SOLVED Upgrading Hard Drive for the 1st time

[catilley1092]

A couple of days ago, during the TechNet discussion, I decided it is for me, and I plan to have it in late May, plenty of time before the discount runs out (the $260 something plan). I decided I needed more space, and with a great suggestion from Nibiru, I bought a WD Caviar Black 750GB drive, a huge upgrade from 320GB. I've reinstalled the OS that I have, to shed some weight prior to upgrading. I'm creating 3 backups, one from the Seagate backup software (slow), one from Macrium, two from the default Windows 7 backup (one complete backup, one complete disc image). If I'm missing one, please let me know. Draceena explained to me that my new SATA drive will plug right into where the other one does, so swapping should be no problem. Now, comes the tricky part, where I need some help. Which way would be best to load my files on the new drive, once it's in place? I've read disc images are best, but with no experience, I don't know. I'm not afraid to do the swap, but I don't know the easiest (& best) way to restore my files on the new drive. I burned the "rescue CD" from Macrium, I'll burn the Windows one too, after I create the backup & disc image. I want to have a plan in place by Wednesday, when the drive should be here. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, however being a rookie at this, please keep it as simple as possible.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Cat you don't need all those backups. You only need one good full image backup of your entire drive. It would be so much easier if you could connect both drives to the board, even if they wouldn't both mount. Once you are finished transferring all your files the second drive could then be disconnected to close the AIO case. However I don't know if you would have a second SATA port.

I have read enough of your post to know that the recovery partition is one of the items you will want to keep. It might be best if you only restored this recovery partition and then did a system recovery from this partition.

I know this will involve reinstalling all your programs. Changing a hard drive is one of the best times to do a system cleanup. I know I wouldn't want to install a new drive without having a fresh system.

 

[catilley1092]

Thanks Clifford, I did a recovery yesterday to clean up my system. But I didn't know that I could simply restore my recovery partition, and allow it to do the rest. I'll go in that direction, because it will format the drive for me (it's a "raw" drive), I guess that means that it's unformatted. But I don't mind reinstalling my programs manually, I don't have that many, and the latest versions can be downloaded & installed. That's what I did yesterday, although I only installed a few of them. I doubt that with this desktop that I have a second SATA port, being that it's a budget model desktop. I do have a full disc image created by the Windows backup, and one by Macrium, along with rescue CD's for both. The backup program that came with my external drive is not worth crap, there was a long list of items that couldn't be backed up. So I doubt I'll ever use that one again. But the drive itself is fine, it has an option to sleep, or go on low power after 10 minutes. I do believe you have a great idea, loading from the recovery partition. I'll create a separate backup of that partition, I can load that on my small drive. But how do I get it on my new drive? I've recovered several partitions before, but they were already in place.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Use your bootable backup media with the images you need on the external harddrive and the new drive connected to your system. I would not do anything to the original drive until you are successful with the transfer.

 

[catilley1092]

I'm not going to do anything with the drive, except save it "just in case" I need it down the road. The external drive that I bought will be enough for this computer. When you said "bootable backup media", are you speaking of the CD that the program asked me to create at the end of the backup?

 

[clifford_cooley]

The bootable program that creates the backup and recovers the image that was created is what I was referring too. Use the bootable media and then you can recover the image of your Recovery Partition. I assumed the backup image was on your external. Boot using the backup program and then navigate to the image where ever it may be located.

This should also write to the Master Boot Record(MBR) on the drive which holds the code needed for the function key to start the recovery process. Once you have written the Recovery Partition and the MBR, you should be able to boot to the drive press the function key and start the recovery process. If not, something has gone wrong.

 

[catilley1092]

OK, the easy part is done, I've removed the drive. No, there's not a second plug at all, and if there was, there would be no way to get both drives in there. Hopefully, this is going to work out for me, one way or the other. I did create a backup of the recovery partition separately, one on my portable drive, and one on the large one. It must be a coincidence, the drive coming out is a Caviar too, a Blue one. That was a very tight fit, no cords, it just slides into the grooves, similar to RAM sticks. It would be nice to be able to use this laptop to jump start everything. I have the shortcut on it, too. I know one thing, this old laptop has many different plugins, 4 USB, 3 of those you plug and screw it down, a S video. My desktop, all it has are USB sockets and a card reader. I guess you pay big, if you want a lot of connections. I just checked awhile ago, the drive is on the truck for destination, and UPS runs early here. I just want this to be done with.

 

[Veedaz]

Good luck with your new HDD Cat (your in good hands with C_C) I'm sure all will run smooth :top:

 

[catilley1092]

It wasn't easy, but I got the job done. I got the recovery partition installed, tried to boot from it, but couldn't. So, I decided to load a Windows 7 install on it, I did, it updated & all, then I downloaded Macrium to see what I could do. A big mess. Finally, I remembered about those recovery discs that I created, they saved the day. From there, everything went perfect. I know there's some on here that has no use for these partitions & discs, but for me, they always come through. Clifford, thanks for the help, it's can be kind of hard to walk someone through this, but I did get the recovery partition restored, that helps a lot, but for whatever reason, I couldn't boot from it. Anyway, this drive must be faster than the other, it doesn't download faster, but switches web pages faster, and the computer is more responsive. I don't think I did bad, for a rookie install. Another reason for all of the new computer buyers here, make your recovery discs, you'll never know when you need them.

