Data Migration between hard drives on a single system

I would like to copy all the contents from my boot drive to a new hard drive
recognized by the BIOS. Easy Transfer Wizard works between two systems not a
single system... I want to copy all my data including the hidden and system
files to the new drive and then reconfigure the boot sequence to boot from
the new drive... Western Digital has a utility that works with XP but not
with Vista... what is the best way to move this data... will drag and drop
move everything?

No, you can use WET on the same computer. Before you change out hard
drives, run the wizard on the "old" computer and save the file to an
external hard drive or cds or dvds. When you have installed the new drive
run the wizard again but select the "new" computer and point the wizard to
the file it created on the first run.

WET works when you want to transfer your files and settings to a new
installation of Windows. WET does not transfer your programs or Windows
itself. You still have to install Windows on the new drive and re-install
your programs.

If you are trying to copy the entire drive, you need to use an imaging
program like Acronis True Image. You can use CompletePC Backup from Vista
itself if it is in your edition of Vista. It is not in the Home editions,
however.


"Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A22E2521-FC67-4B9C-BFF8-B572A7ADB4C6@microsoft.com...
>I would like to copy all the contents from my boot drive to a new hard
>drive
> recognized by the BIOS. Easy Transfer Wizard works between two systems not
> a
> single system... I want to copy all my data including the hidden and
> system
> files to the new drive and then reconfigure the boot sequence to boot from
> the new drive... Western Digital has a utility that works with XP but not
> with Vista... what is the best way to move this data... will drag and drop
> move everything?

I downloaded the trail verison of Acronis... It almost was right on target...
BUT ... it only wants to copy a partition... my old drive has one partition
and it is larger than what is needed to contain the System/Application
data... I want to clone to a drive with a smaller partition... I'm kinda
stumped how I can put it on my new drive without taking up more space than I
really need...

"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

> No, you can use WET on the same computer. Before you change out hard
> drives, run the wizard on the "old" computer and save the file to an
> external hard drive or cds or dvds. When you have installed the new drive
> run the wizard again but select the "new" computer and point the wizard to
> the file it created on the first run.
>
> WET works when you want to transfer your files and settings to a new
> installation of Windows. WET does not transfer your programs or Windows
> itself. You still have to install Windows on the new drive and re-install
> your programs.
>
> If you are trying to copy the entire drive, you need to use an imaging
> program like Acronis True Image. You can use CompletePC Backup from Vista
> itself if it is in your edition of Vista. It is not in the Home editions,
> however.
>
>
> "Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A22E2521-FC67-4B9C-BFF8-B572A7ADB4C6@microsoft.com...
> >I would like to copy all the contents from my boot drive to a new hard
> >drive
> > recognized by the BIOS. Easy Transfer Wizard works between two systems not
> > a
> > single system... I want to copy all my data including the hidden and
> > system
> > files to the new drive and then reconfigure the boot sequence to boot from
> > the new drive... Western Digital has a utility that works with XP but not
> > with Vista... what is the best way to move this data... will drag and drop
> > move everything?
>

Can you use the WD utility to partition the drive first and then do the
restore with Acronis?

"Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:914D0242-F246-47AA-BC1B-9F60D2412AEB@microsoft.com...
>I downloaded the trail verison of Acronis... It almost was right on
>target...
> BUT ... it only wants to copy a partition... my old drive has one
> partition
> and it is larger than what is needed to contain the System/Application
> data... I want to clone to a drive with a smaller partition... I'm kinda
> stumped how I can put it on my new drive without taking up more space than
> I
> really need...
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> No, you can use WET on the same computer. Before you change out hard
>> drives, run the wizard on the "old" computer and save the file to an
>> external hard drive or cds or dvds. When you have installed the new
>> drive
>> run the wizard again but select the "new" computer and point the wizard
>> to
>> the file it created on the first run.
>>
>> WET works when you want to transfer your files and settings to a new
>> installation of Windows. WET does not transfer your programs or Windows
>> itself. You still have to install Windows on the new drive and
>> re-install
>> your programs.
>>
>> If you are trying to copy the entire drive, you need to use an imaging
>> program like Acronis True Image. You can use CompletePC Backup from
>> Vista
>> itself if it is in your edition of Vista. It is not in the Home
>> editions,
>> however.
>>
>>
>> "Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:A22E2521-FC67-4B9C-BFF8-B572A7ADB4C6@microsoft.com...
>> >I would like to copy all the contents from my boot drive to a new hard
>> >drive
>> > recognized by the BIOS. Easy Transfer Wizard works between two systems
>> > not
>> > a
>> > single system... I want to copy all my data including the hidden and
>> > system
>> > files to the new drive and then reconfigure the boot sequence to boot
>> > from
>> > the new drive... Western Digital has a utility that works with XP but
>> > not
>> > with Vista... what is the best way to move this data... will drag and
>> > drop
>> > move everything?
>>

The WD utility doesn't work with VISTA ... this seems harder than it should
be... I sent a help request to Acronis too... I want to see if they have an
answer.


