Move entire HD content to a new hard disk

Hey everyone,

I am running into the limits of my 120 GB hard disk and was wondering if the following solution is viable:

- buy an external 2.5 inch 500 GB USB hard disk
- copy the entire content of the current hard disk (including Vista, etc.) to the USB hard disk
- disassemble the current hard disk from the notebook
- take the new hard disk out of its USB enclosure and mount it in the notebook

I simply do not have the time to go the preferred route of just installing a new hard drive and doing a complete re-install, so I'm hoping this will work.

Thanks in advance,

 

Yes what you want to do is possible.

You cant just drag & drop the files though you need to use some software.

Acronis can "clone" a disk and it will be a perfect copy including windows thats how I would personally do it.

Its called "upgrade disk" I think on the new version as you would be upgrading your hdd.

 

yes acronis true image will do this. I've done it may times.

 

as will several very capable specialist linux distros........

I usually do wht drive swap first. Put the new drive in the machine, hook the old drive up to the macine with a usb/drive adapter cable (cost about $25-), and then boot the machine up with the disk clone/image software/distro.

 

Do you have your Windows Vista restore disks?
If yes, I'd recommend that you do the following.
You need: A USB enclosure for your current HDD, I bought one for $10. Vista restore disk. Install disks for all your programs, like Microsoft Office, etc.

- install new HDD
- use Vista restore disks to install vista.
- update andy drivers you've updated since you bought the computer
- install all your other programs
- Put smaller HDD in USB enclosure, then transfer files to new larger HDD.


If you don't have your vista restore disks
Windows7 can create restore disks on its own at any time. I'm not sure about Vista though.

You can use Acronis, or another program to create what is called a disk image, burn it to DVD-R or CD-R, and install it on your new HDD. This will go much faster, and take up fewer disks, if you can first get as many files off your current HDD drive as possible. You could transfer them to another HDD via USB enclosure, or you could transfer them to another computer that it networked with your current computer. I'm talking about mp3, videos, pictures, word files, not OS system file that your OS needs to run.

Or you could upgrade to windows7
You could also use this opportunity to upgrade to windows7. I've upgraded two computer from vista to win7 and I've been pretty impressed with it. It is a fairly easy process, the trickiest part is going to your notebook manufacturers website to download all the drivers you'll need. I use thinkpads, Lenovo is pretty good about providing all the drivers you'd need. I'm not sure about other manufactuers. Ask around on these forums for your manufacturer to try and get an idea about how hard a clean install is.

To install windows7 you'd need to buy a disk. There is no need to buy the windows7 Home Premium Full version though, you could just buy the Windows7 home premium upgrade version. This saves you some money. The upgrade version costs around $100, the full version costs $190, the family pack upgrade version (good for 3 PCs) costs $200 (best deal).

Instructions on how to install windows7 on a new harddrive via upgrade media via Paul Thurott. I used the double install method which worked like a charm on 2 PCs.

If you choose this method to upgrade to windows7, do not install windows7 on your current harddrive that has vista. You want that harddrive, with it's vista install working, just incase you have any problems getting win7 installed on the new harddrive.