I have a Dell Inspiron 1500 laptop with internal 40GB HDD. Running out of space, I asked Dell for a suitable replacement and was advised the WD1600BEVE 160GB internal HDD from Western Digital. What should I do to transfer all the system and software on existing 40Gb drive to the new 160GB drive? I can do the physical installation of the HDD.
Ok first of all Hi!
Now in order to transfer the right stuff from your hard drive to the new one. You will need to follow these instructions and i provided you with 2 methods.
LONG METHOD (USE NEW HARD DRIVE WITHIN LAPTOP)
1 - You have to get hold of backup restore software. Norton Ghost is a suitable example and install it on your notebook
2. You will also need to borrow a suitable Harddisk to USB connection to hook up the new hard drive to it or else you could get hold of a hard drive enclosure ( there are cheap ones) and hook the nre drive in the enclosure. I will tell you later what to do with this enclosure. If your LAPTOP has another DRIVE bay you do not need to buy the enclosure. Check the manual to see if it does indeed have an extra drive bay.
3. Once you hooked up the drive and booted up your computer. Assuming it is WinXP SP2 or later you will get the new hard drive showing under MY Computer >> {Right Click} >> Manage >> Disk Management: Click on the NEW drive and format it from there this iwll take a while >> CAREFUL NOT to FORMAT YOUR HARD (40GB) from there! You can opt to partition it in 2 parts (80GB for Win xp + software) and 80Gb (for the data). This has the advantage that if you REFORMAT and you have the data on the other drive, you don't lose it and you can reformat the OS + PROGRAM Drive safely.
4. Follow the backup/restore software instructions. and make the copy (NOT AN IMAGE) to the 160GB drive.
5. Once you are done with the whole backup procedure. Turn off and unplug the laptop (remove the battery as well to be safe) and SWAP the 2 hard drives drives
6. You do not necessarily have to do this step, the computer should be able to boot straightaway HOWEVER if it doesn't. Turn on the Laptop again and when you see the Dell logo or initial bootup screen press the nexessary button to go into the CMOS setup (it may be F4 or Del or F10 or something else depending on the laptop - check manual to make sure.) Now you have to AUTO DETECT the new hard drive. Save CMOS settings and Exit and it should now boot.
7. Now that you are done and you have bought an extra enclosure hook up the old hard drive in the enclosure and you can use this as a backup! To do so FIRST see that you are ALL happy with the data and you checked thourougly that everything (DATA etc) is there. Format the old drive go to Step 3 to make sure obviously making sure that you format the 40GB hard drive now!) and you're done you have an extra drive!
EASY METHOD ( USE HARD DRIVE EXTERNALLY FOR DATA)
now if you are just going to use the 160 GB to backup your data. you can just buy the enclosure hook your new drive to this enclosure and you don't need to do the above.
CHEERS
Drag and drop the files from one drive to the other.
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Thank you Alcatrazx for your inputs. This is something that I was looking for. Unfortunately, I do not have Norton Ghost available with me and was wondering if there is another method available.
eastsideddie - appreciate your inputs - unfortunately, this is not what I was looking for. Thanks for trying.
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