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    hard drive clone using a 3rd usb ext drive

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by AcerNatto, Jun 27, 2010.

  1. AcerNatto

    AcerNatto Newbie

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    hello



    I have an Aspire 6920g with Vista Home Premium SP2 32-bit
    Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 2GHz
    3Gb DDR2 (4Gb max)
    250Gb HDD Hitachi
    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 HM

    Id like to upgrade it, as it is about 2 years old. however Ive heard that the components are made to work optimally together, so it is not advisable to change CPU and GC unless one is absolutely sure to improve performances. Also, Ive never done this before and I cannot afford it all to blow up at the moment. However, Im going to upgrade the ram and hd. Ive found on Amazon a 640Gb Samsung M7 5400RPM hd for £60. Ive read that you can buy a program and an external adapter to clone the disk, but I need to keep costs down, and since I own a Seagate 320Gb external hd and a trial version of the sofware can be downloaded online, I was wondering if it was feasable to clone the old drive to the external disk, and the clone it to the new drive.
    And I might never use the stuff again.
    Also, I have not quite understood the necessity of partitioning the disk in C: and D:. Mine is respectively 144 and 140 Gb.

    Id love it if anyone can help. :D

    Thanks! :)
     
    AcerNatto, Jun 27, 2010
    #1
  2. billyray

    billyray Notebook Consultant

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    You should make it a routine to clone your system drives on a regular basis, so now's a good time to start doing it! :)

    Therefore I recommend either you buy the program you have downloaded free, or use a free version. I use Clonezilla live! It's free and works great. I have also used DriveImage XML for years. Both of these programs are free downloads and work great. In both cases, it is advisable to boot up your lappy with either a CD boot disk, or a USB boot device. Have you ever done either?

    To use DriveImage XML, you must be operating under Windows, so it would be necessary to create a Windows cd like UBCD4Win. I've never tried to use DriveImage XML on the Windows drive, while it was currently the one booted up from. If you use Clonezilla live, the download can be burned to a CD, or copied to a USB zip drive. I've been using Clonezilla the most lately, since it is the easiest. But you have to get used to the techie user interface (but it's not that difficult.)

    If all of this seems too difficult, then maybe you should buy the software you have been looking into. :D The important thing is to start doing it.

    Most clone programs can not clone to a SMALLER disk then the one they are cloned from. But they CAN clone to a larger disk, though you may need to expland the partition when you finish to take advantage of the entire larger drive.

    As far as why make different logical drives on one physical drive, that comes down to personal preference.
     
    billyray, Jun 28, 2010
    #2