Installing a new hard drive

[realaleman]

Hi all,
My PC is now over 3 years old and seems to need a fresh install of XP. The 40Gb drive is also getting a bit full and so I’ve ordered a nice new 250Gb drive to replace it. I’ve printed out a nice article on how to install a hard drive, so no problems expected there, and I have of course got the XP disk that was supplied with the PC when new. I have all of drive C backed up on my external usb hard disk with SyncBack, so can I just restore all these files to the new drive after I’ve done the Windows installation and have the PC like it was before, but working like brand new? Perhaps someone like ACtheTROLL can point out any pitfalls that lie in wait for me.

Thanks in advance

[vehelpfulguy]

Is this a laptop or a desktop?

Is your hard disk connection an IDE one (older type) or a SATA one (newer type)?

I have never user SyncBack, but you say you have done a "backup", what sort of backup?

Have you just backed up individual files, or have you done a clone type backup, where it copies the whole disk?

If you have just backed up individual files that may not work because Windows has lots of hidden files that you may have missed.

Make sure you have done a clone or copy of the whole disk.

If you HAVE done that then how do you plan to do a restore?

After you put your new hard disk in with nothing on it and boot up your computer it may not recognise the external USB drive so you wont be able to do the restore.

Also, with nothing on your new drive, what are you going to "boot up" to get the machine going so you can even do the restore. Does SyncBack provide a diskette or CD based solution to allow you to boot up the PC?

I have never done a restore from an external USB device so maybe someone else can comment on how it is done.

[vehelpfulguy]

The reason I ask if it is a laptop or desktop is that if it is a desktop you may be able to add the second hard drive inside the case as a slave and leave the current one there.

I have a dekstop PC with two hard drives in it, a small "master" drive for Windows (40Gb or 80G) and a larger "slave" (250Gb) for my data.

When I want to do what you wish to do I use a product called Ghost (a few years old now).

I boot up the Ghost diskette and "clone" the small Windows drive contents to the larger drive.

This produces a "Ghost" image of the small hard drive.

I then put in a different master disk (another 40Gb drive), boot up the Ghost diskette and do a "restore" from the Ghost image on the large drive to the new 40Gb.

That way I can install Windows in about 5 minutes on a new hard drive.

As well as Ghost you can also use Acronis True Image to make a clone backup, then I believe you can "boot" Acronis from a CD if you want to do a restore (not used Acronis yet, in my to-do list).

[realaleman]

Thanks for your reply vehelpfulguy

The pc is a desktop with IDE connection.

SyncBack has copied all the files from drive C to a folder on drive F and lets me do an incremental backup every day of any files that have changed, so I have everything available on F:\backup\ where F: is a Maxtor 160Gb external hard disk.

My idea is to unplug the external disk while formatting the new disk and installing Windows XP, then when that is working I can plug in the external disk and it will be seen by windows juat as it was when I first used it.
What are the hidden files? This is what I'm worried about and why I posted this question.

[realaleman]

Only seen your 2nd answer after I replied.
I also have Acronis True Image but I couldnt relly make out what it was really for. The straightforward filecopy of SyncBack has let me recover individual files that have gone missing or whatever and I've been very happy with it, but will your cloning method work when transferring a 40Gb image to a 250Gb drive?

[vehelpfulguy]

>The pc is a desktop with IDE connection.

Hope the new drive you have ordered is also an IDE drive and not SATA!

Assuming there is room in your PC case then I would leave the 40Gb drive where it is, and then just add the new 250Gb drive as a slave.

There are some benefits in having Windows on its own on a small drive with your data on a separate drive.

One of course is that if your small "Windows" hard disk crashes you have not lost all your data.

If you wish to do this then there are some things to consider but I will not cover them here.

Let us know if that is what you plan to do.

[vehelpfulguy]

Sorry, thought you were going to do a "clone" install and not a new Windows XP install.

If you ARE going to do a new clean install do you have all the drivers to install on top of XP?

Without all the drivers (sound, graphics etc) some of your hardware components will not work.

To answer your specific question about restoring all the files from your external drive to your new drive, well I dont think that will work.

Once you have installed your new XP and booted up the computer into Windows, then Windows will "protect" certain files to stop them being overwritten.

If you try to copy all the files from your USB drive to your new drive some will copy (the unprotected ones) and some wont copy (the protected ones).

Your Windows will then be in a half and half state, many things will not work, and it will probably cause you all sorts of problems.

[vehelpfulguy]

>What are the hidden files?

There are thousands of files on your computer.

Windows can set a "switch" against some of them to say they are "system" files for example (important Windows files).

It can also set a switch against some to say they are "hidden" files (they are on your disk but the ordinairy user cannot see them).

If you know what you are doing there are ways of "seeing" hidden files, but if you use a program to copy all the files on your hard disk (like SyncBack) it may well not copy hidden files.

Without these hidden files Windows will not work.

That is why doing a complete clone or copy of your hard disk is better because this copies all sysytem files and hidden files.

[vehelpfulguy]

I am going to show you something fairly technical which will teach you about hidden files.

If you dont want to do it, or dont understand it, then fine, but others may find it useful.

Go to your Windows start menu and select the Run option.

In the Run window type Cmd and press OK

A small black Window will open with the name of a directory like C:\Documents and Settings\.......

Next to the flashing cursor type CD\ and press enter

The directory will now show C:\>

This is your C root directory

Type DIR and press enter to list all your files in the root

I get 2 files (AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS plus three folders)

Now type attrib *.* and press enter (that is "attrib", space, asterisk, full stop, asterisk

This is showing you all the attributes of the files in your root.

Note there are files called boot.ini, io.sys. msdos.sys and so on.

But none of these files appeared when you typed DIR.

Well if you look to the LEFT of the files there is a H.

This is saying they are hidden files, the S is saying they are system files.

Note the only two that appeared when you did DIR were the 2 WITHOUT the H against them.

THESE ARE VERY IMPORANT WINDOW FILES. NEVER TOUCH THEM OR YOUR WINDOWS WILL STOP WORKING.

So as you can see, there are all sorts of hidden files in Windows and if you dont copy them across to your external drive your Windows sysytem will never work when you come to restore.

Again, a clone or copy of the disk will pick up all these important hidden Windows files which is why it is best to do a clone.

[ACtheTROLL]

real
you and vhg seem to have the practicalities sorted
I agree with the idea of adding the 250 as a second drive

but it's 3 years old - so I'd download the full set of drivers - and bios updates and start from scratch (also make sure you have the latest full service pack updates.

do it before you start.... and update the bios also

fit the new drive - partition it (you'll end up with about 238Gb partitioned space) - now - it it was me I'd make a 228Gb partition
and a 10Gb partition after it at the end of the disk

format both and then just copy the entire 40Gb to a folder on the new drive - that way you'll keep your files AND progs for the moment - don't take it for granted that none of your progs will work - don't be frightened to try them first before you delete them.

I always shift the CD/DVD to W: before fitting a new drive
and the little 10Gb partition - make it Z:
(it's just tidier)
then set to and install the system, the drivers
mobo, video, sound - and then the others ....
install the service pack.
install acronis and create a full image of your shiny new system c:\

now install your virus scanner - connect the internet - and run windows update

then install your progs restore your docs.... and whatever
and you are sorted

if you want you can then do an incremental backup - which will still leave the clean install - but give the option to restore all the progs as well.

finally - shift the swapfile to the ikkle 10Gb partition - you should also be able to store the first system image in there as well (you should also create a DVD of the image files as well)

job done - a propper bomb proof install.