The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Question regarding Hard Drives

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by miahsoul, Oct 13, 2010.

  1. miahsoul

    miahsoul Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    75
    Messages:
    1,372
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    So, I'm planning on getting a Momentus XT in November. But I need a way to back up all my data. I currently have a plan, but I need to ask you guys to verify that it works. Okay, so I swap out my HDD and put my other HDD into a esata enclosure. Then I clean install a version of Win 7 onto my new HDD and once I finish, copy over all the data from my old disk. Does this sound like a good plan, or is there a better way?
     
    miahsoul, Oct 13, 2010
    #1
  2. ntheo

    ntheo Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    24
    Messages:
    159
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    That sounds about right.

    The way you're describing is basically to reinstall Windows 7, all your programs and drivers and than copy over the documents.

    That should help reduce some of the clutter but takes some time.

    You can also do make an image of your current harddrive using Acronis and clone it to the XT that is an in enclosure.

    Once the cloning is complete, you can swap drives and your computer state should be the same as when you last used it.

    Hope that helps.
     
    ntheo, Oct 13, 2010
    #2
  3. thundernet

    thundernet Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    609
    Messages:
    1,285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Sounds like an excellent plan.Use cloning only if your OS in your present HDD is in absolute perfect state.I always prefer a clean install(it's called custom in win7).Yes it will take you more time to install everything but there is nothing compared to clean install in a fresh HDD.
     
    thundernet, Oct 14, 2010
    #3
  4. Nankuru

    Nankuru Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    215
    Messages:
    592
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Also, it's a good idea to test your restore/reinstall discs while you still have a working OS.
     
    Nankuru, Oct 14, 2010
    #4