How to transfer data from current hard drive to new hard drive

Hi everyone.
I just bought a new hard drive for my thinkpad x201s. Could any one kindly tell me how to transfer or copy data from the old hard drive to the new drive? I want the way to be easy and safe. Thank you.

 

You aren't being specific enough. If you just want to copy data, put your old drive in an external USB housing and copy what you want to copy.

If however you want to copy the entire drive, including the OS, I would do this:

I don't know if the x201s has an ultrabay provision. If it does, put your second hard disk in the carrier that will fit the ultrabay. If the x201s does not have an ultrabay, use a USB or eSATA external drive housing that will hold the type of drive you have in your x201s. (Sorry I haven't researched the specs on the x201s) I would assume that is a 2.5" SATA? Whatever it is, get the same type of drive, put it in an appropriate external housing or in your ultrabay carrier and

THEN:

Buy a copy of Casper. You can download a 30 free trial that is fully functional (except for changing partition sizes).

Casper Trial Edition Download | Casper hard disk drive cloning software provides complete PC backup protection | Future Systems Solutions

Or,

Download a free program called MiniTool which claims it can do the same thing Casper does. I've downloaded it and will soon be trying to see if it works as well as Casper. I'm just waiting on a new HD.

DON'T mess around with Norton Ghost, Acronis or any of those troublesome and crappy disk image programs that cause nothing but trouble.

Keep it simple. Duplicate the entire disk including the OS so that in case of disk failure or virus corruption you can take the failed disk out and put the duplicated disk in, start the computer and you're back in business immediately.

That's what works for me. Everyone will have their own way of dealing with this task. And again, if you're just wanting to copy some data ignore all of this and just plug the disc in via USB and do your copying.

 

thanks flyright,

Sorry,I should have been more clearer on this. Yeah, you have already got what I really meant. I would like to try a simple but safe way to duplicate the entire hard drive and to be away from the trouble-making softwares. And I'll absolutely try the way you suggested.

One more question though, if the one I'm getting is bigger (750GB)than the current one(320G), when you perform the duplicating function by using that software, would it still be OK? The reason I mention this is because I heard someone saying both of the hard drives have to be same in capacity in order to duplicate one from another, otherwise it will cause problems. Is it true?

Thanks for the reply.

 

You will have to get both your data and windows installed on your new harddrive.

One way to do both is by imaging your old drive onto your new drive as Flyright mentioned. I have no experience with Casper, I've used Acronis TrueImage.

Another way is backup your data from your olddrive onto a network drive, usb key, or optical disk (requires optical disk reader/burner), then install windows on your new drive, then transfer your data over.
If you have access to a Windows7 disk, that is the same version of windows as what came with your computer (eg HomePremium, Profesional; 32 or 64bit; OEM, Full retail, Upgrade) , you could use it to install windows on your new harddrive and then activate it online using the windows serial number on the microsoft sticker on the bottom of your computer.

You might have to do the activation over the phone. I've never done this myself, but other's have posted that they've done this without problem.

 

Acronis TrueImage is what I've used, works perfect. It has a trial version, use it. I dont know why somebody said it was a troublesome software.

it takes time though, like couple of hours (depending on what you have though). I left my computer on for all night.

 

> The reason I mention this is because I heard someone saying both of the hard drives have to be same in capacity in order to duplicate one from another, otherwise it will cause problems. Is it true?

If you are using the trial version of Casper it will only partition 320 GB of the larger disc. You could then use Partitian Magic to expand the partition on the destination disc or create an additional partition from the leftover space.

OR

You can just buy the full-featured Casper and do your partitions as you wish at the time you do the disk duplication. Casper makes all of this incredibly simple and foolproof. You end up with a disc that you can just pop into the HD bay and start the computer. No separate re-installation of OS or of software. I really love Casper. Hate Ghost :tongue: .

Really, I would avoid anything to do with making an "image" and anything to do with having to do with a "restore". Casper duplicates the entire disc including the OS and does it utterly without complication or anything tricky. And it doesn't take all night either.

