Copy Operating System from 2TB HDD to 500GB HDD

I want to copy my C Drive along with its operating system and programs from its current 2TB Hitachi HDD to a 500GB HDD.

I'll then use the 500GB as my internal HDD and my 2TB Hitachi as an external backup HDD

The 2TB Hitachi HDD is divided into 4 drives of 500GB each. I have a Dell Dimension 8400 running on Windows XP Professional.

I've not been able to perform this copy using Acronis, Areca and Paragon Backup and Recovery. I keep getting the message there is not enough space on the target HDD for a system backup/new operating drive creation.

It makes sense, I guess that you can't backup a 2TB HDD to a 500GB HDD! I can, of course, back up the C Drive as a simple back-up, but I want to copy it so it will function as an operating system drive. (Hope I'm making myself clear as to what I'm trying to do).

Does anyone know of any software that will copy my C drive off its 2TB HDD onto a 500 GB drive that I can then use as my internal computer HDD?

Unfortunately, I can't do a reinstall, as I've got a lot of my software from **************** (free software but only a one-day window to register it - no disks and it can't be reinstalled). A lot more of it is on CDs of considerable age and I'm not anxious to test how well these CDs have aged.

My thanks for your advice and suggestions in advance.

 

First clone the 'C' drive only to the 500GB drive and fit it to the PC.
Then use a Windows installation disk (if you have one) or a recovery disk you can download it from http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winre/createfromiso/#.Udl_oW0gewA

Then

insert disc in cd/dvd
restart computer and change boot order in the bios to cd/dvd
press any key to start from cd/dvd
select languate, time, etc and click on next
choose repair option
select operating system you want to repair and click on next
in the system recovery dialogue box, select command prompt
type the following commands and click on enter after each one:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot

If both commands run successfully remove the disk and restart the PC,it should not be necessary but if it is change the boot order to "first HDD".

 

If you are having problems with this then I suggest you first connect and then reformat the 500GB drive. If there are files on there you need to keep then copy them off first to one of the partitions on the Hitachi. You should then be able to use Acronis's Clone Drive function to clone your C drive only to the 500GB drive but if it still won't copy you could use Acronis's Drive Backup function to image the C drive to one of the other partitions on the Hitachi, and then use Acronis to restore that image to the 500GB. When using the second method you need to select to restore the MBR as well as the C drive to make the drive bootable.

At that point I would disconnect the Hitachi and either change the BIOS boot order or boot the 500GB using the F8 key to override the BIOS to force it to boot from the 500GB.

If that boots OK you can then reconnect the Hitachi and XP will assign new drive letters on the next boot, with the 500GB now as C.

(If you are still trying to use Bill's method then XP will not recognise bootrec. Just use FIXMBR and FIXBOOT commands instead.)

 

First question is, how much of that 2TB drive are you actually using? Going from a larger to a smaller drive for main hard drive, is going to be like trying to fit ten people into a Prius.

 

The OP has already said it's partitioned 4 x 500, so cloning the OS partition should work.

 

That does not mean anything. Just means that they have four partitions filled with 500gb of data.

Again, going from a large drive to a small drive is the incorrect way of doing things, unless you have a way to save all data from those four partitions on another drive, before installing the OS on the 500gb.

It can be done by just taking out the old drive, installing it in an external enclosure, install XP on the new drive, then go through the process of taking ownership rights of the old drive after you set up your account on the new drive.

A little bit of work, but can be done if you take your time doing it, and not rushing things.

Problem when people want to clone drives, is that when they have never done it before, and do not understand why they are getting errors, etc., the cloning process ends up destroying all data on Drive A, when moving to Drive B, because the person is not being careful.

 

Yes, you are right of course - you can only use cloning for whole drives, not for selected partitions. But the OP could image the OS partition on the Hitachi and restore that image to the 500GB, along with the MBR. That would work - if he/she were still interested that is

 

Thank you all for your comments. I very much appreciate them.

And yes, I'm still very interested in this thread and getting my operating system along with my program files from my 2TB HDD to a smaller, probably 500 HDD.

From what I've read in this thread, it seems the way forward is to:

1) clone my C Drive to a 500 HDD

2) use a Windows installation CD to activate the Windows Operating system on this 500 HDD

I still have two questions though:

a) what software would forum members use for cloning my 'C' Drive?

b) I have an original windows XP Professional CD, but in the past I've not been able to get it to boot into the recovery console. Whenever I load the CD, it only ever seems to give me the option of installing Windows XP.

Can anyone tell me where I can download a recovery disk for Windows XP Professional. I thank BillMCC66 for his suggestion of going to http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winr.../#.Udl_oW0gewA. Unfortunately, so far as I can tell the recovery disks at this site are for Windows Vista and later editions of Windows. For the time being I'm staying with XP Professional.

So, thanks again for all your useful suggestions.

Soon I'll steel myself up to try and do the copy. The observer of one member that,

Problem when people want to clone drives, is that when they have never done it before, and do not understand why they are getting errors, etc., the cloning process ends up destroying all data on Drive A, when moving to Drive B, because the person is not being careful.​

is rather daunting if not discouraging.

I was rather hoping someone could direct me to some software that would just clone the C Drive. I guess there's nothing like that out there.

Wish me luck!

 

You referred to Acronis earlier. You could use Acronis to image your C drive (it isn't possible to clone it), storing the image file on a different partition from your OS, and then restoring that image to the new 500GB drive. Post #3 describes the process but ignore the cloning suggestion as you can't clone individual partitions. You must restore the MBR as well as the partition and it's important to disconnect the Hitachi before trying to boot the 500GB drive.

However you do this you will probably be required to activate it so you will need a valid XP Pro key.