 

[clifford_cooley]

I'm happy for you. I still have problems at times getting things working.

A boot menu should give you access to the partition also. I know you are used to using boot menu's.

 

[catilley1092]

I am, but I'm used to the ones on Dell's. I tried, but everything kept saying "no operating system". I do need to get used to all of the "F" keys on here, and what they do. But F11 is supposed to take you to recovery, it didn't. On HP's F2 allows you to boot into a OS or reinstall disc, I didn't know for sure it would accept three different DVD's, but it did. And I think one of my problems was something you pointed out eariler, I didn't need all of those backups. But besides getting my drive installed, I found my COA, on the inside of the drive cover. And it didn't have the same serial as Belarc & Jelly Bean reported. That's why I couldn't get a regular disc to activate, I had the wrong serial. But I didn't find that out until after I recovered, had I known this, I had a clean install of Home Premium loaded & updated, but the wrong serial. Anyway, after I got everything updated, I keyed in my Anytime Upgrade serial for Pro, it went smooth. Later on, after I get that membership, I'm going to clean install my OS (no bloatware), and use my Pro key to upgrade that. I want this to be on a smaller partition. I tried to "shrink" it once before, but all it let me go was over 160GB or so. 80GB will be plenty, I plan to dual boot with Ultimate.

 

[yodap]

Congrats on your new disk. Those WD Blacks are awesome.

Had I seen this thread earlier I would have suggested to you (once again) Easeus Todo. It has a straight cloning feature just like Acronis except it's free of course.

You have helped a lot of people here so it's nice that they could help you. Enjoy it.

 

[clifford_cooley]

The problem with cloning in this situation is that it requires both drives to be connected at the same time. Otherwise that is a great suggestion.

 

[yodap]

Ahhhh I didn't see that.

Just 1 sata connector? Really?

 

[catilley1092]

Yes, just one, and it's a fixed one, way inside of the box. I did see that software last night, I seen a few of them. Seems like that one, there was a "catch" to it, like it may not be useful with 64 bit. I'm not positive that's the one, though. But something turned me away from it. Because it does appear simple to use. In fact, I once had it downloaded before, back when the scare over Macrium was here. Once I found out it had XML format pre-checked, I left it there. I actually had to restore XP Pro & Windows 7 (32 bit) on my laptop with Macrium, and they both were recovered fine. I honestly feel that I set myself up to fail, by creating too many backups. Because when I tried to recover with one of them, some things recovered, some not. I'll take a second look at their backup software tomorrow (Todo). I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, so tonight wouldn't be good for me. Thanks, yodap.

 

[yodap]

I looked through their forums a little and found no issues with 64 bit.

But don't worry about it. I was just pointing out the cloning feature which you couldn't use any way.

I do agree with your point about having too many backup images lying around. I tend to do this also. I need to get in the groove of making a new image every couple of weeks or after important updates and deleting the old ones. Virus definitions will get way out of date at the very least if you let it go too long.

Stick with Macrium. It has more options than Todo. It creates smaller images at the default setting and does it faster. I'm sure you have more important things to worry about than trying new BU software. Or try it and test it on VM or test machine.

Again, I'm glad you are up and running on your new disk.

 

[catilley1092]

I'm going to stick with Macrium. Not simply because it's free, but it does a really good job. I did get my recovery partition installed on the new drive with it, the reason I couldn't boot from it, I don't know. But all files were verified, by Macrium prior to installing, and by Windows after it was installed. Some boot function for the program must not have been loaded. This was my first time at this, and I've learned one thing. When installing a new hard drive, load your OS as though you would install a new one, then go to your backup and get what you need. A new drive needs formatting anyway, this way, you can start fresh again. I'm going to delete those old backups, and create a new one, and only one. If I make changes, I'll make a new one, and delete the other. But it may have been the cloning feature that made me back away with Todo, it was late, and I was very tired. Not the best time to look up new programs, but I was scrambling to see if there was another one to use.

 

[catilley1092]

I have a problem with my new drive. It's running well and all, but it rattles a little, and after a couple of days, I have to remove it and tighten the screws, then it's normal (although still a bit of a rattle) for another couple of days. You can shake the drive in its case, and there's movement. I noticed when I removed the old one, there was a substance on it (on both sides of the case where the screws are), kind of like washers, but soft. In fact, they're still there. Is there a way for me to tighten this thing so that it will stay in place? If I keep on doing like this, the screw heads will be worn out. The rattle increases with time, that's why I retighten it after a couple of days. I don't want this drive messed up.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Are you talking about the mounting screws for the hard drive itself inside the case?

Is it the two external screws that hold the case together?

You did use the supplied screws for the hard drive mounting?

 

[catilley1092]

Nibiru, I'm talking about the four screws on the back side of the case that holds the hard drive. They keep wiggling loose. I had to use the originals, there were no new ones included. It wasn't in a retail package, as you know. So I had to use the ones that I had. But I was wondering if it had to do with those soft washers that used to install the old drive. I reused them, they were very soft, like some kind of sealant. The old drive (same brand) was a perfect fit. No rattling. I know it has to be a simple answer to this. Mabye some of that screw dope was used to lock them down good, I don't know.