This free program called MiniTool says it can do these same things. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

 

I second the Acronis TrueImage recommendation. You can download it for free if one of your HDD is a Seagate or WD.

 

You CANNOT backup ANY User data without first changing ownership of the Documents and Settings/Users folder and stripping the permissions. Doing so without doing previously stated will "copy" the data but it will not be there, it will only copy files it has permission to (public folder, guest account stuff, nothing useful)

How to take ownership of a file or a folder in Windows XP

The basics for XP apply for Vista/7 just in different places.

 

I have no idea what that fellow is talking about. Just duplicate your entire disk and you're done.

 

If you don't image or use a software clone and you connect the hard drive via USB to another workstation, NTFS file systems have protections on the Users/Documents and Settings folder.

 

What protections? If I am admin on the source and target, I can do whatever I want.

 

Not when you plug up the hard drive to another machine. Go ahead and try to copy data. You won't have access to the files.

 

Again . . . I don't know what you are talking about. It has nothing to do with what I'm talking about which is using Casper to duplicate the disk in its entirety - formatting, OS, programs, files, everything, including adjusting or creating partitions. This must be too simple a concept for you

Maybe some repetition will help: Using Casper (and perhaps MiniTool . . . dunno yet) you connect another drive to the computer via another bay or USB or eSATA and tell Casper to duplicate the drive. That's all there is to it. You have an exact duplicate of the original drive. It boots exactly like the source drive. Everything on the destination drive is exactly as it is on the source drive. Why is this confusing?

 

I do it daily. I am constantly copying files from a corp machine with a domain\userid to a private personally owned machine. I typically use a USB hard drive as the intermediate storage. I have never had an issue with permissions going either direction.

So what are you talking about?

 

I picked up my new 320 WD3200 Black Scorpio 7200 RPM at the post office today. Bought it on Amazon for $56.

I put it in the Ultrabay carrier and using MiniTool Partition Wizard 5.2 Home Edition (my first experience with this free program)

Free Partition Magic alternative. Free Partition Manager Software for Windows 7/VISTA/XP/2000 and Windows Server 2003/2008/2000.

I performed a disk copy from my existing HD to the new one in the Ultrabay. I didn't try re-sizing or creating new partitions since I was doubtful this program would do what Casper does and didn't want to make it more complicated than necessary. Looks like I needn't have worried.

It took less than 30 minutes to do the disk copy since I only have a 160 GB WD1600 (5400 Scorpio Blue) and only have a third of it filled. (I've only had this T400 for about three weeks.) I took the old HD out after the copy was finished and put the new WD3200 in the main HD bay. It booted up just as if the old drive was still in the machine. I've tried to find a problem but so far nada. There was quite a bit of drive activity at first which I think was indexing. That passed after a few minutes and my T400 settled down into its normal self. Except now I have a 7200 RPM drive and twice the space. It is just as quiet as the smaller, slower drive I've taken out. I don't notice any difference in speed.

The MiniTool interface is not quite as elegant as Casper's but still very easy to use. Nothing tricky about it. I'll happily put up with a little less elegance and save the money that I would have spent for a new copy of Casper.

I stumbled across this MiniTool PartitionWizard software a week or two ago while looking for something else. I was expecting problems (since it's free and since what it purports to do [and does!!] is quite sophisticated) but thought I'd try it anyway. It seems to have worked just fine for this hard drive upgrade. It has lots of other features - partition resizing and creating is what I'll be fooling with next. I need to send the developers a note and thank them for creating such a useful program and letting people use it for free. (I'm sure they would appreciate a donation more than a note ) This is not a trial version but a fully functional program from what I can tell at this point.

If I discover any quirks or problems with programs or data in the next few days I'll report back but everything seems to be perfectly OK.

 

No anomalies. This free Partition Magic (owned by Symantec it turns out) program does every bit as well as Casper at complete duplication of a disk. I've used it now on my desktop to duplicate the primary HD - a task I've been using Casper for for years. It works just as well as Casper and unlike Casper it's free!

My partition creating and re-sizing have gone without a glitch. This is about the best freeware I've ever come across.