"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

> Can you use the WD utility to partition the drive first and then do the
> restore with Acronis?
>
> "Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:914D0242-F246-47AA-BC1B-9F60D2412AEB@microsoft.com...
> >I downloaded the trail verison of Acronis... It almost was right on
> >target...
> > BUT ... it only wants to copy a partition... my old drive has one
> > partition
> > and it is larger than what is needed to contain the System/Application
> > data... I want to clone to a drive with a smaller partition... I'm kinda
> > stumped how I can put it on my new drive without taking up more space than
> > I
> > really need...
> >
> > "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
> >
> >> No, you can use WET on the same computer. Before you change out hard
> >> drives, run the wizard on the "old" computer and save the file to an
> >> external hard drive or cds or dvds. When you have installed the new
> >> drive
> >> run the wizard again but select the "new" computer and point the wizard
> >> to
> >> the file it created on the first run.
> >>
> >> WET works when you want to transfer your files and settings to a new
> >> installation of Windows. WET does not transfer your programs or Windows
> >> itself. You still have to install Windows on the new drive and
> >> re-install
> >> your programs.
> >>
> >> If you are trying to copy the entire drive, you need to use an imaging
> >> program like Acronis True Image. You can use CompletePC Backup from
> >> Vista
> >> itself if it is in your edition of Vista. It is not in the Home
> >> editions,
> >> however.
> >>
> >>
> >> "Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:A22E2521-FC67-4B9C-BFF8-B572A7ADB4C6@microsoft.com...
> >> >I would like to copy all the contents from my boot drive to a new hard
> >> >drive
> >> > recognized by the BIOS. Easy Transfer Wizard works between two systems
> >> > not
> >> > a
> >> > single system... I want to copy all my data including the hidden and
> >> > system
> >> > files to the new drive and then reconfigure the boot sequence to boot
> >> > from
> >> > the new drive... Western Digital has a utility that works with XP but
> >> > not
> >> > with Vista... what is the best way to move this data... will drag and
> >> > drop
> >> > move everything?
> >>
>

Can't you boot the computer with the WD software? As I recall there are
instructions for that on the cd.

"Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F5FA7C60-C5DC-4C83-BA22-9760CB8D5B7B@microsoft.com...
> The WD utility doesn't work with VISTA ... this seems harder than it
> should
> be... I sent a help request to Acronis too... I want to see if they have
> an
> answer.
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> Can you use the WD utility to partition the drive first and then do the
>> restore with Acronis?
>>
>> "Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:914D0242-F246-47AA-BC1B-9F60D2412AEB@microsoft.com...
>> >I downloaded the trail verison of Acronis... It almost was right on
>> >target...
>> > BUT ... it only wants to copy a partition... my old drive has one
>> > partition
>> > and it is larger than what is needed to contain the System/Application
>> > data... I want to clone to a drive with a smaller partition... I'm
>> > kinda
>> > stumped how I can put it on my new drive without taking up more space
>> > than
>> > I
>> > really need...
>> >
>> > "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>> >
>> >> No, you can use WET on the same computer. Before you change out hard
>> >> drives, run the wizard on the "old" computer and save the file to an
>> >> external hard drive or cds or dvds. When you have installed the new
>> >> drive
>> >> run the wizard again but select the "new" computer and point the
>> >> wizard
>> >> to
>> >> the file it created on the first run.
>> >>
>> >> WET works when you want to transfer your files and settings to a new
>> >> installation of Windows. WET does not transfer your programs or
>> >> Windows
>> >> itself. You still have to install Windows on the new drive and
>> >> re-install
>> >> your programs.
>> >>
>> >> If you are trying to copy the entire drive, you need to use an imaging
>> >> program like Acronis True Image. You can use CompletePC Backup from
>> >> Vista
>> >> itself if it is in your edition of Vista. It is not in the Home
>> >> editions,
>> >> however.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Jim22312" <Jim22312@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:A22E2521-FC67-4B9C-BFF8-B572A7ADB4C6@microsoft.com...
>> >> >I would like to copy all the contents from my boot drive to a new
>> >> >hard
>> >> >drive
>> >> > recognized by the BIOS. Easy Transfer Wizard works between two
>> >> > systems
>> >> > not
>> >> > a
>> >> > single system... I want to copy all my data including the hidden and
>> >> > system
>> >> > files to the new drive and then reconfigure the boot sequence to
>> >> > boot
>> >> > from
>> >> > the new drive... Western Digital has a utility that works with XP
>> >> > but
>> >> > not
>> >> > with Vista... what is the best way to move this data... will drag
>> >> > and
>> >> > drop
>> >> > move everything?
>> >>
>>