Clone Drive/Partition

So i have a 1 TB drive with 3 Partitions : Applications, Games and of course C drive and i was wondering could i get another drive and clone the data from the Games drive on to it and still be able to play those games, i have around 192gb free on that partition and i still have quite a few games that i want to install and it also has my Steam data on it, so its filling up fast

so i was thinking about getting another drive and then having it for Media and Games, i use MediaBrowser for my games and such but thinking about adding my movies to my computer which would take up a bit of space as well so this is what i was thinking of doing :

Buy a 1TB drive, partition it for 2 drives, both equal size and have one section for games and the other for media, i would then reintroduce the space currently being used by my games into Applications and into the C drive to give them a bit more space, the C drive currently has about 60gb free from its 100gb partition as i try to install applications and such into the Application drive which has 270gb free

if i were to do this, what would be the best software to use to clone the drive that has the games on it onto the new drive and what kind of problems could i run into doing this? will all the games still fully work and everything?

PS : Wish i named it the G Drive
i have A : Applications, M : Media and C (which you cant change) but my Games section is D

 

You should be able to do this once you copy D: to the external drive you can delete the D: partition and then rename the external drive to D:. You may have to reboot between these operations. The tricky part will be resizing the C:, A:, and M: partitions. Remember you can only add space to a partition that is immediately adjacent to that partition. I have done this before with "Boot IT NG". It allows sliding partitions to accomplish this. The interface is a bit odd, but it does a GREAT job. (Of course, make sure you have a backup of EVERYTHING before you start.)

Gary

 

Thanks this is what i was thinking of doing :

1. Partition the new drive for about 450gb each partition
2. clone the D partition into one of the above partition, as its a smaller size should be okay (right?)
3. delete the D partition on my current drive
4. increase the sizes of A and C drives

Anything i am missing?
Also if i name the new drive Partition where the games will go will that HAVE to stay as D? or could i change it without affecting the games so that i can still play them - REALLY should have picked G (if there is one)

 

RE: item 4. Remember what I said about adjacent space. The only way ANY tool will let you expand a partition is if the empty space is adjacent to the end of the partition you are expanding. That will make it difficult to expand BOTH A and C. But there are third party tools that let you move partitions so that you can get the empty space where you need it.


RE: renaming D. You ought to keep it D: as the registry entries associated with the games may reference D: specifically. Having said that, you MIGHT be able to go into the registry and find all the references to D: and change them to your new "drive letter". But that can be risky. There might be files that the game uses to store settings (like an .INI file) and those might point to D: as well. Bottom line: I'd leave it named D:.

Gary

 

Okay with that could i just increase the Application partition, i guess the C drive wouldnt need any more space as most of the applications i try to install in the A drive anyway, how do i tell if i can put all the free space into the A drive?

Okay thanks, shame i guess i will just keep it as D - should have named it G from the start

Thanks for the help, any suggestions of what would be a good application to use to clone the drive onto the new drive?

 

For cloning I use an OLD copy of Norton Ghost 2003. Many folks here like Acronis true image.

RE: the first question. Go to Administrative tools | Computer Management and run Disk management. Take a screen shot and post it here. It will show the physical layout of the partitions on the hard drive.

Gary

 

Managed to get a good price on a 1TB drive from a friend so i have managed to get the media part sorted, all i did was copy the movies, and such to the new drive and the deleted the drive that it had.





so i have the 100gb unallocated section, as the Games drive is next to the Application drive it should be easy to clone the Game drive into the Disc 1 drive and then increase the Applications drive, right?

 

Yes. But first you are going to need to reduce the size of the "My Media" partition on Drive 1. Right now it takes up the entire drive. Since the Games D: partition is immediately adjacent to the A: partition, once you eliminate the D: partition you can add ALL of the unallocated space to A:.

As I said before though there are apps that would let you slide A: down a bit after you drop D:. Then you'd have unallocated space after both C: and A: and could increase both. But I would not slide A: until you have a full backup copy of it. Just me, I am paranoid.

Gary

 

I think i will just put it all in the Applications, i am thinking about an SSD for the OS anyway so it might be better that way

so this is what i am thinking :
Parts 1 and 2 dont really need to be done in a specific way (right?)

