Problem replacing/upgrading hard drive

[Andy]

I have purchased a 80Gb hard disk to replace my current
20Gb running XP Pro and want to copy my entire system to
the new drive, so that I can remove the old drive.
I tried copying the partition using Partition Magic, which
it did, but the new drive will not boot once the old drive
is removed - I think because it has been assigned as drive
D: whereas the copied partition will have references to
drive C:.
I didn't fancy trying to change the drive letter to C:
because I would need to redefine the current C: drive
first - which would mean that one wouldn't boot either ?
Is there an easier way ?

Andy.

[Alvin A Brown]

Hello Andy

This is what I would do, install the new drive 80gb, load your OS
and all drivers ok.

Then install the hd 2 as a slave and just copy your data over ok very
easy, and would take sometime, but you will be happy in the end, it's
like doing a clean install. However some user may feel that you need
to go a different route, but it's your call

Alvin


Andy wrote:

> I have purchased a 80Gb hard disk to replace my current
> 20Gb running XP Pro and want to copy my entire system to
> the new drive, so that I can remove the old drive.
> I tried copying the partition using Partition Magic, which
> it did, but the new drive will not boot once the old drive
> is removed - I think because it has been assigned as drive
> D: whereas the copied partition will have references to
> drive C:.
> I didn't fancy trying to change the drive letter to C:
> because I would need to redefine the current C: drive
> first - which would mean that one wouldn't boot either ?
> Is there an easier way ?
>
> Andy.

[Roy Rogers]

PM partition copy does work...make sure you've marked your new boot
partition as "active". Remove the old drive. If it still doesn't boot,
boot to your WinXP installation CD and run "Recovery Console". From there,
you'll want to run "fixmbr" and "fixboot". That should get you going again.
Recovery Console does have help available, or you can reference XP's "Help
and Support Center" app for more information. Just do a search on recovery
console.

Regards.

> Brown" > wrote in message
...
> Hello Andy
>
> This is what I would do, install the new drive 80gb, load your OS
> and all drivers ok.
>
> Then install the hd 2 as a slave and just copy your data over ok very
> easy, and would take sometime, but you will be happy in the end, it's
> like doing a clean install. However some user may feel that you need
> to go a different route, but it's your call
>
> Alvin
>
>
> Andy wrote:
>
> > I have purchased a 80Gb hard disk to replace my current
> > 20Gb running XP Pro and want to copy my entire system to
> > the new drive, so that I can remove the old drive.
> > I tried copying the partition using Partition Magic, which
> > it did, but the new drive will not boot once the old drive
> > is removed - I think because it has been assigned as drive
> > D: whereas the copied partition will have references to
> > drive C:.
> > I didn't fancy trying to change the drive letter to C:
> > because I would need to redefine the current C: drive
> > first - which would mean that one wouldn't boot either ?
> > Is there an easier way ?
> >
> > Andy.
>

[Andy]

I tried the recovery console, but can still only boot up
to the welcome to windows screen when it hangs without
bringing up the logon options - guess I'll be doing it
the long way ie re-install from scratch.

Thanks anyway.


>-----Original Message-----
>PM partition copy does work...make sure you've marked
your new boot
>partition as "active". Remove the old drive. If it
still doesn't boot,
>boot to your WinXP installation CD and run "Recovery
Console". From there,
>you'll want to run "fixmbr" and "fixboot". That should
get you going again.
>Recovery Console does have help available, or you can
reference XP's "Help
>and Support Center" app for more information. Just do a
search on recovery
>console.
>
>Regards.
>
>> Brown" > wrote in message
...
>> Hello Andy
>>
>> This is what I would do, install the new drive 80gb,
load your OS
>> and all drivers ok.
>>
>> Then install the hd 2 as a slave and just copy your
data over ok very
>> easy, and would take sometime, but you will be happy
in the end, it's
>> like doing a clean install. However some user may feel
that you need
>> to go a different route, but it's your call
>>
>> Alvin
>>
>>
>> Andy wrote:
>>
>> > I have purchased a 80Gb hard disk to replace my
current
>> > 20Gb running XP Pro and want to copy my entire
system to
>> > the new drive, so that I can remove the old drive.
>> > I tried copying the partition using Partition Magic,
which
>> > it did, but the new drive will not boot once the old
drive
>> > is removed - I think because it has been assigned as
drive
>> > D: whereas the copied partition will have references
to
>> > drive C:.
>> > I didn't fancy trying to change the drive letter to
C:
>> > because I would need to redefine the current C: drive
>> > first - which would mean that one wouldn't boot
either ?
>> > Is there an easier way ?
>> >
>> > Andy.
>>
>
>
>.
>

[Donald Link]

Most new drives have an utility to transfers all files including systems.
Both my Maxtor and Western Digital has them. All you do is set the new
drive as slave and use MaxBlast (Maxtor) and it flawlessly copied the files
to the new drive. Switched the slave to master and off it goes. I have
done this on 4 drives recently.




"Andy" > wrote in message
...
> I have purchased a 80Gb hard disk to replace my current
> 20Gb running XP Pro and want to copy my entire system to
> the new drive, so that I can remove the old drive.
> I tried copying the partition using Partition Magic, which
> it did, but the new drive will not boot once the old drive
> is removed - I think because it has been assigned as drive
> D: whereas the copied partition will have references to
> drive C:.
> I didn't fancy trying to change the drive letter to C:
> because I would need to redefine the current C: drive
> first - which would mean that one wouldn't boot either ?
> Is there an easier way ?
>
> Andy.