can I copy my hard drive to an external usb hard drive?

Discussion in 'Software' started by roddinron, Jun 19, 2006.

  1. roddinron

    roddinron Corporal

    I'm trying to use Norton Ghost to copy my hard drive to a new usb external hard drive. I am trying to use clone in Ghost advanced, but when I get to the section where it asks for source and destination, I see Disk 1 - (c:) - DISE_backup (d:), and for destination I see the same thing. How do I get it to identify my usb hard drive designated as (I:) in my computer.
    If I try backup in Ghost basic, I am able to choose the destination by going to my computer and clicking on the drive, is there a way to do it in advanced Clone?
    Is there a better way to copy my old drive to the new one? I'm using win ME, the old drive is 40 gig, and the new one 250 gig Seagate.
    Also,I used Seagate disk wizard to install it, and when i click on it in my computer it recognizes it as a 250 gig, does that mean that 250 is usable, or do I have to partition it?
    PS
    ya know, I actually thought that this was gonna be easy!
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2006
  2. Robert

    Robert Sergeant

    I used DriveImage XML (freeby probably availabale here at MG) to copy a backup from my C Drive to a maxtor USB 100Gb USB drive with no probs whatsoever. Moreover I tested it to reinstall to the C Drive for a minor program and it did the job hassle free.
    I don't like anything Norton turns out, personal opinion based on bitter experience.
    Give Drive image a try!
    However I hope you undersand that you cannot boot from the backup - it is only a backup - booting is a different situation altogether
    HTH
    Robert
     
  3. roddinron

    roddinron Corporal

    thanks for the reply, I sort of share your opinion of Norton, even more now that I can't get Ghost to do what I want. I want to make a copy or clone of my hard drive so that if my aging hard drive quits, I can boot into my new one, or just make it my main drive and use the old one as a backup. But, I have to figure out how to make a full copy of my old one, not just an image. I thought this would be fairly simple since people put larger drives in their pc all the time, surely they don't all start fresh.
     
  4. jconstan

    jconstan MajorGeek

    No, they do not, BUT they clone their internal hard drive to another bigger internal hard drive and then make the cloned target drive their new primary drive.

    I believe you'll have lots more work to do for this to function. There is talk of booting from USB but I haven't seen it work in a seamless fashion.

    I use Acronis TrueImage to place an image of my hard drive on a USB drive. TrueImage will allow me to access and restore individual files from that or any image file. If my internal hard drive dies....I simply boot from the Acronis Boot CD and restore the image I want and I am back up and running.
     
  5. Robert

    Robert Sergeant

    Go here for Drive Image XML which as I said worked beautifully to do a trial restore.
    http://www.majorgeeks.com/DriveImage_XML_d4919.html
    And it is free. Based on what it did for me I would say that you could do with it what you propose provided you have the tools and knowledge to put in a new drive and configure it to be your C drive.
    Good Luck
    Robert
     
  6. roddinron

    roddinron Corporal

    so do you think I should just give up on the external usb drive and install it internally?
     
  7. jconstan

    jconstan MajorGeek

    That strictly depends on what you want to do.
     
  8. roddinron

    roddinron Corporal

    Robert, thanks for the suggestion, but that is for win XP, and I have ME.
    jconstan, I would like to have a complete bootable copy of my old hard drive on my new one. So that I can use it just as I use the one I have now. Should I just install it in the PC, then copy my old hard drive, then just make it my new hard drive, and keep the old one as my backup, and just forget about the external usb feature? Frankly, at this point I'm a little confused as to why anyone would want one if it can't be booted into and run on it's own.
     
  9. jconstan

    jconstan MajorGeek

    If this is what you want then the only way I know of is to CLONE your current boot drive. Acronis TrueImage will do this but I am sure there are others and GHOST comes to mind. Does your machine have the same interface as your external drive? Most of those USB drives do a USB to EIDE conversion inside of the box. It may be more exonomical to return the USB external drive and buy a compatable internal drive for your system. Are you versed in installing internal secondary hard drives?

    One other point....whith this method of cloning, your two drives will only be exactly the same for a short time.
     

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