Replacing the boot drive, w/o reinstalling Windows and the apps?

You can copy each current partition over to the new drive. An image, in this
case, is a compressed copy of a partition, and can't be accessed without
decompressing it. You don't care about imaging, you just want to copy the
partitions. Of course, you'll have ~ 40 GB left over, and if you still want to
have only two partitions, you'll have to enlarge those. You don't mention how
large your current system partition is, but if anything I'd only enlarge the
second one. IIRC, over ~33GB can be weird with Win9x system partition. However,
if you want to try enlarging the first one, do it before you copy over the
second one. BING will place partitions at the beginning of the free space unless
you specify "Allocate High". Also, you can only enlarge a partition at the end,
you can't enlarge it into free space that precedes it on the disk.

That's BING. Other utilities are capable of bit for bit copying of entire
drives, but you will *still* end up with the same deal--40GB of old partitions
and 40GB of empty space.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Gary, my own personal preference is logical drive simplicity, and two is
enough for me to deal with (despite the wasted space, slack, efficiency,
etc, which I am aware of).

However, my questions still stand, as written below. Was I correct in
what I wrote? Let me edit it a bit:

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...

I've got a copy of BootItNG, but have never run it. That would be
great.
Or the utilities that come with the new drive, if they can do it (as
Richard
suggested).

So let me be very specific he if I currently have a 40 GB HD, divided
into two partitions, I can image it over to a new 80 GB drive, and be
able
to select the new partition sizes? No, that doesn't sound right -
imaging should only make an exact copy of the original drive. So maybe
what happens is it images over the 40 GB, and leaves the rest of the
drive
(the other 40 GB) unused) Then later I could resize the partitions to
use the entire drive?

That is where I'm a bit confused - as to what is really possible, with
imaging and BootItNG.

I'm a BootIt NG user. Both my WD & Maxtor came with utilities, BUT,
pretty as they were...

(a) They would not resize partitions, that I recall.
(b) They would not copy to an Extended Partition, as I recall.
(c) I wasn't quite sure whether they would automatically install their
drive overlay stuff, which I did not need as my BIOS doesn't require it.

So, I never ran those & still won't to this day!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Richard G. Harper" wrote in message
...
| I've used the utilities that come with a Maxtor drive to clone an old
hard
| drive onto a new one without any problems but I can't speak for any
other
| drives/utility programs. Ghost will do the job but you may not need
to
| spend the money on it. Try the drive utility first - you have nothing
to
| lose since your old drive remains intact even if the copy utility
fails.
|
| --
| Richard G. Harper [MVP Win9x]
| * PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
| * for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
| * HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
|
|
| "Bill in Co." wrote in message
| ...
| Am I correct here in assuming that one CAN (simply) replace their
original
| bootable HD, without reinstalling Windows and all the programs all
over
| again, by either using Ghost, or (maybe?) the HD manufacturer's
utilities
| that come with the new drive? (I'm thinking of Western Digital
here)
|
| Do the drives have to be the same size for Ghost imaging?
Hopefully
| not!!!
|
| The more I think about this, I think it would have to be done with
Ghost,
| or
| something like that, to prevent reinstalling everything all over
again.
| I
| doubt if the HD manufacturer's utilities would be enough.
|
|
|
|

Thanks Gary. Let me see if I get this now..

This is what I now have: one 40 GB HD, partitioned into a 15 GB (C
partition, and a 25 GB (D partition (for my video stuff).

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy these two partitions
over to the new 80 GB drive when I get it, using BING. This would then be
identical to what I have now, and the new C: will be bootable, even though
it was only "copied", and not imaged. Right?

Another potential problem: what you said about the 33 GB partition size (is
that a FAT32 limit)? I'm guessing it is (w/o tricks). If so, I guess I'd
probably go to 4 total partitions. So I'd end up with C:, D:, E:, and F:

And later, if I wanted to resize any of them anyway I want, I could probably
do it with BING?, or for sure with Partition Magic, right?



