your best bet it to setup the new computer the way you want it. Then attach your old hard drive either by a USB adapter, or internally with an IDE or SATA cable depending on the new computer setup. Internally is much faster and better if you know how to do it.

Then copy over all of the old files, outlook pst files if you have them ,and any other documents you want to keep.

You dont want to ghost clone the harddrive or anything like that because Windows will have major problems trying to boot off the existing operating system. Even if the computers are identical, windows will have problems if you try cloning it.

Answer 5

Ghost is a good way to move computer hard drives, BUT you will have lots of problems when the drive is booted, as each driver is replaced to match the new mother board. This does work, however it's spotty at best.

You'd do better to get a copy of PC RElocator from AlohaBob.com. This moves entire operating sytems AND programs while at the same time maintaining the right drivers.

Answer 6

your best bet is probably to remove the hard drive from the old computer and install it as a slave hard drive in the new one. Then you can copy any files you want over to your new hard drive. I would copy over all documents, pictures, music, favorites, address books, etc., and then reformat the old hard drive, making it nice and clean for the future. Note, before you copy over the files, run a virus scan on the hold harddrive to make sure it is not going to infect your new one.

You can't copy over your applications. Most of them won't work without a reinstallation. But you can reinstall from your disks form your old computer, because even with just one license, you obviously are not useing them on two computers.

If you can't deal with installing the slave harddrive, then you can pay someone to do it. Or you can take the harddrive to a tech center and get them to copy the usable files onto a CD to copy over.

Answer 7

They used to make "streaming" software designed to off-load large chunks of data from a table-top system to a lap-top (or vice versa), but it will work between table-top systems. I used it a couple of times a few years ago at work, and it worked perfectly. All files and directories and sub-directories were transferred (you can choose copy (leaves original on original HD) or move (original is deleted from original HD)) intact in their original locations, configurations, etc. I'm sorry, I don't remember the manufacturer. The software comes with a patchcord, because you have to physically "plug the one system into the other", so to speak. I don't think you have to run the streaming software on both systems simultaneously. Depending on what plugs and sockets you have available on your new system, you may be able to plug your old HD into your new system and designate it as your second HD (E drive, i think) and then just do a simple copy E:/*.* C:/*.*

Answer 8

Why don't you just save the hard drive and put it in the new computer. Have two drives. Then you can set it up however you want. You'll simply need the numbers off the hard drive to enter into your Bios file so that the computer will recognise the hard drive.

Answer 9

Norton Ghost

http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost10

Answer 10

Just put the old hard drive in the new computer.