1. Move Unallocated space into the Games drive
2. split the Drive 1 into 2 mostly equal sizes
3. find software to clone (any free options?)
4. clone Drive D into the newly created drive from part 2 (would this new drive need to be called D as well? before the clone)
5. delete content from Drive D on Drive 0
6. merge the new space from Drive D into Drive A

Sound good?

 

Skip step 1. It is not needed.
Step #3 & 4: you can just create a partition on drive 1 via Windows and copy the contents, again via windows. No extras software needed. You can NOT have two D: drives at any time the OS won't allow it. So call the new partition on Drive 1 partition X:
Step 4a: Rename partition D to Partition Z. Rename partition X to partition D and reboot. Make sure the games work from their new home in partition D on drive 1.
Step 5 then becomes: delete partition Z. (No need to remove the contents, just kill the partition.)
Step 6 then becomes: merge the new space from Drive Z into Drive A

Gary

 

Thanks ALOT, will give that a try and if it goes wrong im gonna SUE you, Joking

 

Just be sure to do step 4a INCLUDING testing the games, before you move on to step 5.

Gary

 

yeah with that part, how do i know that the game is running from the new drive wouldnt it have some trouble or anything if i have it on 2 different drives - do i just go to the new location and run the game from there?

 

Well the shortcuts you have are all going to point to D:\somewhere. So that will try to run it from the NEW location of the D: partition. The games won't know ANYTHING at all about the Z: partition, so there should not be any issue with two copies existing.

Let me ask you this, what is the directory structure of the CURRENT D:? Are the games installed in folders at the root, i.e. D:\game1, D:\game2 etc or are they all under a master folder like D:\gamefolder\game1, D:\gamefolder\game2 etc?

If the second way you could rename Z:\gamefolder to Z:\fubar. This would insure that the game in the new D: would not be able to find any remnant of the old directory. If the first way you could rename Z:\game1 to Z:\fubar1 and Z:\game2 to Z:\fubar2 to produce the same result of hiding the old one.

The ONLY reason I suggested testing the games from the new location is because if you discover an issue the OLD partition (now named Z is still there untouched as a backup. Gary likes backups!

Gary

 

some are under masterfodler such as My games/EA Games/BF2 while some are just My Games/*enter game name*

 

Well then rename My Games to My Fubar and test the games under that structure first. Use the shortcuts to run each game. Then for the remaining ones rename their folders and test each one, again using the shortcuts.

All these renames are being done on the OLD partition now named Z:

Gary

 

Right i have shrunk Drive M to 250gb which has given a 681gb unallocated space, this will be named to something maybe X and all the content from D copied over to this drive.

so after that i rename X to D and D to something else right?
then i test the games, would i need to change the path of the games on the current D drive if i am going to change the drive letter anyway?

its going to take around 35minutes to copy EVERYTHING from the D drive onto the X drive, once that is done i will rename the X drive to D and the D drive to maybe G or something, just so its still there and will then try some games - if all things work out i will then delete the "G" drive and merge it with Applications (Drive A)

 

No, you MUST rename D to something else FIRST. Then you can rename X to D. You can't have two of them named D: at the same time.

And you DO NOT want to change the path of the games. That is the whole point of renaming the new partition the same as it used to be, that is D:.

Gary

 

thats what i meant, i know that they cant be named the same letter, so D will become G and then X (new drive) will become D, wont have to rename the G (what used to be D) again will i?

i am coping EVERYTHING in the same way as it is in D, so the paths wont be changed, well until i rename the new Drive back to D then it should be EXACTLY like it is at this very moment

question : can i still play on games while the computer is copying all the files? i will be playing a game from the current D drive

 

I asumed you did, but wanted to be sure!

Right. Exactly what I was suggesting.

ABSOFREAKINLOUTLEY NO YOU CANNOT!!!! The copy will fail!

Gary

 

what if it has already copied that game?
at the moment its onto the STEAM folder, the game that i wonna play is in a folder that has already been copied over

 

How do you know it has copied everything in that folder? Answer:You don't. Don't be so impatient. ...big ol' grin... Sit back and wait. Better yet walk away from the machine for a few minutes.