Casper has some sophisticated back-up options that PM doesn't have, but PM isn't designed for back-up as its primary function. I never used Casper's sophisticated back-up functions like "running back-up" as I figured it would slow down the system. Same with scheduled automatic back-ups - I just don't feel all the extra hard drive exercise is justified. My back up strategy is to duplicate and make another fully loaded and bootable disk every month. If I were working on anything critical I would do this more frequently, even daily, but once or twice a month has been adequate for me to feel protected. I can't remember the last time I lost a disk to corruption or mechanical failure but now with a laptop, theft is the more likely possibility. I take the duplicated disk and put it in a sock drawer - somewhere away from the computer anyway. If the computer gets stolen I've still got everything important. Just pop the back-up drive in another eBay T400 and everything is back to normal except my Paypal balance. No gnashing of teeth or sad "wish I would've" regrets.

Or stick the back-up drive in a USB or Firewire enclosure and plug it into the desktop. Dunno . . . there might be glitches here but nothing that can't be worked out when the time comes. The important thing is to have the duplicate disk.

I think the on-line storage options would also be good but I think it would take hours to both store and retrieve a hard drive's worth of data. Plus they cost money every month. My strategy costs only the cost of a second drive and they are dirt cheap these days. Since this T400 has Firewire I looked into external Firewire drives and was surprised to discover they are just as cheap or cheaper than USB. And they're faster.

Now that I've discovered this free program called MiniTool Partition Magic Home Edition 5.2, this process just got even cheaper. My Casper license only covered my desktop.

I can see in the way I've been using the laptop since I got it that it has become my primary computer instead of just something to travel with - which is why I bought it initially. It turns out it's just too handy and quickly available whether it's around the house or sitting in a sailboat in San Diego Bay. It boots up much faster than my desktop. I guess everybody here already knows all of this, but it's new to me and I'm gassed.

I've taken my entire desktop HD and put it in a partition on the new WD3200 I just installed. That allows me to go into BIOS on boot up and choose to load XP with all my desktop files and programs. This is very useful and cool . There are some things like ActiveSync that won't work with Vista.

It hasn't become a problem yet but having a sunlight readable screen would be nice. My next computer is clearly going to be another notebook as they are just as capable and much, much handier than a clunky desktop.

 

I have a question related to this thread. I am planning on ordering a new Thinkpad T series and want to upgrade the HDD with an SSD. Could I simply do the following:

1) burn the recovery discs using the HDD
2) put the recovery disc in the ODD
3) turn off system, unplug battery
4) insert the SSD (without formatting it first?)
5) put in battery, boot system
6) enter bios and configure to boot from ODD
7) boot from ODD and recover system onto the SSD

What am I missing? Thanks!

 

not true.

I did an image of my old 160GB HDD (OS drive, one partition) into two partitions of 250GB each in my new 500GB HDD, so one is bootable where the 160GB extended to 250

 

I have transferred my user folder or various parts of it numerous times between XP, Vista, and Windows 7 systems and I have never had problems accessing any of it. For those rare times when something refuses to copy or delete in Windows, I pop in the Ubuntu LiveCD.

 

[ I]
Originally Posted by Flyright View Post
> The reason I mention this is because I heard someone saying both of the hard drives have to be same in capacity in order to duplicate one from another, otherwise it will cause problems. Is it true?

not true.

I did an image of my old 160GB HDD (OS drive, one partition) into two partitions of 250GB each in my new 500GB HDD, so one is bootable where the 160GB extended to 250[/I]

*******************

That was the OP who asked about drives needing to be the same size, not me.

Stormshadow . . . I don't think you are missing anything. I didn't get recovery disks with my used T400 so I'm not sure what's on them but it might be you'll be reloading some bloatware doing it that way? If so maybe you can sort through it and get rid of what you don't want. In my experience with "restore discs" you can't avoid re-installing some crap. Hopefully Lenovo is beyond doing that though since these are business machines.

There's a program on the net called "PC Decrapifyer" which might be useful. Welcome | The PC Decrapifier

With the limited space of an SSD you won't want anything more on it than necessary I would think.