Copying Hard disc

[appreciative]

Hi, My external hard drive has started sqealing/squeaking - looks like another needed. What is the quickest way to copy its contents to a new one as the longer it is on the louder it becomes. Any recommendations for external hard drives? Any help would be gratefully received. What with DVD's and PC's I think I'll take up gardening!! Thank you and kindest regards to all, .

[garfield]

Unless you have an operating system installed on it you can just copy and paste the entire drive to the new one.

[Hymie]

Before it dies completely, copy anything vital onto either your PC hard drive or burn to a CD/DVD.

[ACtheTROLL]

you can image the drive ot copy the data - copying the data is less timeconsuming - imaging will save the operating system as well

if there is a lot of data - or decide to image ---- you might end up with a dead drive

copying data ... at least you'll get some of it

[ChuckFickens]

external drive AC :)

buy new drive, plug both in...

open my computer, double click the icon for the old drive to open it and then press CTRL+a to select everything, followed by CTRL+c to copy it.

go back to my computer, double click icon for the new drive to open it, press CTRL+v to paste the copy of the stuff from the old drive to the new one.

[ACtheTROLL]

if the drive does die - put it in the fridge for a few hours - then try again - it sometimes works

[ABerrant]

Does the external drive have a fan?

I'd be inclined to check if fan bearings have worn before going through the rigmarole and expense of replacing a perhaps non-faulty hard drive.