Gary

 

a fe minutes??? its gone up to 55minutes
was just guessing as its done folders that come after the one from the game i wonna play as well and its saying what its coping over at this point its doing L4D from the STEAM folder

 

The operative word there is "GUESSING". Windows does not necessarily copy files in the order YOU think they might be. Is it REALLY worth the possibility of screwing something up just to satisfy your itch to play a game?

As I said before, step away from the computer for a few minute. Go outside. Breath some fresh air. Do something away from the computer and let it do it's thing.

Gary

 

Right its done, it all copied over changed the D drive to B, restarted but i cant change X drive to D - it doesnt show up as an option???

 

Right i have given the New drive "G" letter and i can go into there and load up a game fine, now here is the problem - is it loading from there (G) or from the D drive (what is now B)

How can i tell, i dont have the option for D but the games still seem to load fine???

 

How are you trying to change the drive letter?

Right click on "Computer" and select manage.

Then start Disk Management.
In the lower pane, right click on a partition. Select "Change Drive letter and Paths".

Gary

After you have gotten the drive letters changed be sure to rename the directories as we disccused. Do that before you test a game.

Gary

 

I tried that but Letter "D" wont appear any more???
i am about to rename a directory to see if the way it is now works would just changing the main folder be enough?

EDIT : well i changed the Main folder of a game to "Folder_1" and the game still loads. This is despite the fact that where i am running the game from doesnt have "D" as the drive name, its "G" as i cant select "D" - its not an option but the game still loads and works, thats good?

 

Well it might be good for that one game. But you MUST get the drive changed to D:. It is essential for any registry entries that are pointing to D:.

You have rebooted after renaming the old D: to B:? Right? Are you saying in the drop down list of drive letters that D is skipped? Oh wait!!!! I bet I know what is happening. You have a card reader in the machine too. I bet it is now named D: Go back into Disk Management and in the lower pane scroll down thru the list of drives. Se if one is now labeled D: If so, you need to change it's name and reboot.

Gary

 

Yeah i rebooted after naming it B. Where do i go? i cant see any other drive that is named D, how do i check if the Card Reader is named it? i have Disk Management open - where do i look from here?

 

Look at this:

Missing Drive Letter

I am trying to figure out WHY D: went missing. You should be able to see ALL drives, that is all partitions, CD drives, DVD drives, thumb drives, card readers, listed in the lower pane of Disk Management.

Try this: open a DOS prompt and type D: and hit enter. What do you get back?

Gary

 

It seems that PowerISO has taken Drive D, when using it it uses Drive D, would uninstalling this work to allow me to use Drive D again?

when i enter "D:" into the windows bar, it says it cant find drive

 

Yes, uninstall it and get the drive letter changed then latter after things are running smooth reinstll PowerISO.

Gary

 

FIXED!
Silly powerISO had it, naughty thing - once i went into that and changed it from using D to Z i was able to set the drive to D

THANKS ALOT FOR ALL THE HELP!

didnt need to uninstall it, just went into Confiugation, then into Virtual drive and changed that from D to Z and now it works, again thanks for all the help some Major Rep coming your way

 

New problem : i have deleted the content and removed Drive B now i have a 453gb unallocated section BUT i can not extend ANY of the drives that are on that Hard drive (A and C)

Any idea why? the Unallocated section is right next to Applications so i thought that it should simply work by clicking on A and clicking extend volume, but that is grayed out

 

I looked at the original JPG you sent earlier in the thread and noticed that A: is listed as a "logical drive" rather than as a partition. That may be the key. I am not familiar with the difference between the two or how to turn a "logical drive" into a partition. Let me dig around a bit and see if I can uncover any info.

Gary

Primary, Extended and Logical Partitions

That helps explain the difference.

Gary

 

Ah okay, i will have a look around as well thanks

well that kinda went straight over my head, kinda understand parts of it and then confused with other parts which doesnt help, should i convert it back into a Partition and would that mean i lose the data?

