Upsizing my hard drive

Danno · 01-15-2008, 10:05 PM

I have a 150 GB hard drive on my PC and the kids have filled most of it up with iTunes music. I want to transfer everything over to a new larger hard drive and convert this one to a backup drive. How do I map the drive over so that the new drive is bootable?

It wouldn't be a bad time to just transfer over the Windows XP and then add everything I want back on. The kids have had many a game on and then removed and I know that leaves a lot of garbage behind.

Thoughts on solutions?

JustCallMeDave · 01-15-2008, 10:21 PM

Retail hard drive kits these days come with instructions on how to install the hard drive, both physically and the software side. They cover the transfer of data from old to new, and even provide easy to use software to do it for you.

Arrow Flinger · 01-16-2008, 08:04 AM

I would just buy an external hard drive, then you can plug it in and move all the files such as itunes, pictures and whatever else to it. This will free up your hard drive and allow you to have all music and or pictures safe if the computer every crashes.

Danno · 01-16-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arrow Flinger

This will free up your hard drive and allow you to have all music and or pictures safe if the computer every crashes.

I will designate my old hard drive as a backup so that will protect my files. Moving files to an external drive will not protect me if that drive fails. Most computer crashes that kill files involve the loss of the hard drive. It doesn't matter whether it's internal or not. A backup is the way to protect it.

Whenever I upgrade a hard drive, I always use the old one as the backup drive for data files only (data, pictures, etc. - everything but the op system and the programs). The only thing different this time is that I don't have the Op System on a CD for building the new HD.

Reelentless · 01-16-2008, 04:41 PM

Install the new drive.

Put the Windows CD in the CD ROM drive and boot from it. You might need to change the settings in the BIOS to make the CD ROM drive the first boot device.

Follow the instructions which will format the new drive and install windows.

Oops, I just read that you dont have Windows. You cant install Windows on a new drive without Windows.

crabbait · 01-16-2008, 05:21 PM

I just bought an external hard drive today. The "Geek Squad" advised that I just move all the docs and files that are cloggin' up my 160gb laptop to the new drive. Most of mine is HD video and HD pics. It would also be fairly easy to partion the new drive and build a mirror of the system files to protect you in the event of a crash of the internal drive. An HD video file can be 30gb and when editing you are copying and moving large files. Bulk storage is handy.

By the way, Best Buy is selling 500gb Seagate external hard drives with USB 2.0 interface for $129. I'll let you know how this goes...

JustCallMeDave · 01-16-2008, 08:23 PM

Meh, Fry's sells those for $99 often.

Danno · 01-17-2008, 07:35 AM

The real problem with moving the files is the iTunes music. I think I'd have to go relocate every folder in iTunes. Maybe someone understand iTunes better than I can help me out there and save me some training time. I'm going to have to learn soon anyway as most of themusic belongs to the oldest daughter who will be getting a laptop soon and I'll have to transfer all of her music over to her laptop.

wsuweston · 01-17-2008, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arrow Flinger

I would just buy an external hard drive, then you can plug it in and move all the files such as itunes, pictures and whatever else to it. This will free up your hard drive and allow you to have all music and or pictures safe if the computer every crashes.

This is what I recomend

Kelpers7 · 01-17-2008, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbait

By the way, Best Buy is selling 500gb Seagate external hard drives with USB 2.0 interface for $129. I'll let you know how this goes...

That is what I would do...

Ni! · 01-17-2008, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danno

The real problem with moving the files is the iTunes music. I think I'd have to go relocate every folder in iTunes. Maybe someone understand iTunes better than I can help me out there and save me some training time. I'm going to have to learn soon anyway as most of themusic belongs to the oldest daughter who will be getting a laptop soon and I'll have to transfer all of her music over to her laptop.

iTunes will scan your computer for music files and add them automatically if you want it to. I've done it a couple of times. Real easy.

Herring Impaired · 01-17-2008, 03:13 PM

I've relocated the Itunes folder a few times, and it's actually fairly easy. Just Copy the entire Itunes folder where you want it, then go into Itunes, select EDIT from the Menu, Select PREFERENCES, then select the ADVANCED tab. Click CHANGE then Browse to the new folder for Itunes. When satisfied that it's working, delete the old Itunes folder....

Most Major HDD manufacturers include a utility to copy the contents of the old drive to the new drive. You then move or remove the old drive, boot off the new drive and it boots just like it did before. No Windows disk or software re-installs are needed...

Rangerbuddy · 01-17-2008, 06:26 PM

See me in the morning...I just did this at home. No Big Deal.

Jeff