Gary S. Terhune wrote:
You can copy each current partition over to the new drive. An image, in
this
case, is a compressed copy of a partition, and can't be accessed without
decompressing it. You don't care about imaging, you just want to copy the
partitions. Of course, you'll have ~ 40 GB left over, and if you still
want to
have only two partitions, you'll have to enlarge those. You don't mention
how
large your current system partition is, but if anything I'd only enlarge
the
second one. IIRC, over ~33GB can be weird with Win9x system partition.
However, if you want to try enlarging the first one, do it before you copy
over the second one. BING will place partitions at the beginning of the
free
space unless you specify "Allocate High". Also, you can only enlarge a
partition at the end, you can't enlarge it into free space that precedes
it
on the disk.

That's BING. Other utilities are capable of bit for bit copying of entire
drives, but you will *still* end up with the same deal--40GB of old
partitions
and 40GB of empty space.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Gary, my own personal preference is logical drive simplicity, and two is
enough for me to deal with (despite the wasted space, slack, efficiency,
etc, which I am aware of).

However, my questions still stand, as written below. Was I correct in
what I wrote? Let me edit it a bit:

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...

I've got a copy of BootItNG, but have never run it. That would be
great.
Or the utilities that come with the new drive, if they can do it (as
Richard suggested).

So let me be very specific he if I currently have a 40 GB HD,
divided
into two partitions, I can image it over to a new 80 GB drive, and be
able
to select the new partition sizes? No, that doesn't sound right -
imaging should only make an exact copy of the original drive. So
maybe
what happens is it images over the 40 GB, and leaves the rest of the
drive
(the other 40 GB) unused) Then later I could resize the partitions
to
use the entire drive?

That is where I'm a bit confused - as to what is really possible, with
imaging and BootItNG.

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Thanks Gary. Let me see if I get this now..

This is what I now have: one 40 GB HD, partitioned into a 15 GB (C
partition, and a 25 GB (D partition (for my video stuff).

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy these two partitions
over to the new 80 GB drive when I get it, using BING. This would then be
identical to what I have now, and the new C: will be bootable, even though
it was only "copied", and not imaged. Right?

Right.


Another potential problem: what you said about the 33 GB partition size (is
that a FAT32 limit)? I'm guessing it is (w/o tricks). If so, I guess I'd
probably go to 4 total partitions. So I'd end up with C:, D:, E:, and F:

Not really sure about these limits, I could be full of it.


And later, if I wanted to resize any of them anyway I want, I could probably
do it with BING?, or for sure with Partition Magic, right?

Will be no problem with BING, and much less likely to bite you in the arse than
PM, IMO.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

Thanks Bill - that part sounds important!

I haven't got the new HD disk yet. But after recently getting/discovering
a few bad sectors/clusters (very few, though), I was getting a bit worried,
and still think it might be a good idea. I have no idea what caused
this. Maybe all the wear and tear from messin' with home videos (where the
filesizes are huge). (In fact, so huge, I bought BurstCopy to help speed
up some of the transfers).

I wonder how many in here have a HD with bad sectors? Maybe it's not as
uncommon as I think.

Bill Blanton wrote:
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...

This is what I now have: one 40 GB HD, partitioned into a 15 GB (C
partition, and a 25 GB (D partition (for my video stuff).

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy these two partitions
over to the new 80 GB drive when I get it, using BING. This would
then be
identical to what I have now, and the new C: will be bootable, even
though
it was only "copied", and not imaged. Right?

Right.

You may have to set the copy of the boot partition active.

Do a "View MBR" on the HD, select the partition and do a "Set active".
(if they haven't moved it.. BING is updated frequently, and I don't have
the latest version)

A few bad sectors, right out of the box are not unusual, or at least didn't used
to be. They get marked bad and ignored forever.

Sectors that start going bad after long use--that's a sign of impending
catastrophic failure.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Thanks Bill - that part sounds important!

I haven't got the new HD disk yet. But after recently getting/discovering
a few bad sectors/clusters (very few, though), I was getting a bit worried,
and still think it might be a good idea. I have no idea what caused
this. Maybe all the wear and tear from messin' with home videos (where the
filesizes are huge). (In fact, so huge, I bought BurstCopy to help speed
up some of the transfers).

I wonder how many in here have a HD with bad sectors? Maybe it's not as
uncommon as I think.

Bill Blanton wrote:
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...

This is what I now have: one 40 GB HD, partitioned into a 15 GB (C
partition, and a 25 GB (D partition (for my video stuff).

