The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Swapping Notebook Hard Drive...

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by icedout297, Sep 29, 2007.

  1. icedout297

    icedout297 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    22
    Messages:
    143
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Hello everyone,

    I wanted to swap out my 80gb 5400 RPM for a ~150-200gb 7200 RPM hard drive. I was wondering if there was a way that I could do this without reformatting? I just want to transfer my entire current hard drive to the new one.

    If so, how would I go about doing this? Also could anyone point me in the right direction to a good one? Thank you in advance!
     
    icedout297, Sep 29, 2007
    #1
  2. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

    Reputations:
    5,504
    Messages:
    9,788
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    I don't believe so. You could argue for making an image of the previous disc, but I've never seen that work out well. You might as well just reinstall the OS and transfer the data separately.
     
    Lithus, Sep 29, 2007
    #2
  3. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,197
    Messages:
    28,842
    Likes Received:
    2,173
    Trophy Points:
    581
    Step 1: Get a replacement HDD of the right type (SATA / PATA) plus a compatible external enclosure.

    Step 2: Put the new HDD into the enclosure.

    Step 3: Go to Acronis and download the trial version of Migrate Easy and install it.

    Step 4. Plug in the external enclosure and run Migrate Easy to create an image of everything on the old HDD onto the new one (this may take a few hours). The software will automatically increase the size of the partitions to fill the new HDD (or there is a manual option).

    Step 5. Turn off computer, swap the HDDs.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Sep 29, 2007
    #3
  4. Lite

    Lite Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    342
    Messages:
    1,398
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Yeh , ive cloned disks before succsesfully... It works great , remember to get the right type of disk
     
    Lite, Sep 29, 2007
    #4
  5. icedout297

    icedout297 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    22
    Messages:
    143
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thank you guys. I appreciate it.
     
    icedout297, Sep 29, 2007
    #5
  6. Mr. Wonderful

    Mr. Wonderful Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    10
    Messages:
    449
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Are there any downsides to not reinstalling the OS/using the method described above? I should be swapping my HDD later this month.
     
    Mr. Wonderful, Sep 29, 2007
    #6
  7. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,197
    Messages:
    28,842
    Likes Received:
    2,173
    Trophy Points:
    581
    Reinstallation means that your operating system has a new clean start. However, if you are like me and have a multitude of applications that you use from time to time then it can take a couple of days to get everything installed (and even then some get missed, to be discovered absent at some inconvenient moment). In this case cloning is the preferred route.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Sep 29, 2007
    #7