Tech Ques: Cloning primary harddrive
 

My primary harddrive is getting a bit long in the tooth and I'd like to get something bigger, preferably one of the higher RPM models to improve access times. My current drive despite a serious campaign of reductions and defrags is still the bottleneck in performance on my pc.

So I'm looking for a FREE tool to clone the drive onto a new one. Ideally I'll install the new one on the PC, clone it, then switch the new one to the primary drive. Any suggested tools to do this so i can boot from the new drive?

Thanks!

I don't know of any freeware tool to accomplish this. I am sure there are some out there. I use Acronis and it works perfectly for this. I think the Acronis client is something like 20 bucks or so.

Chris,

If you buy a boxed drive, not an OEM one, they should come with the software that will do that for you. Check out Maxtor/Seagate's Maxblast here

Acronis will let you download their software and use it for 15 days before the "trial period" expires and you have to pay for it.

Do yourself a favor and go with SATAII. Acronis should be able to clone from ATA drives to SATAII drives.

Much, much faster.

It depends on your definition of free! Find the tool of choice. Go to E Mule, and there it is, for free.

ghost v12.0, free trial download (about 70MB)
google it to find a download site. you can clone your entire primary to secondary.

If you are looking for a absolutley free application be careful, I've been burned trying
to get something for nothing :)

Are you running XP or Vista? I have heard some horror stories with cloning Vista, the infamous error “This copy of Vista is no longer Genuine, Activate Online, 3 days remaining.” shows up.
and your valid activation key doesn't work??

Second on Ghost or Robocopy, but for free believe it or not Xcopy works wonders.

There is an adapter (Frys has it) that allows you to plug your new drive into the adapter, then plug the USB plug cable into the computer. Start most of the software above and then reboot the computer. It will clone the new drive to the old one in one maneuver. Then unplug the new drive, replace the old drive with the new fast one and you are off.

While you are at it, put the old boot drive in your computer as the "D" drive and have lots more space.

Not sure if you'd see a big difference if you were cloned on a faster drive. Usually what slows a machine down is the junk Windows accumulates like .dll's, other shared files, and registry entries.

If you want to see real improvement, it usually takes format c: /s and then reinstalling all your software. It's a pain in the arse, but should be done every year or two or when you notice significant slow down.

Actually Terry, that's not really true. What hoses windows up is all the accumulated crap that windows allows in. This crap is doing things on your machine that you dont want or need done. When properly configured, you can walk thru the vally of the shadow of death & fear no evil.

Install:
Avast anti-virus
AVG anti spyware
Winpatrol
Cacheman
Diskkeeper
Registry Fix
Firefox
Thunderbird

Never install
AOL
Real Player
any crap that tells you to on the internet

Worries of the type most PC users deal with continually, will be a distant memory.

One more thing to add to the list of "do not install" programs is frigging Norton anti-virus. Such a memory hog that it should be banned.

Terry, the faster speed means faster access time, so yes you will see a big difference. I did a "Drive clone" on my laptop drive, going from 5400 to 7200 rpms. No other change in the programs on the drive and it cut my boot up time by at least 50%.

Cloning a drive should defrag it as well.

Thanks for all the ideas guys. I saw XXcopy as a pretty tried and true solution. I've actually gone through and uninstalled a lot of windows crap, I'd love to find another program to sort thru the windows registry and all the old DLL's that aren't being used as well.

backups daily right now as I cut a wide path throough my drive. Trying to avoid buying a new PC.

Problem really is that this 13GB drive I have has been moved into it's THIRD computer which means I've been using this windows95 to 98 to XP upgraded drive for over 6 years and I'm sure it's a disaster. I remember "fixing" it with a "format c:" once years ago due to really bad
virii (?) but I'm sure it's a real data mess.

Right now I don't have the time to build a new drive so this should get me by...

Chris,

When you get a chance, dump the old drive. A 13 gig drive has to be 5-6 years old and is LIGHT YEARS behind anything out there now. You can get a descent 300 gig drive these days for under $100 that will be a lot better than what you are fussing with now.

Find a new big and fast drive and clone the info to the new drive and have fun. Should give you another year or so on the computer.

Joe

13GB drive??? wow :)
I guess that leads me to ask what are the specs or your PC?
The drive may not be your (only) bottleneck.

I would still reformat the drive. Fresh install of Windows and programs. This will get you the best performance with your existing hardware.

If you only buy a new hard drive, buy something your bios(eprom) can recognize, make it primary and slave your existing 13gb to it. Then you can move critical files as necessary to the new drive. Backing up stuff is very good on older hardware. Most time they don't die a slow death.. they just quit. ;)

Internal hard drives are dirt cheap these days. For piece of mind I'd consider spending another $80 or so for a new 300GB secondary HD b4 reusing the old drive. Sounds like his old HD is nearing the end.

Edit - never mind. I'm typing so slowly this morning Joe beat me to it :)