Exchanging Hard Drives

[Marcie]

I have a question and I hope this doesn't get confusing. My C: drive is
close to being full, it's 8 years old and only 12gb. I want to place all the
information on my 80gb external hard drive and buy a new 80gb for my new
external drive and use my old external for my new C: drive. Is that
possible? Or do I need to do a complete Windows XP install on the new drive?
Does that make sense? I really would like to keep all the information I
already have on my original drive.
Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[Ron Sommer]

You can connect the new drive to the computer using the CD Rom cable.
Transfer the files from the external drive to the new drive.
Clone the 12 GB to the external drive.
Swap the drives.
--
Ronald Sommer

"Marcie" > wrote in message
...
:I have a question and I hope this doesn't get confusing. My C: drive is
: close to being full, it's 8 years old and only 12gb. I want to place all
the
: information on my 80gb external hard drive and buy a new 80gb for my new
: external drive and use my old external for my new C: drive. Is that
: possible? Or do I need to do a complete Windows XP install on the new
drive?
: Does that make sense? I really would like to keep all the information I
: already have on my original drive.
: Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[Anna]

> "Marcie" > wrote in message
> ...
> :I have a question and I hope this doesn't get confusing. My C: drive is
> : close to being full, it's 8 years old and only 12gb. I want to place
> all
> the
> : information on my 80gb external hard drive and buy a new 80gb for my new
> : external drive and use my old external for my new C: drive. Is that
> : possible? Or do I need to do a complete Windows XP install on the new
> drive?
> : Does that make sense? I really would like to keep all the information I
> : already have on my original drive.
> : Any help is appreciated, thanks!



"Ron Sommer" > wrote in message
...
> You can connect the new drive to the computer using the CD Rom cable.
> Transfer the files from the external drive to the new drive.
> Clone the 12 GB to the external drive.
> Swap the drives.
> --
> Ronald Sommer


Marcie:
Just to "flesh out" what Ronald is suggesting...

Your present C: hard drive (HDD) - the 12 GB HDD - contains your XP
operating system (OS) and probably your programs and user-created data. I
don't know what's presently on your 80 GB external HDD but I assume it
contains material that you've backed up from your C: HDD, right? It does
*not* contain the XP OS, right? On the other hand, *if* your present 80 GB
external HDD *is* a clone of your 12 GB HDD and thus contains the XP OS
together with your programs & applications, then (and only then) could you
install that HDD in your machine as the new C: drive to replace your current
12 GB C: HDD.

Assuming you purchase a retail, boxed version of an 80 GB HDD, it will come
with a disk copying program. You would use that program to "clone" the
contents of your 12 GB C: HDD to your new 80 GB HDD and that new 80 GB HDD
would become your new C: drive. Through the disk cloning process the 80 GB
HDD would be a copy of your old 12 GB HDD. But of course you would now have
all that additional disk space.

Following the disk cloning process, you would need to connect and configure
your 80 GB HDD as Primary Master - in effect, replacing the old 12 GB HDD.
Do you know how to do this? In connecting that HDD you would use the new
data (ribbon) cable that comes with the 80 GB HDD. (Again, I'm assuming you
will purchase a retail, boxed version of the HDD - if you purchase an "OEM"
version, i.e., a bare drive, it will neither include the disk copying
program I mentioned above nor a data cable).

It probably would be best to continue to use your "old" 80 GB external HDD
as is. And please consider purchasing a disk imaging program such as Acronis
True Image so that you can use that kind of program as a comprehensive
backup program in a routine manner. You might want to download a 15-day
trial version from http://www.acronis.com. You could use that program in
lieu of the disk copying program that I mentioned above.
Anna