Copying Old Hard Drive to New PC - Comments Page 1

I really like Acronis. I routinely backup my HDD to another (removable) HDD and have had NO problems. I can boot from either drive and have the same information.

I'll put in another plug for Acronis...I had an intermittent HDD failure, but was able to install and do a full disk image onto an external drive and then transfer it to a new internal drive. I thought I was going to have to rebuild the system (data and applications) but was up and running as if nothing had happened...really impressive!

I have System Commander 8.0 Installed on a 20GB drive.....not sure if this would be a problem when copying drives as follows..... Using Norton Ghost to copy the 20GB drive to a new 80GB drive was unsuccessfull. "Missing NTLDR" was the reported error on boot. Nobody seems to be able to rectify this problem because googling for a solution to this apparently common problem using Nortons program. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Question: I have a 2k OS the drive will not boot long story I will leave it at that. I want to put it in an external USB case and get the files I need then reformat and use. The problem will be that there will for a while be two C drives! How do I over come this, so I can get the information off the old C:\ HDD. Also, what would the initial jumper settings be?

EDITOR'S NOTE: You won't have two C: drives. Windows will assign the second drive it's own drive letter, probably D. Make sure the jumper settings on the secondary drive are Slave or Cable Select.

Is there some way to install an IDE hard drive from my old (dead) computer into my new computer (which has a SATA hard drive)? I'm trying to avoid fixing the old computer just to retrieve the files I need.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, the two drives can co-exist, as long as your motherboard has the IDE drive connectors. Failing that, you can buy an adapter card to plug your drive into.

I think this might be a tricky one. My laptop has a short and cannot be charged. And yes battery is dead. Rather than pay for a new mother board to be installed I opted to buy a new computer. Question; is there anyway for me to retrieve my documents/ pictures from my hard drive without taking it to a professional. Is there a device I can hook my hard drive up to and transfer to my new computer?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, you can get an external enclosure for the laptop hard drive and turn it into portable storage that can be connected to another computer via USB cable.

My computer completely crashed and will not load. It keeps looping around to the start up. My question is I have an extra hard drive that I stored all my graphic files on and I want to transfer these files to my new computer. Can I do this in dos? If so , how.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sure, you'll need to install the drive as a secondary drive in the new computer, then copy them just like any other files. See http://askbobrankin.com/add_a_second_hard_drive.html

My old Profile 2 desktop is unable to power on and it's not worth fixing a faulty internal power supply or connector, but I'd like to retrieve personal files from its hard drive and transfer them to my new laptop. I assume I have to remove the old hard drive, but then what? How do I access it? And whats the best way to transfer photos? tx

Can I copy the partition from my laptop hard drive and use it and the os and all with the new computer that I am putting a new drive into, Or do i have to reinstall each and every program and re-do all the settings?

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's possible. Try a disk imager like Acronis, then restore the image to the new drive.

My old PC died recently, it still gets power but gets as far as the windows start up and powers out so I bought a new laptop and was wondering how I would go about transfering files(music, photos etc) from the old desktop to the new laptop.

EDITOR'S NOTE: You can buy a kit to convert an internal hard drive to an external hard drive, and plug it into your laptop's USB port. One company that makes these kits is Addonics.

my motherboard died can i put the Hard drive from that computer into another computer that i have so i will not lose the files that i have?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, if the hard drive is not damaged, it should work fine in another computer.

My old PC is running Windows XP and my new one will be running Vista. Will Copy Commander take this into account and not move my old OS with everything else?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm not familiar with Copy Commander, but Vista does have a data migration tool.

Hi, I have given my old pc away to my mum to replace her old one. If I clone her xp harddrive using spotmua or hdclone to a new one will it work in the new pc? would I have to install the old drive in the new pc to clone it or vise versa? Will this work or will I need to reinstall xp and all her settings and programs?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why do you want to clone the old drive? Why not just install it in the new PC as a second drive?

I saw a ad on TV about Comcast free software, so I download it off the Mcafee website. I installed it, everything seen OK until the spyware took out important programs that make the PC run, and when I turned on the PC it took a long time to start and the task bar would not come on, programs wouldn't start. Now I will have to copy everything to another hard drive and restore my PC. I want to know how I can copy all my data from my old hard drive to my new external hard drive without losing it?

My old PC freezes as soon as the desktop appears. What can I do to repair or recover my documents from the computer... Will reinstalling windows help... windows 95 to XP..

EDITOR'S NOTE: It might help. But going into Safe Mode during startup may also get you in to recover your documents. You can also consider removing the drive and putting it in an external enclosure. See http://askbobrankin.com/convert_internal_hard_drive_to_external.html

i have a hard drive that came out of my old HP computer and when i hook it up its tells me it dosent recognizes it. The hp had a celeron processer and the newer one has a AMD what do i do ?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The processor type is not relevant. You may have better luck if you hook up the drive as an external USB connected drive.

i recently got a new computer and i want to put my old hard drive in it and use the new one that came with it as a slave. it worked great in the old computer but in the new one it ask if i want to start in safe mode or normal. no matter which one i choose it starts over and does the same thing. i have even tried to use ghost and copy the old harddrive over to the new one. it still does the same thing. it still works fine in the old computer.do you have any ideas.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's the problem... your old hard drive is telling Windows to load all the hardware drivers for the old system, but your new system requires different drivers. You can probably boot into Safe Mode, then find and install the correct drivers. You probably got the drivers on CDs wth your new system. If not, some Googling will help you find them.

Hi, I have a Quantum Fireball CX 6.8 AT 3.5 Series Hard Drive from my Pentium III Gateeway PC. I've takent he hard drive out and would like to connect it to my Dell Laptop to retrieve all the old files. How can I do this? 40 pin to USB?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The easiest way is with a USB enclosure kit to turn it into an external drive. You connect the 40-pin cable inside the kit, and connect the drive via USB.

Okay, if I get a new hard drive with a bigger capacity and copy everything from my old hard drive to a new one, my OS will still run like my original one right?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, your OS should run the same, maybe better with the extra space!

I had a compac pressario the the mother board was damaged.So i bought another compac pressario and would like to add my old harddrive as a extra, but when i followed your directions to add a second harddrive i only found 2 sata ports and both were being used. one by the hrddrive and one by the cd-rom there were no others. is there any way else to retrive my old data from the old harddive or to connect it to computer as a second

EDITOR'S NOTE: Connect it as an external drive. See http://askbobrankin.com/convert_internal_hard_drive_to_external.html