Migrate separate HDD to another as partition.

Kris Bendix · October 10, 2018

Hi.
I have two HDDs - 1Tb and 250 Gb. Started to have some suspicious noises and delays when working with file transfers. For instance, when downloading files through Chrome, it pauses... then has a buzzing noise from PC case and finally starts the download. My Chrome download folder is on the 250 Gb drive, so I removed it to test and yes, noises are gone.
Pretty sure the drive is dying. After all, it is some older drive from past build I just threw in for added storage.
Until I can buy a new drive, I would like to transfer it to the 1Tb drive, but in a way that the PC sees no difference. Otherwise, I would have to reinstall everything and re-add all of the paths to folders. The dying drive maybe has 180 Gb taken. 1 Tb one has more than 500 Gb free.
Also, an easy transfer back to new drive once I get it would be nice.

ramencupofjoy · October 10, 2018

Assuming this is a storage drive, pretty much all you have to do is move the files from one drive to another. If you have any Steam games on there you'll have to configure the new location of your Steam library, but everything should work pretty much flawlessly from there.

EDIT: Forgot to add: any applications with shortcuts from the original drive will need to have their shortcuts updated. You can do this by going into their folders, going to the raw executable and creating a new shortcut.

Edited October 10, 2018 by ramencupofjoy

Yvette222 · October 11, 2018

You can try to clone the whole old drive to the new one, in most cases, this method works. Partition tool like minitool partition wizard or easeus partition master could help you, or you can also try a backup program such as Macrium. After transferring, you can use the old drive as a data drive. I personally suggest you download a disk test tool to check whether it has bad sectors. Regarding bad sectors, running Chkdsk /r in CMD could make some repairs.

Kris Bendix · October 22, 2018

I moved all more or less important files to the 1Tb drive. But the constant buzz is still there. The hickup is gone after I set the drive power setting to Never turn it off.
Don't know how I missed that before, but when there are both drives working, it has that in and out of sync wave pattern when the buzz frequencies boost and cancel each other out. So both drives have the buzz. It is not crazy loud, but can clearly hear it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it possible for one drive to damage another one with vibrations?
Anyway. Now the idea is to just use the 250 Gb drive as a backup drive for important folders. Just sync folders with some backup software - I have some FreeFileSync downloaded - any other suggestions? And when one of the drives dies, only then buy a new one, because who knows how long they can live otherwise.
Would be nice not get rid of the vibrations tho. Any suggestions on how to dampen it? I have some low-end CoolerMaster case with those toolless drive mounts.
By the way, whatever happened to those rubberized screw-holes for drive cages? I remember seeing them in PC cases.