 

Extend Windows 7 logical drive with Gparted|Daniel Kvist

and

Using GParted to Resize Your Windows Vista Partition - How-To Geek

Since you are doing this to a non-system partition I don't think you will have to worry about the issue the article talks about regarding repairing the OS afterwards. But...

One thing is make sure you have a backup of A: before you start.

If I were doing this I would copy A: to an external drive. Then delete A and create a new partition and copy A: back to it.

The Gparted app lets you MOVE partitions, so if you do go THAT route you could MOVE a and free up some space in front of it. Then you could add that space to C:

If you do decide to add space to C: I would do that with Windows not Gparted so you do NOT get the repair issue mentioned in the articles above.

Gary

You WOULD lose data. But not if you copy it off somewhere first. As I said above this is EXACTLY what I would do.

Gary

 

Okay thanks, i will do that and report back

 

While you have A: deleted and all unallocated space adjacent to C:, why not go ahead and extend C: a bit? Then create the new larger A:

Just a thought.

Gary

 

C doesnt need it, it still has over 40GB of space and most big apps gets installed in A anyway so i think that it would be needed really

Fixed, once i got ally data copied to somewhere i deleted the partition and made another one and am in the middle of moving the stuff back. Shouldnt need to extend C drive - hell might even be removing it and putting that on my 128gb SSD (if i can get it)

 

And another question

As i might be getting a SSD i was thinking of moving the contents (OS) of Drive C onto this new HD BUT i am not sure how i go about this as its slightly different to what i have done, if i am right :

1, you cant have 2 partitions with same Drive Letter - does this count for WHOLE system or just that 1 hard drive

2, if i change the Drive letter of C drive what will happen, i am guessing that it will mess up whole computers as it wont be able to find anything

3, whats the easiest way of doing this? would some software that i burn to disc and run on startup be better as then the C drive (OS) wont be in use at the time when i do the change letter thing

 

1. Whole system.

2. Correct

3. That is the ONLY way you can do this.

Gary

 

thanks, very simple answers - any ideas what would be best to use?

 

First, I have ZERO experience with solid state drives so take this with a grain of salt. If I were doing this with a spinning disk, I would first create a bootable partition on the new drive with Easus or BootIT NG. Then I would copy the old C: partition to the new drive. Then I'd make sure the new drive was the first drive in the boot sequence. (THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT!) Once I was sure I was booting from the new drive, I'd blow away the OLD C: partition on the old drive.

Gary

 

Thanks but if the new SSD cant have C letter until the current one is gone, how will that work? or do i make it into a bootable copy the files and such over so that it can be booted but still with a different drive Letter how will it work?

 

Drive letters are dynamic, that is they change. You saw this happen with the software that took over D: recently. The are "assigned" at boot time by the BIOS and also by the OS itself. The first partition on the first drive gets C:, the second partition found gets D: and so on. The exception to this is after the OS boots up, it may reassign some of these letters based on the "overrides" we apply by forcing a partition to a specific drive letter. (Like you did with A: and G: )

Now since we have not forced C: (i.e. first partition on old drive) to be C:, if we set up the machine so the NEW drive is the first drive and the new clone of C: on the new drive is the first partition the BIOS and OS sees, it will be treated as C:. At that point the old C: partition on the old drive will be given a new letter (again because we have not forced the old C: to be given C:.

That's why I said once the new drive is installed you must insure that it is the first drive the system sees. On old IDE cables that mean making it the master rather than the slave drive. On IDE cable select cables that menat making it the first drive on the cable. On newer SATA drives I am not sure HOW you go about that, but I bet Google can help with that. ...big ol' grin...

Hope this all makes sense.

Gary

 

Thanks thats very helpful - i dont think it matters how i have them setup hardware wise - surely its just a matter of going into the BIOS and changing it from there

 

I can't say that for sure. In fact I suspect it DOES matter. Especially if there is more than one disk controller as is often the case with IDE. Most IDE machines have TWO controllers and the boot drive MUST be on the first physical controller. No way to change that in MOST bios setups. With SATA I have no experience playing with multiple drives or controllers.

Gary

 

Okay thanks, guess its time to look on google again