catman161 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 (edited) Hi Guys,I'm thinking of putting a larger hard drive into my HP pavilion DV2530ea laptop as my current one 150GB is just not big enough when I am doing planetary avi capture-they soon add up when doing a few runs on a good night!Is there a way of cloning my current hard drive onto the new one so I have everything (software/files/windows etc) that I have on my laptop now onto a new one? Is it some sort of 3rd party software that can do this or is it a piece of hardware that I need to purchase?? Any recommendations??Thanks Edited February 23, 2014 by catman161 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 I should be clear I wanting to basically just copy across how my laptop works now into the new drive. So if I can do that, that's awesome and also will I have to reinstall windows from scratch?? Sorry I am not very techy when it comes to bigger things like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kheldar Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Bad idea, don't do it - clean install, your karma will be rewarded if you do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 It is possible to clone a drive. I think the software is called, somewhat imaginatively, 'clone drive'. I'm not sure of the procedure but you'd need to be able to connect the new drive to the computer some how. My plan would be to buy a large portable hard disk and swap out the disk, put the new disc in your computer and the old one back in the caddy. I'd do a fresh install as well rather than putting the old install on a new drive but that's just me. If you did a fresh install and kept your old drive you'd still have access to everything and your have a fresh computer. If you really want to avoid doing this or aren't happy swapping drive and what not I might have a spare caddy I could lend you so you only need to buy a new drive. Always handy to have a portable drive, though. Back ups of important files and all that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Yeah, what kheldar said! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Seem to have one with a c and one with a k. Not sure how that happened! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Hi Felix, Good advice from Stephen, if you did decide to upgrade BUT:- If the device is plain running out of space then I would suggest a large usb HD (3Tb in tesco £87!!),'nas' or network attached storage, that way could easily be shared between devices. If your laptop has a 150Gb hd, then it will be of a vintage and running out of steam processing. You would be throwing cash away by upgrading the lappy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 PS. If you did decide to clone you can easily 'ghost' an image accross, but this is not the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 That Damian, is very sensible advice. If you get a large USB drive you can set up a 'home group' in windows across your computers and leave the USB on the desktop but access it over your network as if it were connected to your lappy. That's what I'd do. All that stuff about swapping disks was the hard solution to a simple problem. Definitely don't clone windows, whatever you do, though. That's still right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 +1 for a Nas (Network Access Storage). Get one with a couple of TB in it, 2x2 for example, 2TB to store all your stuff on, the other 2TB to Raid it across (Backup) and as it is plugged in your router, you can access all your stuff from another computer or IPhone/Android. (Not done this myself yet but thats my plan). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Without knowing your laptop - Cloning is simple fast and is not, IMHO, a bad idea - I have been doing it for years (20yrs+) on Servers/Desktops (Windows/Unix/Linux) - So long as you have a desk top (or can borrow one) with the correct connection type. The the Laptop should be sata (unless older you will be Pata) connection - either way it doesn't matter you just need the same connection type in the Desktop as your Laptop. Basically you will attach the two drives (old and new laptop) to the Desktop and use the clone s/w from boot USB or CD (no need to load the operating system on the Desktop). Its just a case of making sure you are using your old laptop drive as the source and the new one as the destination. All modern cloning s/w will take care of cylinder/tracking differences between the old and new drives. Clone all the partitions(i.e Clone the disk) from the old laptop as one will contain your Windows Image for clean restores and remember to make your destination partition larger than the source else you will end up with the same drive C: size and a lot of unused partition space. The best thing about cloning is you don't destroy your old drive so any problems you can just put the old drive back into the laptop but there normally no problems. How wise to spend £50 on a new drive that depends on your old laptop - if you are happy with its speed etc then £50 won't go far towards a new Laptop and NAS/USB are slow if you are using your laptop outside and need to access files etc fast. They are fine as backup/Archiving devices Example drive for laptop (7200rpm so fast) is 1tb - subject to your bios support it but you should be ok by making smaller partitions of 500gb £43 - http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate-1tb-barracuda-sata-6gb-s-64mb-7200rpm-hard-drive-7XD5.html?src=2 or £75 for a SSD/HDD combo like this one http://www.ebuyer.com/480284-seagate-1tb-sshd-ideal-ps4-upgrade-st1000lm014?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CP7O0p6K47wCFZDKtAodAhQADA There is plenty of free Cloning s/w that is 100% reliable and plenty of very good how to's on the Internet. If you are bothered doing it yourself then a good local PC guy/girl(?) should charge no more than £40 tops plus the cost of the new drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 This might be the same thing as trying to get CDC to talk to my mount. Maybe I need to start reading the instructions... It would be handy to keep the same set up. And you wouldn't have to download all the updates and drivers and software. But, oh man. New windows is like a new car. You should so do it. It's like cornflakes. You'll have forgotten how nice it is. I should point out that I'd be shouting at the screen pointing out that stash had a reasoned argument and I just think it's nice to have new windows. It's... It's not very compelling, is it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Until you find that the "new" version of Windows doesn't like your old drivers and there are no new drivers as they tend to be behind the Operating system updates. There is nothing new really in Windows they just move things around to make it look new and justify the upgrade price - Bit like putting a sporty exhaust and alloys/low profiles on a Fiat 500 and thinking you have a Ferrari - nothing against Fiat 500 if you have one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 There are mixed messages here :- 1. Cloning drives is simple and relatively easy for someone who is pc savvy to do. would I reccomend doing so no. Especially if you have valuable data not stored on a second physical drive or properly backed up, or have your licensed software available to re-install from your own media. 