Tech guys is it possible...

Roger

Roger

Senior Administrator
...to copy the entire C: drive onto a new one and then instate this as the boot drive?

I would like to do this as my present C: drive is running out of room and if it is possible would the registry entries still be intact?

Thanks,

Roger.
 
I am not a tech guy, but I have done just that 3 times in the past with no problems. The last time I was on XP, haven't tried it in Vista or Win7.

Paul

PS, don't forget to defrag and get rid of unwanted stuff first.
 
If you mean that should include your FSX installation (and also other game programs), it could be done. But remember that all payware that require a link to a register or key file, need to be re-adressed to the new actual position of your reg or key files, otherwise they will not work. There are also other folders linked to your FSX installation that actually need an identical place (Payware scenery, weather generators etc.).

Be very sure what you want to do and make a good plan of what goes where, because if you just paste them in a new structure, on another drive, half of it won't work.

What might help is to create an identical structure on another drive so that the only difference is the drive designator ( for example E:/ instead of C:/). If you are prompted for an error, you might get away by just changing C to E.

Depending on how much add-on's you have installed this is a real thing to think over before you make a move.
 
Roger

What you want to do is create an ISO of your current C Drive.

Down load and install the free version of Macrium reflect http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Create an image of the drive. and store it on an external USB hard drive. There will be some compression but if you have a large drive now you will have a large ISO file that needs to be stored on the USB external drive.

Create a Macrium Reflect boot disk

Now take your new drive and install it in your PC. Create a partition and format it NTFS. For that you can use a little utility called Parted magic. http://partedmagic.com/

Once you have the hard drive formatted boot the PC to the Macrium Reflect boot disk and write the ISO to the new drive.

You will then need to expand the partition to the full drive size if that is what you want to do.

You can do this from inside Macrium or from inside the Windows OS that is up to you.
 
Dangerousdave26 said:
Roger

What you want to do is create an ISO of your current C Drive.

Down load and install the free version of Macrium reflect http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Create an image of the drive. and store it on an external USB hard drive. There will be some compression but if you have a large drive now you will have a large ISO file that needs to be stored on the USB external drive.

Create a Macrium Reflect boot disk

Now take your new drive and install it in your PC. Create a partition and format it NTFS. For that you can use a little utility called Parted magic. http://partedmagic.com/

Once you have the hard drive formatted boot the PC to the Macrium Reflect boot disk and write the ISO to the new drive.

You will then need to expand the partition to the full drive size if that is what you want to do.
Click to expand...


Beat me to it! Excellent information and easy to do Roger
 
This is also called ghosting a hard drive. You can install the end drive, and use a program to copy the C drive to the new drive, and then remove the old drive, and the new drive becomes your new C drive. Acronis True Image is one of the best out there for this type of drive backup. ITs also used to migrate from a small drive to a new bigger or faster hard drive without having to re-install your Windows or software.

http://download.cnet.com/Acronis-True-Image-Home/3000-2242_4-10168093.html?tag=mncol
 
Gibbage said:
Acronis True Image is one of the best out there for this type of drive backup. ITs also used to migrate from a small drive to a new bigger or faster hard drive without having to re-install your Windows or software.
Click to expand...

Note that you have to buy an add-on from Acronis if you want to use the latest version to migrate to a disc which is a different size from the original,
Ro
 
Download a trial version of Symantec backup exec - system restore. Not the normal Backup exec. You will get a fully funcional program for 30 days or so and it is so simple to attach a second larger disk and run the "copy my disk" wizard. It will image and copy the entire drive to the larger disk and you will not have to re-install anything and all the DLL's etc will be in place. Takes about 30 mins to complete and when done just disconnect the original drive and boot from the new one.
 
Great info guys, thanks:ernae:
What I'm hoping is that if I ghost my drive that all the registry entries will still be in place?
 
100% yes. Everything will be just like your old hard drive, just with more room open. The only possible problem is in Vista and Windows 7 registeration. SOMETIMES it will detect a change in hardware, and want you to re-register. Typically, you need to change a LOT of hardware to trigger this. But if you have changed your video card, some ram, maybe a new sound card, and THEN your hard drive, it may trigger. Its NOT a problem. #1, both OS's allow you to register a NEW COMPUTER every 6 months. So if its been 6 months since you registered it, let it go online and re-register the new hard drive. IF for some odd reason you registered recently, just call the 1800 number it gives you when you fail, and tell them you just put a new hard drive it. They will give you a new key, no hassle. I have done it myself dozzens of times on customers computers when I was working on them, and even on my own. They wont give you a hard time unless you start trying to register a bunch of PC's on the same number in a short time.

Back in the day, WD and Maxtor even included hard drive cloning software in the retail packages of hard drives to migrate to the new hard drive without having to reinstall Windows and all the software. Good luck! Just make sure to get a good program for the drive cloning, but dont expect to find a good one for free. Remember, how much is your data truly worth? Trusting some free program is stupid if your have anything important.

Roger said:
Great info guys, thanks:ernae:
What I'm hoping is that if I ghost my drive that all the registry entries will still be in place?
Click to expand...
 
I've been thinking about doing a variation on that theme.

My PC is almost three and a half years old. I'm thinking I'd like to replace it before it becomes a crisis.

So, the thought is: the PC I'm considering has two hot swappable drive bays. I won't do it "hot", but I'd like to transplant the two drives from the old machine to the new one, creating a dual boot environment. One (the old drive) has Win 7, 32 bit, the other would have Win7 64 bit.


Technically, I think it should work, but I am worried about the Registration irritations from Microsoft and maybe other products. That would allow me to fly without having to rebuild a complex FSX install all at once. I have a new copy of FSX Gold I bought several months ago for just this new machine.

Glenn
 
Thanks again for all your suggestions.
I notice Seatools has a disk cloner "powered by Acronis" and thay seems to have everything I need but it isn't clear in the blurb whether it can clone a bootable copy.
 
It is possible Roger, but I do not recommend you do so by the usual methods of coping directly. You need to have a tech do a Symantec Ghost copy. You can do it yourself, but you'll have to purchase the program. You can read about it and purchase it from here: http://antivirus.norton.com/norton/...ggl:en:p|kw0000011487|5913806956&om_sem_site=.

I have done this three times on defective HDs to recover what I could. If the HD is not defective, Ghost will copy the entire HD to a compatible HD. I have Ghost 13, the most recent version if Ghost 15.

Caz
 
Roger,

Careful, some of the advice here is well-intentioned but is more complex or expensive than you need to bother dealing with!

If one of your drives is a Seagate or Maxtor, use the Seagate DiscWizard app. It's a licensed version of Acronis True Image. One of the options will create an exact bootable duplicate of your current drive on the new drive, but with a bigger partition taking advantage of the extra space.

See chapter 10 in the PDF manual linked on the download page for an explanation of the process.

best,
Denny
 
Thank you all!

I did eventually opt for the Seagate disk wizard and used the "Clone" tool and now instead of 80 gig left on my "C" drive I have over 700:jump:
Thanks Denny for the advice about downloading the pdf...that put my mind at rest.
Funnily enough Windows didn't ask for reactivation but Acceleration did!
 
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