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How to upgrade to a larger hard drive?
Most new hard drives come with a CD or floppy with a utility that can copy
your old drive to your new one. If not the utility may be on the drive manufacturer's Web site. -- Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] * In fond memory ... Alex, you shall be sorely missed * http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm "Marco Desloovere" wrote in message ... I would like to install a hard drive with a larger capacity in my Windows 98SE PC. Right now there is one 30 GB drive in my PC and I would like to move this to a 120 GB drive. I will remove the 30 GB drive physically from my PC once the operation is successful. I would prefer the new drive to be one single partition of 120 GB with the 30 GB of data from the old drive and the remaining 90 GB being free for new data. The new drive should be bootable. A friend of mine suggested to use Norton Ghost from Symantec, but I am now wondering whether it wouldn't be possible to do this operation using the classic MS-DOS tools. As I have never done this before, I am unsure of how to go about it. I do believe that I first have to do "fdisk" to partition the new drive and then "format new drive:/s". So far correct? Can I now just select all in the root directory of the old drive and drag it to the new drive, or do I have to use "xcopy32" and if so, which switches (and there are some!) do I need to use? Thanks in advance for your help, Marco |
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"Marco Desloovere" wrote in message
... I would like to install a hard drive with a larger capacity in my Windows 98SE PC. Right now there is one 30 GB drive in my PC and I would like to move this to a 120 GB drive. I will remove the 30 GB drive physically from my PC once the operation is successful. I would prefer the new drive to be one single partition of 120 GB with the 30 GB of data from the old drive and the remaining 90 GB being free for new data. The new drive should be bootable. This is why you can't use the drive copying software from the HD manufacturer as the partition size will remain the same. I don't recommend using one partition either. 8GB or less partition size is enough for windows and applications. Your files, downloads, etc. should be stored in an alternate partition or partitions. This makes organization of your files easier. A friend of mine suggested to use Norton Ghost from Symantec, but I am now wondering whether it wouldn't be possible to do this operation using the classic MS-DOS tools. What you're considering is a filesystem level copy. This is iffy, even with using xxcopy software. See google.com for xxcopy. As I have never done this before, I am unsure of how to go about it. I do believe that I first have to do "fdisk" to partition the new drive and then "format new drive:/s". You need to download the latest fdisk, if you insist on this. So far correct? Can I now just select all in the root directory of the old drive and drag it to the new drive, or do I have to use "xcopy32" and if so, which switches (and there are some!) do I need to use? Filesystem level copies are iffy at best. You need a partition (MS calls them drives) copying software, with capability of increasing partition size after the partition copy to properly achieve your goal. Suggest you remove the 30GB HD, make a primary, active 8GB partition for the operating system and applications. Make the remainder and extended partition. Then, make one or more dos logical partitions within the extended partition. Install the OS, and applications. Install the 30GB as slave, tnen copy your files from the other HD to one of the logical partitions. That is, if you are unable or unwilling to acquire partition copying software with partition size decrease/increase capabilities. Thanks in advance for your help, Marco |
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As Richard said, the disk often comes with utilities for his purpose, or
you use BootIt NG to do this job. www.bootitng.com Not only to copy your existing partition to the new drive, but also to repartition the rest of the new drive, and the old drive if you wish. It is better to have just a system partition for Windows and applications, no larger than 8GB, and put the rest of your files, including all of My Documents, email storage, TEMP and Temporary Internet files onto different partitions. If you want suggestions and detailed instructions, jus ask. When using a disk copy utility, like that in BootIt NG or fro the drive manufacturer, no, you generally *don't* create a partition first. You copy the entire partition onto free space on the target drive. -- Gary S. Terhune MS MVP Shell/User http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm "Marco Desloovere" wrote in message ... I would like to install a hard drive with a larger capacity in my Windows 98SE PC. Right now there is one 30 GB drive in my PC and I would like to move this to a 120 GB drive. I will remove the 30 GB drive physically from my PC once the operation is successful. I would prefer the new drive to be one single partition of 120 GB with the 30 GB of data from the old drive and the remaining 90 GB being free for new data. The new drive should be bootable. A friend of mine suggested to use Norton Ghost from Symantec, but I am now wondering whether it wouldn't be possible to do this operation using the classic MS-DOS tools. As I have never done this before, I am unsure of how to go about it. I do believe that I first have to do "fdisk" to partition the new drive and then "format new drive:/s". So far correct? Can I now just select all in the root directory of the old drive and drag it to the new drive, or do I have to use "xcopy32" and if so, which switches (and there are some!) do I need to use? Thanks in advance for your help, Marco |
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Partition planning
http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.htm http://badour.freewebsites.com/html/partitions.html http://www.newlogic.co.uk/kbase/fdisk/page1.htm http://www2.cajun.net/~theriots/blk/...share_part.htm PLANNING YOUR PARTITIONS Version 3.6 — Revised January 29, 2005 http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.htm ------- I recommend keeping the reformated original drive as the second HD in the system, even if it is slow. Create a partition of ca. 2.1 GB at its head, with 4 KB cluster size, and move the swap file to it to maximize performance. The rest of the drive can be partitioned into several logical drives, as desired, and used to archive personal files and as a backup target for the OS partition, using backup software. This is a cheap and fast solution. The disk copy utility accompanying the new HD may permit you to adjust the size of the new OS partition, but you will probably need a third-party partition manager to do all that you desire on the new drive. --------- "How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk" http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];255867 "Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters" http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];51978 ------- Paragon Partition Manager and BootManager http://www.paragon-gmbh.com Powerquest http://www.powerquest.com/products/desktop.html Purchased by Symantec Dec 2003 Terabyte Unlimited http://www.bootitng.com V-Communications http://www.v-com.com Acronis http://www.acronis.com/products/oss50 ---- I have recently seen in several big box retail stores the excellent Executive Software's Diskeeper Home Edition for only $US 20.00. This is very good. I also recommend Raxco's very good, Perfect Disk, as a alternative defragmenter to your current MS tool. Both of these tools work far better and faster. Don't be overwhelmed. Read a lot first, and ask more questions here. Getting the partitions right is very important. -- Jack E. Martinelli 2002-05 MS MVP for Shell/User / DTS Help us help you: http://www.dts-L.org/goodpost.htm http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...t/default.aspx In Memorium: Alex Nichol http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/nichol.mspx Your cooperation is very appreciated. ------ "Marco Desloovere" wrote in message ... Lil' Dave [Fri, 18 Mar 2005 07:14:30 -0600] wrote: "Marco Desloovere" wrote in message .. . I would like to install a hard drive with a larger capacity in my Windows 98SE PC. Right now there is one 30 GB drive in my PC and I would like to move this to a 120 GB drive. I will remove the 30 GB drive physically from my PC once the operation is successful. I would prefer the new drive to be one single partition of 120 GB with the 30 GB of data from the old drive and the remaining 90 GB being free for new data. The new drive should be bootable. This is why you can't use the drive copying software from the HD manufacturer as the partition size will remain the same. I don't recommend using one partition either. 8GB or less partition size is enough for windows and applications. Your files, downloads, etc. should be stored in an alternate partition or partitions. This makes organization of your files easier. OK, many thanks to you and Gary S. Terhune. Based on what you mentioned in your post I did some research in the Internet and learned about things like cluster size, small partitions and the time advantage of defragmenting these. The last time I defragmented my 30 GB drive was 742 days ago. It took then well in excess of 10 hours! Rather discouraging. So I guess it's back to the drawing-board for me and some serious reflection on how I'm going to organize my new hard disk drive. In other words: Upgrading one's computer is technology hitting one straight between the eyes... Marco |
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