Transfer Files between Hard Drive

I have Vostro 1500 with a 80GB Hard Drive and I bought a 320GB Hard Drive that I have hooked up right now through a SATA 2.5 HDD Case USB Transfer thing right now.

The instructions in the booklet are terrible and don't explain how to transfer the hard drive to the other one. Can someone explain how to move all the files from the 80GB to the 320GB so I can then put the 320GB into the laptop.

Screenshot attached of what I'm looking at at the moment.

Thanks

 

You need to get a drive imaging program and make an image of your current system drive. Restore the image onto your new hard drive. Swap hard drives.

Free one and tutorial here: http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/hot-image-your-pcs-hard-drive-with-driveimage-xml-326086.php

 

I would clone the existing HDD so that you create a new bootable HDD. Visit Acronis and get the trial version of TrueImage. I would then install it and make the bootable CD version and use that for the cloning. Leave the existing HDD as it is (ie don't wipe it) so you've got a bootable backup.

John

 

As John said, download the 30day trial of acronis true image

1)Clone the 80gb image of your current HD to your external 320gb HD

2)After you have so, Remove the 320gb out of the enclosure and stick it in your notebook. ta da!

3)Now slap your old 80gb internal HD into the SATA enclosure and turn it into a external drive for more space.

 

I should also add that Vista will probably notice that the HDD has changed so you'll need to phone up Microsoft, say you cloned the HDD and have an exchanged of long strongs of characters.

John

 

Hi
I don't mean to hijack this, but I had a question and just need someone to lead me to the right thread. I had a similar problem, meaning I just got an xps m1330 with a 120gb on it but my old compaq v3000 is dead and I need to get the information on that hard drive. I took it out and swapped it into the m1330, which obviously didn't work. now, I am not sure what to do. Do i need to get a sata-usb enclosure as well. how do I go about it. Again, I don't mean to hijack this but this thread is the closest I found that resembles my issue. Any help. Thanks

 

You cant just shove your old HD into a new computer. The driver and system files will all be wrong.

1) buy a SATA USB enclosure (assuming your v3000's HD was is SATA)

2) stick your hd it in the enclosure

3) plug it in your xps1330 through USB and recovery your stuff

 

Okay, you are going to want to purchase a SATA to USB adaptor.
This way, you can hook your old harddrive up to your xps 1330 via usb.

I have this adaptor and it is a lifesaver. It can hook up any mobile/desktop sata or ata harddrive up to the usb interface.
Simply connect the harddrive, plug in the usb, wait for the operating system to pick up the harddrive, and then transfer your files.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

I hope this is what youre looking for,

K-TRON

 

Oh, great. Thanks for the advice. I will order one right now. By the way, that adapter will let me pickup the information on the old hard drive even if the old one has an installed OS on it?

 

Yes it will, you will be able to access all of your files without booting into the operating system.
The adaptor makes the computer see the harddrive as a secondary device, so that it only boots from the other computers internal drive.

K-TRON

 

I want to add something I figured out when building my c90. Most any new notebook hdd is SATA, since you will be removing the installed hdd anyways and the new one is not installed anywhere if you have the stuff on hand like I did, you can save money/time and avoid the usb enclosure by just hooking your SATA HDD's to your desktop.

I personally wouldn't clone the drive, I look at new hardware as a new start and thus would do a fresh install to get back to square one, then I would just transfer over the files I need/want. This is a good way to do both a perfect system cleaning for virus/spyware/registry ect while also cleaning out old files that you dont use anymore ect, this is also the best time to download drivers for everything so you end up with the most up to date drivers.

 

Hey, K-tron...I got the cable from amazon and it worked great. I just wanted to come back and say thanks...
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