Easily imaging a data drive for cloning?

I currently have two harddrives in my computer, C and D. I'm planning on replacing D (call it D1) with a larger drive (D2) but want to make sure I can transfer all the data from D1 to D2. Problem is, I'll only have one of the D drives in my computer at a time.

Apart from literally copying/pasting all the D1 files to an external drive, installing D2, and then copying them back, what's the easiest (free) way to make an image of D1 that can then be transferred to D2 once the new drive is installed?

Thanks,
m19

 

The easiest way I can think of is to hook up both D1 and D2 when you get it, and copy the files over. If having enough IDE cables is a problem, use the one your CD/DVD drive is on.

After you copy everything to D2, remove D1. XXClone is a great program to copy a whole drive, even a drive with an os. It is on the MajorGeeks site.

E

 

XXClone
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5534.html

Bazza

 

IMO, the easiest way would be to use the hard drive manufacturer's drive tool to do a full copy from one drive to the other. In the box with the new drive, there should be a disk that you can use to boot from. It will have a utility to do a drive to drive copy. If it is an OEM drive, you can download the utility from the HDD manufacturer's website.

 

That has worked and not worked for me. Seems to work great if both drives are from the same company, but if they are mixed, I have not had much luck with it. Perhaps I screwed up when I did it. I like the XXClone program.

E

 

For me the HDD manufacture free utilities have never failed me, Ive used Seagate, Maxtor & WD's, All good, all easy to use.


Just coping & paste is fine for pic's & similar data, but if you want a bootable image of your OS that wont work.

 

Yep, I was trying to copy bootable stuff. XXClone just works for me.

E

 

Well, since he's replacing his 'D' drive, it's probably not bootable. (although it could be ) So, either way will work just fine.

 

Right. It doesn't need to be bootable, it's just for data storage.

I hadn't thought of hooking D2 up to my second IDE cable... I suppose that's as simple a solution as any and should work fairly well.

m19