Replacing a dying HDD

[Ca0123]

I have quite an old HDD in my PC at the moment, and i have a replacement HDD to put into my PC. I want to completely transfer all my data from one disk to the other so the PC's OS is not effected and I can run the PC off the new drive. How do I do this?? I've searched around and all that has been a result of me being confused about the long and suspicious  applications people are suggesting to use. Please help

[Gonio]

Well a fresh install is a good way to be free of junk. Suggest you connect your new HDD (why no SSD btw?) and install windows (assuming thats your OS)+ recent drivers and stuff you run.. Then add your old drive and just copy the files you want to keep while you leave the junk behind.

[liquidmagma]

57 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Which OS?

dont copy. it might stress the hdd too much and the hdd might fail like this. you need to clone. but dont ask me how to clone.

[Captain_WD]

1 hour ago, Ca0123 said:

~snip~

 

Hey there

 

What are the brands and models of the old and the replacement drives? What are the signs of the old drive dying? Have you checked its S.M.A.R.T. status? 

If the new drive has a capacity equal or larger to the capacity of the failing drive you can perform a cloning procedure with a cloning tool. Mind that if the failing drive has some physical issues you could further damage the drive during the procedure. 

 

As @Gonio suggested you could simply make a fresh install of the OS on your new drive and then connect the old drive and transfer all the data you need there. This will create a new system registry so you will need to reinstall all your applications and games. 

 

Captain_WD. 

[Cakezxc]

We used to use Symantec Ghost for these purposes at the office. I wont use it personally though, as stated by @Gonio, a fresh install is always good (albeit troublesome) and there are literally no better chances for a fresh OS install than a hdd swap.

[corrado33]

I think the issue with the fresh install is you have to install all of your programs over again. (At least you used to... I think windows has programs to fix this now.)

 

Some people aren't willing or knowledgeable enough to install ALL of their programs again. Not to mention losing things like preferences and saved games. All can be avoided of course, but it takes time and energy. (I think I have a dozen "Application Support" folders sitting around on my storage drives for this purpose...)

 

I've used Ghost to clone drives. I don't know if it's free. Generally drive cloning involves making a bootable USB stick/livecd with whatever utility you choose, booting into it, then cloning the drive.

 

Clonezilla looks like a good alternative to the (definitely) non-free ghost.

 

http://clonezilla.org/

 

I'd download the livecd version and go from there. (Burn it, then restart computer and press a button to start from cd, if you don't get the option you'll have to go into the bios and tell it to look for a CD to start from first.) I'd probably format the new drive first in windows (if you can still access windows.) Not sure if clonezilla can format itself, it probably can, but I'm lazy and want to cover all my bases before I restart my computer. 

 

Yes, you have to use a livecd/usb to clone your system drive. You can't do it (correctly) while booted to the OS on the drive. 

[Ca0123]

That's all I needed, thanks guys