cloning new hard drive........

F_Bear

hoping someone can help please. ive a pc with a dodgy hard drive. ive been getting the clips of death and now have to press F1 on start up as it says sata hard disk status bad backup and replace.

the good news is it still works and ive backed all my stuff up to a portable hd. as im typing a pop up keeps comin up say windows detacted a hard disk problem, back up etc.

so i bought a new seagate 320gb internal hd from ebay. i only use the pc for internet and football manager so no need for a massive hd.

after researching it seems i need to clone the old drive onto the new one. im running vista and havnt teh driver disk etc.

the new hard drive has come, just the internal drive, no cables etc. im low pc literate when it comes to tecky but can follow simple instructions......what do i need to clone it? do i need a ribbon etc.........pc info below if that helps.

cheers

OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name USER-PC
System Manufacturer System manufacturer
System Model System Product Name
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, 2400 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 0803, 16/05/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6002.18005"
User Name User-PC\User
Time Zone GMT Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.50 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.93 GB
Total Virtual Memory 7.23 GB
Available Virtual Memory 5.57 GB
Page File Space 3.79 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

closed

if it will let you

install http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

backup to external usb drive using backup not clone

create rescue cd at the end of the backup

install new drive, boot from rescue cd, restore from backup

it could fail if it hits a drive error, if it does, try repeating backup with ignore bad sectors ticked under advanced.

also, if the machine is working, create the vista dvd if the system gives you the option

NiftyDigits

Is this a brand name system?

pogofish

I'll second Macrium Reflect - its a very useful package but if you have bad sectors on your source disc, it can stall with a "Broken Pipe" error message.

In that case, as you have a Seagate disc, Seagate Disc Wizzard is basic but more tolerant and will filter out the bad sectors as best it can.

F_Bear

thanks for the replies.

if it will let you

install http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

done

Is this a brand name system?

Gateway (cheap off the net in 2009)

In that case, as you have a Seagate disc,

nope, no disk. got it off ebay, just the drive.


for this bit:

backup to external usb drive using backup not clone

create rescue cd at the end of the backup

install new drive, boot from rescue cd, restore from backup

i have a external hd ive backed up my files to, could i use this (withy the back up files on) or would i need to buy another so i dont delete them?

then i need a blank cd to create the back up disk?

cheers

NiftyDigits

Give me the full model number

F_Bear

cheers

gateway gt5092b

but its had a new motherboard in may 2011.

NiftyDigits

F_Bear wrote: »

cheers

gateway gt5092b

but its had a new motherboard in may 2011.

Same Motherboard as the original?

Perhaps you can identify the exact model installed.

closed

F_Bear wrote: »

.


i have a external hd ive backed up my files to, could i use this (withy the back up files on) or would i need to buy another so i dont delete them?

then i need a blank cd to create the back up disk?

cheers

if there is space on the external drive yes, just make sure you don't choose clone, you need to do disk image backup (macrium can do either)

blank cd or dvd is for a bootable macrium disc, which allows you to boot the machine without windows installed so you can restore from backup to the empty new disk.

F_Bear

sorry to come back to this thread after so long.......pc's now working ok with no errors but still wana get it sorted.........

motherboard is P5G41T-M LX

ive installed the harddrive i bought as a E drive and is showing up on mycomputer :-)

shall i now just back up to E drive using microsoft and then be able to remove the bad drive?

bluesnake

F_Bear wrote: »

shall i now just back up to E drive using microsoft and then be able to remove the bad drive?

Bear, I would not use Ms-backup because you first will have to install windows before you can do the windows Restore.

If you do not need a large drive perhaps you should consider ssd drive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1AfaMdl-mc

These instructions are quite good, but remember to test your backup, by doing a restore before wiping anything.

closed wrote: »

if it will let you

install http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

backup to external usb drive using backup not clone

create rescue cd at the end of the backup

install new drive, boot from rescue cd, restore from backup

it could fail if it hits a drive error, if it does, try repeating backup with ignore bad sectors ticked under advanced.

also, if the machine is working, create the vista dvd if the system gives you the option