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy these two partitions
over to the new 80 GB drive when I get it, using BING. This would
then be
identical to what I have now, and the new C: will be bootable, even
though
it was only "copied", and not imaged. Right?

Right.

You may have to set the copy of the boot partition active.

Do a "View MBR" on the HD, select the partition and do a "Set active".
(if they haven't moved it.. BING is updated frequently, and I don't have
the latest version)

But just how reliable is that sign? Maybe these clusters or sectors were
never "tested" until now, for all I know? (I think you HAVE to run
scandisk in the thorough mode to find out - which I have just recently
done - and it takes forever).

I've got a grand total of 5 bad ones. But I do believe they developed
somewhat recently. But so far the number hasn't changed. Maybe I need
to monitor it, and see if it goes up? IOW, maybe it's like a harmless
freckle. I dunno?

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
A few bad sectors, right out of the box are not unusual, or at least
didn't
used to be. They get marked bad and ignored forever.

Sectors that start going bad after long use--that's a sign of impending
catastrophic failure.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Thanks Bill - that part sounds important!

I haven't got the new HD disk yet. But after recently
getting/discovering
a few bad sectors/clusters (very few, though), I was getting a bit
worried,
and still think it might be a good idea. I have no idea what caused
this. Maybe all the wear and tear from messin' with home videos (where
the
filesizes are huge). (In fact, so huge, I bought BurstCopy to help
speed
up some of the transfers).

I wonder how many in here have a HD with bad sectors? Maybe it's not
as
uncommon as I think.

Bill Blanton wrote:
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...

This is what I now have: one 40 GB HD, partitioned into a 15 GB (C
partition, and a 25 GB (D partition (for my video stuff).

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy these two
partitions
over to the new 80 GB drive when I get it, using BING. This would
then be
identical to what I have now, and the new C: will be bootable, even
though
it was only "copied", and not imaged. Right?

Right.

You may have to set the copy of the boot partition active.

Do a "View MBR" on the HD, select the partition and do a "Set active".
(if they haven't moved it.. BING is updated frequently, and I don't have
the latest version)

Bill in Co. wrote in message ...
But just how reliable is that sign?

You could take it to the bank and get a loan on it,
if the bank would accept it as collateral, which they won't.
The sign is VERY reliable.

Maybe these clusters or sectors were
never "tested" until now, for all I know?

Impossible. You have to FDISK and FORMAT
before you can use the drive. If they were bad then,
they would have been marked as bad then.

(I think you HAVE to run
scandisk in the thorough mode to find out - which I have just recently
done - and it takes forever).

It takes forever because the SCANDISK motto is
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again and again and again
and again and again................................"

I've got a grand total of 5 bad ones. But I do believe they developed
somewhat recently. But so far the number hasn't changed. Maybe I need
to monitor it, and see if it goes up?

If you do not have a spare hard drive, FDISKed and FORMATted,
with a backup of your current drives on it, then it doesn't really matter
whether they will increase in future or not.

Someday, sooner or later, your drive will die, regardless of whether
it is 3 days old or 3 months old or 3 years old. It is inevitable.

IOW, maybe it's like a harmless freckle.

Or a malignant one.

I dunno?

What Gary said was spot on. You should listen and take precautions.

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
A few bad sectors, right out of the box are not unusual, or at least
didn't
used to be. They get marked bad and ignored forever.

Sectors that start going bad after long use--that's a sign of impending
catastrophic failure.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Thanks Bill - that part sounds important!

I haven't got the new HD disk yet. But after recently
getting/discovering
a few bad sectors/clusters (very few, though), I was getting a bit
worried,
and still think it might be a good idea. I have no idea what caused
this. Maybe all the wear and tear from messin' with home videos (where
the
filesizes are huge). (In fact, so huge, I bought BurstCopy to help
speed
up some of the transfers).

I wonder how many in here have a HD with bad sectors? Maybe it's not
as
uncommon as I think.

Bill Blanton wrote:
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...

This is what I now have: one 40 GB HD, partitioned into a 15 GB (C
partition, and a 25 GB (D partition (for my video stuff).

