PC gurus: hard drive cloning software?
 

I am replacing my Win2K computer's main hard drive with a bigger drive, but have no desire to reinstall the OS. I have googled for cloning software (preferably free), but am faced with a bewildering array of options. Which software is best (did I mention free?) for cloning the existing hard drive safely?

Is it possible to create additional partitions after cloning, or should I do this before the process?

My IDE slots are full already, but I can temporarily remove one optical drive to fit the new drive for cloning purposes. Do I have to put the old & new drives on the same IDE (slave & master) or can I use IDE0 and IDE1 for this purpose?

TIA.

Ghost is easiest, but not free. Search for "hiren's boot cd". When you find it, all will be unlocked.

Dave

I just did that yesterday. I use Acronis and it went beautifully. Put the new drive in a USB box, turned Acronis loose, then put the new drive in my laptop. Zero pain, zero problems.

For partition management, I use Partition Commander. It's linux-based and boots from the CD so there's nothing to install on the system. Works great.

There's a Free version of ghost for *nix systems, think ti will clone a windows partition no problem. You could also use either dd or rsync from a bootable linux cd.

Jim,

Didnt you have to format and put a minimal OS on the USB drive before starting? I have tried putting drives in a USB enclosure to do work on them and until they were formatted they would not show up on the Explorer window.

For partition work I use partition magic. Got it free so use it, otherwise would try Commander, have heard good things about it.

I used Acronis Easymigrate when moving from a 20GB disk to a 60GB disk. This was a laptop and I had an external USB enclosure for the new disk. The software makes a bootable CD. Worked great and was very easy.

I use Acronis at work and love it. Gets my vote.

Joe -

Didn't do anything to the new drive except take it out of the anti-static bag and put it in the USB enclosure. Possibly the enclosure was your difference; mine is an inexpensive ($25) from Mascot, but couldn't have been simpler or easier. After Acronis was done, I took the drive out of the USB enclosure and put it in the ThinkPad. Done.

I have both Partition Magic and Partition Commander. PMagic has to be installed, PCommander does not - big plus for PCommander. Had used PMagic for a while and it went through a couple of revisions before I needed its services again. So - had to install each rev in turn because each upgrade had to see the previous revision installed before it would install. Royal pita - it's now permanently sidelined. I like utilities that run from the CD/DVD; much more helpful for problem recoveries. Acronis is installed software, but it's used as my normal backup software as well, so installation makes sense. EasyMigrate, as red-beard says, will run from a CD.

By the way (and not at all incidentally) - All the things discussed here are *illegal* and *blocked* under the new windoze vista.

Whereas we believe (rightly) that we have the right to maintain our systems and recover from problems, microsoft does *not*. When xp came out the trend was clear: lock users into windoze; build windoze around drm; move windoze and office to a subscription model where users pay annually for their software to operate; get control of drm such that microsoft has to be paid every time you see a movie or listen to a song.

Don't get me wrong, I like windows (2000) it's the biz practices being implemented that are the problem. Win2K Pro is my last microsoft os unless these biz practices change, and I'm strongly encouraging my client base to do the same. I'm exploring alternatives, but right now linux has a slight lead on the Mac.

Have to get back to work, but will offer a few interesting links:
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196602058
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsid=7675
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36653
http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2006/10/24/0456/5625
http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/ -- (search for vista)

Thanks for all the advice, guys. I will try Acronis tomorrow, which I see advertised as being able to work with Vista as well....