Okay. My friend's computer just died, so I want to give her a new one. I have a case with everything in it except a hard drive. I have a working computer upstairs with almost the same specifications as the case. Is it possible to make an exact copy of the hard drive that's in the upstairs computer? Can I just drag-and-drop the entire C:\ drive or do I have to format it first?
2007-03-28 02:30:55 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
I'm not worried about personal information on it, there's actually nothing on it that is worth stealing, and she is not literate enough to be able to hack anything to check. I have norton ghost on my computer, but I think my trial expired. I don't need an exact copy etiher way, it's just easier. I basically need to know how to format it so I can put windows on it and add programs, etc.
2007-03-28 06:41:28 · update #1
What is the model number of the drive....
If you can email me both drives model numbers I can better assist you....I also have yahoo messenger up....click on my pic and you will see the links to contact me....
Drag and drop will not move all the files on the drive....
2007-03-28 02:36:05 · answer #1 · answered by Vincent 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can use any good hard disk copy software to copy the hard drive. But before do that you have to confirem about that you ar using the hard drives for the same computer. other wise it could create a problem with your system. it would ask for drivers and you have to start a os recovery. If you use the second hard disk as a replacement of the first one then you could you a image copier utility. it would would better than any other software
2007-03-28 05:05:59 · answer #2 · answered by Purnendu 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
so i guess your computer 'upstairs' is of different configuration from the one you planning to give her?
if its different config, ie: different motherboard, different display card, etc, it will not be adviceable to 'clone' the 'upstairs' computer drive and plug it into the pc you planning to give to your friend. the installed drivers will most probably not going to work .. and u might have some errors popping up ... AND the best part is .. your data, bank password, surfing history, boyfriends / girfriends contacts .. etc will all give to your friend too ... this includes viruses, malware, etc ..
so the best thing to do will be get a working harddisk and plug it in the pc (the one u giving away) and do a fresh install of windows ..
btw, u cannot expect a harddisk to boot if you drag and drop or do a copy *.* to the hd ... you need some hd cloning software, eg: norton ghost, partition magic, etc ..
you might want to contact me if you got pc related problems; sloving pc problems is one of my hobbies .. ^^
sotongjuice@yahoo.com.sg
2007-03-28 02:43:19 · answer #3 · answered by sotongjuice 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no , you cannot.
you should use some backup software ( like Acronis true image) to create a c partition image and restore it under the second computer .
anyway , it might not work since there are 2 different computers but you can give it a try
2007-03-28 02:36:02 · answer #4 · answered by easycoder_biz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
only way to copy and entire hard drive is to have drive of same specification then make it boot-able in dos mode .Then manually copy everything.This is only true way to copy an entire harddrive.
2007-03-28 02:44:26 · answer #5 · answered by ulayhere 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