New Hard Drive and Recovery

Hello! I have a fairly new Alienware M15x and I am trying to install a new hard drive that they sent me for replacement. The old hard drive boots up but it is beginning to fail. I want to transfer my files and settings over to the new harddrive but my current methods are running me into roadblocks. I have tried the ol using windows 7 to create a back image and the using a system disk to restore windows on the new drive... but this fails every time. Any one have any luck with this? Anyone have any suggestions on a procedure that would work on an Alienware? I called the Alienware tech support line and it was worthless. They told me to copy my profile folder and program files folder to my usb backup drive and just copy them back later. This "solution" is worthless because its not a true backup. I asked them for a way to get a real backup and he said that they don't support any other method. Maybe you guys will? Thanks for the help!

 

honestly, just grab your user files and programs that cannot be replaced otherwise and do a clean install.

 

Acronis disk image maybe. Plenty of harddrive cloning kits out there.

 

Thanks for the tip widezu69. I don't have any familiarity with a good cloning kit. It makes me nervous that since the build in win7 one doesn't work, I wonder if other ones will have the same issue. I will look at Acronis. In the mean time, if anyone else has gotten the built in windows backup to work on a new harddrive, let me know how you did it. I have 3/4 of a TB in info on this drive and I know I will miss things with just a file copy like the first response indicated.

Besides, you shouldn't have to be forced to lose any information or settings when using Dell's warranty repair service, which is what they suggest will happen. Lame.

 

Here you have a "tutorial" for Acronis: Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

Here some info for the Windows 7 backup tool: Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

And here another program for making a backup image of your old HDD: Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

 

Personally I would do what dkfire said just back up your data and do a clean install on your new drive.

 

Oh! Yes... I'm with you inap. I'll do a clean and fresh install.

@ epearson001, if you need the Windows 7 image: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html
Also, some information to restore your Alienware looks: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/488201-new-m15x-owner-information.html
And this one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

 

Thanks for all the help guys!

I did a fresh install, its just a complete pain in the rear to get everything back to how it was before I swapped drives. It shouldn't be this hard. The process to go back to the settings I had when I first got the computer should have been much more streamlined. I expected more polish than this from Alienware.

 

If anyone else has this issue, I personally would recommend a SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 adapter (Google it, it's the first one) it's come in handy for me time and time again.
Here's a link if anyone needs it StarTech.com USB 2.0 to SATA IDE Adapter Storage controller- IDE / eSATA