Hard drive back up

I am replacing my hard drive and need to make a back up copy of my old hard drive files. Can you tell me how to do this with CD's? I just installed a CD burner and have not used it yet. HELP!!!!

 

Hello..

What software came with your CD Writer? Also, are you just replacing the drive to have more space and is your current operating system running okay?

There are ways to duplicate an HDD, that is why I was asking.

Let me know what you are using and I should be able to help.

Shane

 

I have Nero Start Smart software and I just need more hard drive space. Have to remove the old and put in new since there is not an additional slot.
My current sustem is running fine. It was just very slow. But I have increased my memory to 512 and after I get this hard drive increased, I should be good to go. Just have to make this back up. Thank you

 

Who is the manufacturer of both drives? I am hoping you have a Western Digital drive, at least one. They have a great utility that will let you make an exact copy of your drive.

There is other software out there, like Norton Ghost that will let you make a copy of your drive, however, you have purchase the software. The Western Digital software is free and can be downloaded from their website. Catch to it is... One of the drives attached to the system must be a Western Digital drive for it to work.

As far as backing up your HDD to CDR. You can copy your documents, pictures and so forth to a CD. However, all your programs and operating system will have to be reinstalled from scratch. I have not ran across any software that will back up your system to CD, as to restore it back to your system in the event of a disaster.

Fill me in!!

Shane

 

Thanks for answering! I'm not sure what kind it it. The case is closed right now and my paperwork says QTM 20GB IDE 4M U100 Hard drive(the old one)
I have a system restore CD set; would that restore most of my operating system? I guess I can copy the other pics and documents to a folder and then burn that folder to a CD? YES?? Will this work?What about all of my address book and such? how do I get that all back?

 

QTM is Quantum - not sure if they have a tool for duplicating a drive or not.

Yes. You can burn your documents and pictures to a CD-R. However, make sure the CD-R can be read before you start wiping out the old hard disk drive.

Yes. The restoration CDs should restore your computer to factory original, as in when you first bought the computer.

Address book, emails and so on.. That is depends on what email program you are using. If you are using one of the Microsoft products, you can access their knowledge base to find out what files need to be copied and how to restore them.

Here is the link...

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

Sometimes, it is as simple as copying the .WAB file - Windows Address Book. Some of the other programs let you export them also.

You could also install your new HDD into your system and use the old one as a SLAVE drive, running behind the new one. That would give you the capacity of your new drive, plus the old one.

The really easy way, would be to SLAVE the new one behind the old one and you would not have to reload anything at all. You would only be requred to FDISK the new one and then format it. Then the space of the new drive would be available to you.

Shane

 

I can't slave because my case only has room for one hard drive. But if I use the cdrom cable to be able to slave my new hard drive, will I be able to transfer the info and then put the new drive into the case and then remove the old drive? I don't know what FDISK and format is. Can you help me more? Thank you so much!

 

Okay... It looks like you have two choices here...

Here is the SAFE way of doing it all.....

Make a CD(s) of your documents, pictures and soforth.. The personal items that you need or want to keep. You cannot copy programs that have been installed and expect them to work, they will not work.

After you have created and VERIFIED your CDs, take the old HDD (Hard Disk Drive) out of the computer and install your new one.

Insert your 1st restoration CD into the CD drive. If it does not boot to that CD, you will need to enter the BIOS (CMOS/SETUP) and change your BOOT SEQUENCE or BOOT ORDER to where the CDROM drive is the first one in the BOOT list.

Let the restoration CDs go through their process and when they are finished, log into your operating system. Make sure that everything is working properly and to your satisfaction.

Once that is completed, you can now copy all your files from the CD that you created to the new HDD.

Remember, you still have your old HDD intact, so if you need something off of it, you can still hook it up and get the information off the drive as needed. Not to mention, if your restoration process fails, you still have a working HDD and OS.

If needed, you can unhook your CDR drives and hook up the old HDD to their ribbon cable, ALONE. Then you can access the information on that drive as well. So, if you forgot to copy something.. you are safe, it is on the old HDD.

FDISK and FORMAT should be taken care of by the Restoration CD.

If not, here is a link that will help you...

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/Q255/8/67.ASP&NoWebContent=1

Hope that helps a little...

Shane