swapping hard drive on compuer

[Belgarath]

I need to know the steps that i need to take to swap out a hard drive in a computer that already has stuff on it without losing anything. Is there some special program i need or something. Last time i tried to just swap them, all i got was errors and i could not get windows to boot even in safe mode.

 

[Psionicist]

I need to know the steps that i need to take to swap out a hard drive in a computer that already has stuff on it without losing anything. Is there some special program i need or something. Last time i tried to just swap them, all i got was errors and i could not get windows to boot even in safe mode.

"Swap" as in put computer A's hard drive in computer B and the reverse? Don't do that unless you know exactly and precisly what you are doing (I assume you don't). Heck, I dont even recommend it _if_ you know what you are doing because of the hassle of removing old drivers and installing new ones.

However, if the computer you want to move the drive to already has a hard drive installed it's a piece of cake, just like adding a brand new, empty hard drive.

 

[Agamon]

Is the new hard drive, actually new? Did it come with an installation CD? If it did, you need to follow the instructions on that. As Psionicist said, it is fairly easy. Software on the install disk will make a disk image of your old hard drive and put it on the new one so that your PC won't be able to tell the difference.

MaxBlast 4 is good utility if you don't have a disk. And it works on non-Maxtor ATA drives, too.

 

[D+1]

I need to know the steps that i need to take to swap out a hard drive in a computer that already has stuff on it without losing anything. Is there some special program i need or something. Last time i tried to just swap them, all i got was errors and i could not get windows to boot even in safe mode.

Explain... Are you replacing an old hard drive on a computer with a new hard drive and want to transfer all the programs and data to the new drive? Or are you taking a hard drive out of one computer and putting into another, completely different computer? Is the old drive still FUNCTIONAL? Can you reinstall all desired programs from disk?

Without details the general procedure would be to start by backing up all important data from the old HD to CD's/DVD's if you haven't already done so. Also obtain and archive all the latest driver updates for the hardware in the new system to CD/DVD. [Personally I maintain a "Backups & Patches" folder in "My Documents" to which I always save driver updates, game updates and patches, and the like. This generally means that when I need to reinstall things I don't have to go looking for them - again.] Proceed with a new HD, a fresh Windows install, updated drivers and Windows security updates, followed by reinstallation of programs from their original disks and then their updates. Then with the old HD as a slave, transfer necessary data. Then reformat the old drive in as secure a means as is practical given the sensitivity of data that may have been on it like addresses and credit card numbers. Then either keep it in the system as a drive to regularly back up data to (my favorite for old drives that have not actually failed), or remove it from the system and store it/get rid of it unless the added data storage space is actually needed (though that's generally part of what a NEW HD is for).

It's a LONG, tedious process but should provide the best results as opposed to some other shortcut methodology.

 

[mps42]

I need to know the steps that i need to take to swap out a hard drive in a computer that already has stuff on it without losing anything. Is there some special program i need or something. Last time i tried to just swap them, all i got was errors and i could not get windows to boot even in safe mode.

I am going to assume that what you want to do is REPLACE the hard drive in the computer with a larger / better one and move all the stuff that is on the current drive to the new one. If that is the case, i recommend getting a suave little program called "Ghost", now owned by Symantec. Ghost will do that in a very simple manner.

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, if you mean move a hard drive from one computer to another without having to re-install windows , it can be somewhat tricky. And you really shouldn't do it. But out of laziness, I did it for 4 different computers (First a P90, then a K6-450, then a Duron 1Ghz, then a Athlon 3400).

Basically, the last time you run windows on the computer you are taking the hard drive out of, delete all the hardware devices via the System thing in the control panel. Then shut it down and put in the new computer.

When you fire it up, hopefully it will detect all the new hardware and install drivers for that and then you can make sure all the old drivers are gone. But you run the risk of not getting them all and having problems. Or it not working at all. But I was lucky.

And that rather battered copy of Win 98 still used less memory than Windows XP....(though it was a bit unstable)

 

[GlassJaw]

The safest way to do this is to put in the new hard drive and disconnect the old one. Do a complete clean install of your OS. Once that's done, put your old HDD in as a slave and copy over any data you want to save. Format the old drive when you're done using Disk Manager.