Cloning laptop hard disk

baby_frogmella

Hello Folks

Sorry i didn't get a reply to this in the backup sticky so posting here. Anyway I'm thinking of upgrading the hard disk on my recently purchased Sony laptop VGN-FZ31S from 250gb to 500gb (WD5000BEVT). I believe physically changing the disk is a piece of cake but i'm not sure if i can successfully transfer everything onto the new disk like for like. I'm thinking of using one of the free (or free trial) hard disk clone programs below, am i right in thinking that once i have cloned the new disk i just pop it in the notebook and i wouldn't notice any difference (other than the increased space)? Would any of these programs copy also the hidden partition (recovery) on my notebook? On my current disk i'm using about 220GB out of 250GB, so assuming i use the tightest compression, what sort of size will the clone image be?
1) DriveImage XML
2) Acronis Migrate Easy 7.0 (15 day free trial)
3) Drive Backup 9.0 Express

Spuddy_2

Best option by far is to purchase a USB 2 IDE or USB 2 SATA device. Take your laptops disk out to check which connectivity it uses. The devices can be had from eBay for under £10.

Therefore you can plug the new disk you buy into your laptop via the usb device and clone from disk to disk, rather than old disk -> image -> new disk.

Symantec Ghost is the best clone/imaging suite. Yes it will copy any partitions, hidden or not. Ensure you clone the whole disk to disk, not a partion to disk.

baby_frogmella

the existing 250gb hard disk is a SATA 2.5" so connecting the new 500gb disk to laptop via a SATA 2 USB caddy seems the best option. But on fleabay many of the caddy's seem to have a size limitation...why is this? Would the last item be suitable? (there is no size mentioned)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-SATA-Serial-ATA-2-5-HDD-Hard-Disk-Drive-Case_W0QQitemZ290264737794QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item290264737794&_trkparms=39:1|66%3A2|65%3A2|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-USB2-0-2-5-SATA-External-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-Case_W0QQitemZ200259881029QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200259881029&_trkparms=39:1|66%3A2|65%3A2|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-5-SATA-USB-EXTERNAL-HARD-DRIVE-CASE-ENCLOSURE-BLACK_W0QQitemZ260295650228QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260295650228&_trkparms=39:1|66%3A2|65%3A2|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Spuddy_2

forget enclosures/caddys.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-TO-SATA-IDE-2-5-3-5-INCH-CABLE-W-POWER-ADAPTER_W0QQitemZ110292900749QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110292900749&_trkparms=72%3A1301|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1307&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

storri

Or this version which allows multiple devices connected at once...
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136214

Reviews are good.

baby_frogmella

oh i forgot to ask one other thing re partitions. On my existing 250gb disk i have 3 partitions (2 visible, 1 hidden) with 120gb on each of the 2 visible ones and the rest on the hidden (recovery). So if i use Norton Ghost or any other clone software what will the partition sizes be on the new cloned 500gb disk? Will i have the same 3 partition sizes as the original disk and a new 4th partition with left over space which i can then allocate to the other partitions using Windows Disk Management in Vista?

Spuddy_2

baby_frogmella wrote: »

oh i forgot to ask one other thing re partitions. On my existing 250gb disk i have 3 partitions (2 visible, 1 hidden) with 120gb on each of the 2 visible ones and the rest on the hidden (recovery). So if i use Norton Ghost or any other clone software what will the partition sizes be on the new cloned 500gb disk? Will i have the same 3 partition sizes as the original disk and a new 4th partition with left over space which i can then allocate to the other partitions using Windows Disk Management in Vista?

Nope, Norton ghost would use the disk as a percentage. For example if your 250Gb disk had C: - 45%, D- 20% and E- 35% currently, it would use those percentages when divying up the 500Gb disk. If you wanted to change partition sizes you would need further software, something like Powerquest Partition Magic.