2. External drives are as near as dammit quick as old 5400 rpm drives you regularly find in laptops. Your data transfer rate will be good. 3. A simple external drive can be shared around your home IT, Tesco are flogging 3TB USB3 drives for £87. This equates to a clone drive and a second hand hard disk upgrade on an old laptop. 4. There are large differences between WXP,W7 and W8 besides device driver incompatibility.(not forgetting about NT, 2000 (oh and Vista/ME) 5. Please don't remnd me about OS2, still have nightmares about supporting a 2000 seat environment.Amongst the other 5000 desktops running MS. All the consultancy time here we could have bought Felix a new laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ecopley Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 When I said new windows I meant a fresh install with no extras that you don't need rather than the next version. But your point stands. Yesterday I reinstalled windows on a mates machine. When I loaded ie to get drivers I found that there wasn't even a generic lan driver. It can be a pain, that's for sure. So a negative and a personal preference vs. A well reasoned argument. I'll get my coat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 There are mixed messages here :- 1. Cloning drives is simple and relatively easy for someone who is pc savvy to do. would I reccomend doing so no. Especially if you have valuable data not stored on a second physical drive or properly backed up, or have your licensed software available to re-install from your own media. 2. External drives are as near as dammit quick as old 5400 rpm drives you regularly find in laptops. Your data transfer rate will be good. 3. A simple external drive can be shared around your home IT, Tesco are flogging 3TB USB3 drives for £87. This equates to a clone drive and a second hand hard disk upgrade on an old laptop. 4. There are large differences between WXP,W7 and W8 besides device driver incompatibility.(not forgetting about NT, 2000 (oh and Vista/ME) 5. Please don't remnd me about OS2, still have nightmares about supporting a 2000 seat environment.Amongst the other 5000 desktops running MS. All the consultancy time here we could have bought Felix a new laptop We should just leave at we disagree as that is not helping Felix. Except for backing up - that goes without saying - but many ignore and pay the price. "All the consultancy time here we could have bought Felix a new laptop" - but not repay the consultancy Felix and others could charge me and many other newbies on Astro stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Wow! Thanks for the replies guys certainly some different views/opinions. Well I actually have a 320GB sata 2.5inch hard drive that I wanted to put in my laptop but wanted to somehow make an "image" of my current hard drive on so I don't have to bother reinstalling everything. Like I said i'm not that savvy (I'm alright but not qualified in any way) so I am not sure if thats possible. But I have lots to think on. Thanks all for the help and advice, much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I've cloned drives in the past with good success. Remember that the OS and drivers (for all the devices except the HDD itself) are not changing so cloning won't impact performance in any way. The key is to use a software that verifies written data as it is copied. You would hate to rely on a clone of your drive that hadn't been copied properly. The problem is that you clone all of the problems too. Any software faults, misconfigurations, etc., are all cloned. That's why a clean install is sometimes a better option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Thanks Craig the laptop is currently copying the internal HDD to an external one now as we "speak" then when the new, much larger internal drive arrives I can copy it on to that and get back up and running in hopefully not too much time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AstroOlly Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Thanks Craig the laptop is currently copying the internal HDD to an external one now as we "speak" then when the new, much larger internal drive arrives I can copy it on to that and get back up and running in hopefully not too much time. It doesn't work like that, you can't just copy it, you have to clone it properly, using cloning software. You can't copy the contents onto another drive and then copy it back onto a new drive. Olly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 It doesn't work like that, you can't just copy it, you have to clone it properly, using cloning software. You can't copy the contents onto another drive and then copy it back onto a new drive. Olly No worries olly I have, just me being lazy with the terminology. I have cloned it (and the recovery partition) with Paragon Drive Copy professional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AstroOlly Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 No worries olly I have, just me being lazy with the terminology. I have cloned it (and the recovery partition) with Paragon Drive Copy professional. Sorry I thought you had just copied it I used to be an Computer technician, so was just wanting to make sure you had used the correct software, and the paragon is good. Regards Olly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Hi Felix, If you get stuck drop me a pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Thanks Damian, I think it should be ok. When the new hard drive arrives I will whack it in an use the software to put the image of my cloned hard drive onto that. I have back everything up anyway in case of disaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Hi Felix, If you have backed up, my work here is done, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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