# Replacing old hard drive, need way to copy Windows installation across



## dhdude (Mar 1, 2011)

Hey Guys,
What would be the best way of copying/imaging the entire contents of an old system drive over to a replacement hard disk for the same machine? I need to copy the Windows installations and all other data to the new drive, and then format the old drive to use as a backup.

Any suggestions?


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## qubit (Mar 1, 2011)

Hard Disc Manager from Paragon is an awesome & reliable utility for doing everything you need with hard discs, including imaging. This is the one I use.

www.paragon-software.com


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## stock (Mar 1, 2011)

Another one here

http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/


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## assaulter_99 (Mar 1, 2011)

Or you could use Acronis True Image.


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## dhdude (Mar 1, 2011)

Thanks for the speedy replies guys  All of those pieces of software look good, I'll probably use Acronis, as I've used their software before, and the reviews seem good. Thanks for your help guys! 

PS I think Ill give all 3 a go and on a test machine and see which I prefer!


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## qubit (Mar 1, 2011)

dhdude said:


> PS I think Ill give all 3 a go and on a test machine and see which I prefer!



I think Paragon's gonna win.


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## stock (Mar 1, 2011)

Unfortunately you think wrong

Keep ya chin up


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## qubit (Mar 2, 2011)

stock said:


> Unfortunately you think wrong
> *
> Keep ya chin up*



With an avatar like that, it won't be just my chin! 

This one, in case it changes:


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 2, 2011)

Why not do a clean install?


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## dhdude (Mar 3, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Why not do a clean install?



Would normally, but this is a business machine with some VERY expensive legacy accounting software on XP, which is single activation, but I recently partitioned and put 7 on it but XP needs to be kept too. So imaging the drive is the only option unfortunately


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 3, 2011)

dhdude said:


> Would normally, but this is a business machine with some VERY expensive legacy accounting software on XP, which is single activation, but I recently partitioned and put 7 on it but XP needs to be kept too. So imaging the drive is the only option unfortunately



Ah ok. I hate that shit. One small mess up and you have an epic fail on your hands. I would PM cadaveca. Hes good with the imaging stuff IF hes willing to help. Hes kinda like the troll that lives under a bridge. He will want you to say his name backward and such.


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## CBRworm (Mar 6, 2011)

I have had good luck with Acronis and R-Drive Image.


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## dhdude (Apr 7, 2011)

Just a quick update guys, Acronis worked out best for me in the end  However, playing around with it on my home machine, I noticed it wont image my RAID array (in Sys Specs - ICH10R RAID). It wont even recognise that theres data on it; it just wont let me set it as a Source Disk (unselectable), and when set as a Destination Disk it won't see the partitions.

Any suggestions for software that might allow me to image my RAID array to my backup disk of same capacity?


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## qubit (Apr 7, 2011)

Paragon will work just fine with raid, my friend. 

I've not needed this feature so far personally, but look at the product specs and you'll see that it's built from the ground up to support it. And anyway, taken with all the other features, it makes this a winner.

Hey, post 3333! FTW


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## happita (Apr 7, 2011)

Just a question, don't mean to jack his thread, although the op basically had his question answered....
Isn't Acronis True Image a Western Digital only HDD disk imager? Or is it some other one?


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## dhdude (Apr 7, 2011)

Sweet thanks Qubit, will definitely give it another look


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## dhdude (Apr 7, 2011)

happita said:


> Just a question, don't mean to jack his thread, although the op basically had his question answered....
> Isn't Acronis True Image a Western Digital only HDD disk imager? Or is it some other one?



Nope, works on all disks, product designed for most hard drives out there, anyone care to back me up?


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## qubit (Apr 7, 2011)

happita said:


> Just a question, don't mean to jack his thread, although the op basically had his question answered....
> Isn't Acronis True Image a Western Digital only HDD disk imager? Or is it some other one?



Acronis is a general HD manager application which works on all drives. Perhaps you mean is there a cut down version that works on WD drives only? If so, I believe there is. Check out the WD website, it might be a free download.

EDIT: www.wdc.com


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## overclocking101 (Apr 7, 2011)

ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE FTW! or nortan ghost from HBCD but ATI works much better


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## Brandenburg (Apr 7, 2011)

i have used acronis and paragon...i like paragon the best i think


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## qubit (Apr 7, 2011)

*28-year-old Seagate ST-412 disk drive from 1983!*






Wow! Just look at the primitive mechanism for moving the heads - it's really similar to that of a floppy drive and might use dead reckoning.



> The 5.25-inch disk has four platters, eight read and write heads, spins at 3,600rpm, weighs 2.1kg (4.1lbs) and holds just 10MB of data. Seagate says it would have cost £263 back in 1983.
> 
> A desktop PC today could use a 3TB Barracuda disk: five platters with 10 read/write heads, spinning at 7,200rpm, and costing £190. In £/GB terms the ST-412 costs £26,300/GB while the Barracuda costs £0.06/GB.



The Register


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## Eric_On_Web (Apr 7, 2011)

qubit said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/110406/seagate_st_412.jpg
> 
> Wow! Just look at the primitive mechanism for moving the heads - it's really similar to that of a floppy drive and might use dead reckoning.
> 
> ...



That's the kind of useless stuff you keep image in your head all life long and bring it back on the table at chit chat computers party


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