Hard drive upgrade ?

**gaijin** · 05-14-2007, 06:46 PM

Forgive my ignorance. How do I upgrade my hard drive? other than just screw it in place and format in the OS.

(Windoes XP- home)

I can't get the new hard drive online. Connections are lost.

Any way to create a simple copy-disk with those settings in place? Once I get it online, I'm good. (I think. I've never done this before, and all my online research is pages upon pages of tedius info. And I can't believe it's that difficult.)

I read something about Norton Ghost, but don't know if I need to go through with that. I think I can just download all the drivers, etc. from Dell once I get it online? Maybe Ghost is actually the easiest way?

**japollner** · 05-14-2007, 06:55 PM

Are you looking to add another hard drive in addition to the one you have? or are you replacing the old one as the primary storage/boot disk on your computer?

**deliberate** · 05-14-2007, 08:22 PM

If it is an option, I would consider just backing up the files that you need. If you can network your computer to another one and copy everything over it is best. If you can't do that, you could use a USB thumb stick and copy all the files onto there. If it is a lot of mp3s and such, then you need another way to back them up. A third option would be to buy a new hard drive, install windows on it and everything, and then use your old drive as a secondary drive. Either leave it in, or copy everything off it then.

If you have a DVD burner you may be able to burn all your files onto a few dvds.

Chances are, you computer can take 2 hard drives. If you computer is old, look for IDE drives. If it is new, you probably want a SATA drive.

**gaijin** · 05-14-2007, 09:01 PM

It's a 2005 Dell Laptop. I want to replace my 40G harddrive with a 100. I have already installed and formatted the new one with windows xp, but I can no longer connect to the internet. So I simply swapped drives to access the internet.

I have backed up my personal files; music, photos, etc on CDs, but am wondering if I need to back up any non-personal files, ie drivers, etc.

And I'm wondering how to copy those internet connections (if possible). It should be easy, and probably is, but connecting the new drive to the internet is kicking my ass. I just don't understand something.

Is there a way to copy internet connections to a disk? I hope I'm just a moron.

**japollner** · 05-14-2007, 09:13 PM

Call your ISP and ask them what to do... If you are using high speed you "should" be able to just plug in and go. But sometimes its messed up. I'd have to have the laptop in front of me. You much be getting the network signal, but the tcp protocol may be messed up...

**gaijin** · 05-14-2007, 09:24 PM

cheers...
that conversation with the ISP will be over-my-head japanese, which is why I have been putting it off. wish me luck.

Anyone have any experience with HDclone? 3.2? Sounds like it will also copy my drivers, etc...

**RShea** · 05-14-2007, 10:51 PM

If you already have the second drive running and data on it, then you may not want to clone the old drive onto the new drive as that will over write all that data etc. (that is what Ghost is best known for) You could since the new drive is bigger do an image backup of the old drive or use a backup utility. Also can you have both drives plugged in at the same time (usually requires an external hard rive enclosure on a laptop), or only 1 drive at time?

As for your ISP settings they should be easy to reproduce unless your ISP is one of those that have a bunch of specialty software required (AOL, Juno and some others) to make the connection. How do you connect- dial up modem, high speed connection? Plug your older small drive in and take some notes- use the control panel and internet options and then the connection tab is a starting point. Post what you do know- how the connection is made and the ISP and web site address.

If it is just drivers under the control panel, system, hardware tab, device manager see if there are any yellow exclamation points next to devices or a list of unknown devices. There should be installation and driver set-up/install files that are needed for things like network cards, etc. Again the easiest way to correct could be described once the real cause is known.

**gaijin** · 05-14-2007, 11:40 PM

cheers Rshea. I scored a usb/drive connector at work today. So far, I'm planning on plugging my old drive into my computer via usb. Then, trying to copy it. do I need a cloning software? There isn't any new data on the system, so no worries about losing anything. I think HDclone is for making a cd backup of your system, which would be fine too.

Should I run a defrag first? I'm guessing so.

I tried taking ISP notes and starting new connections, but they weren't taking. No matter how much I thought I got the addresses right, they weren't connecting. I have a high speed connection.

I will try going into device manager and looking for unknown devices.

**RShea** · 05-15-2007, 12:50 AM

Originally Posted by gaijin

cheers Rshea. I scored a usb/drive connector at work today. So far, I'm planning on plugging my old drive into my computer via usb. Then, trying to copy it. do I need a cloning software? There isn't any new data on the system, so no worries about losing anything. I think HDclone is for making a cd backup of your system, which would be fine too.

Should I run a defrag first? I'm guessing so.

I tried taking ISP notes and starting new connections, but they weren't taking. No matter how much I thought I got the addresses right, they weren't connecting. I have a high speed connection.

I will try going into device manager and looking for unknown devices.

If you have the USB and do not care about the stuff on the new and bigger drive, then yes you could make a clone of the drive. Most packages that do this right are paid licenses. Ghost and Acronics True Image are the 2 I use most often. A few of the drive manufacturers have a cloning and transfer feature in there setup software too (and can be used if you have that brand as one of the drives.) There is only 1 or 2 that are free for download to use under either Open License or freeware.

As for doing a defrag, it would not hurt, it may speed up the transfer but could be done after the transfer too.

If you have a high speed connection then the modem probably holds the network address and the computer may in fact get an internal IP address such as 192.168.1.10 (or something similar)

It could be assumed automatically if you have a router too.