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy these two
partitions
over to the new 80 GB drive when I get it, using BING. This would
then be
identical to what I have now, and the new C: will be bootable, even
though
it was only "copied", and not imaged. Right?

Right.

You may have to set the copy of the boot partition active.

Do a "View MBR" on the HD, select the partition and do a "Set active".
(if they haven't moved it.. BING is updated frequently, and I don't have
the latest version)

What he said, g.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

Bill in Co. wrote in message
...
But just how reliable is that sign?

You could take it to the bank and get a loan on it,
if the bank would accept it as collateral, which they won't.
The sign is VERY reliable.

Maybe these clusters or sectors were
never "tested" until now, for all I know?

Impossible. You have to FDISK and FORMAT
before you can use the drive. If they were bad then,
they would have been marked as bad then.

(I think you HAVE to run
scandisk in the thorough mode to find out - which I have just recently
done - and it takes forever).

It takes forever because the SCANDISK motto is
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again and again and again
and again and again................................"

I've got a grand total of 5 bad ones. But I do believe they developed
somewhat recently. But so far the number hasn't changed. Maybe I need
to monitor it, and see if it goes up?

If you do not have a spare hard drive, FDISKed and FORMATted,
with a backup of your current drives on it, then it doesn't really matter
whether they will increase in future or not.

Someday, sooner or later, your drive will die, regardless of whether
it is 3 days old or 3 months old or 3 years old. It is inevitable.

IOW, maybe it's like a harmless freckle.

Or a malignant one.

I dunno?

What Gary said was spot on. You should listen and take precautions.

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
A few bad sectors, right out of the box are not unusual, or at least
didn't
used to be. They get marked bad and ignored forever.

Sectors that start going bad after long use--that's a sign of impending
catastrophic failure.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Thanks Bill - that part sounds important!

I haven't got the new HD disk yet. But after recently
getting/discovering
a few bad sectors/clusters (very few, though), I was getting a bit
worried,
and still think it might be a good idea. I have no idea what caused
this. Maybe all the wear and tear from messin' with home videos (where
the
filesizes are huge). (In fact, so huge, I bought BurstCopy to help
speed
up some of the transfers).

I wonder how many in here have a HD with bad sectors? Maybe it's not
as
uncommon as I think.

Bill Blanton wrote:
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...

This is what I now have: one 40 GB HD, partitioned into a 15 GB (C
partition, and a 25 GB (D partition (for my video stuff).

So I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy these two
partitions
over to the new 80 GB drive when I get it, using BING. This would
then be
identical to what I have now, and the new C: will be bootable, even
though
it was only "copied", and not imaged. Right?

Right.

You may have to set the copy of the boot partition active.

Do a "View MBR" on the HD, select the partition and do a "Set active".
(if they haven't moved it.. BING is updated frequently, and I don't have
the latest version)

Hugh Candlin wrote:
Bill in Co. wrote in message
...
But just how reliable is that sign?

You could take it to the bank and get a loan on it,
if the bank would accept it as collateral, which they won't.
The sign is VERY reliable.

Maybe these clusters or sectors were
never "tested" until now, for all I know?

Impossible. You have to FDISK and FORMAT
before you can use the drive. If they were bad then,
they would have been marked as bad then.

(I think you HAVE to run
scandisk in the thorough mode to find out - which I have just recently
done - and it takes forever).

It takes forever because the SCANDISK motto is
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again and again and again
and again and again................................"

I've got a grand total of 5 bad ones. But I do believe they developed
somewhat recently. But so far the number hasn't changed. Maybe I
need
to monitor it, and see if it goes up?

If you do not have a spare hard drive, FDISKed and FORMATted,
with a backup of your current drives on it, then it doesn't really matter
whether they will increase in future or not.

Someday, sooner or later, your drive will die, regardless of whether
it is 3 days old or 3 months old or 3 years old. It is inevitable.

OK, I think you've convinced me to get a new HD. After I buy it (it will
be a 80 GB Western Digital), can I directly use BING on it, or do I need to
first run FDISK and FORMAT before I can use BING? (haven't used BING yet)

But I will need to use BING to set up the partitions, not FDISK, because I
just want to copy the existing partitions from my old drive over to the new
drive. I'll worry about the extra 40GB free space afterwards.