Posted: 8/14/2009 9:40:31 PM EDT
| Anyone use this software to clone a hard drive? |
| Well, I want to change out the HD in my laptop. I have the new HD and I also have an external drive that I planned to use as a back-up. So I guess I can use the Acronis software to clone a version of my current HD to the external drive, then install the new HD and clone the version on the external drive to the new HD? If all that makes sense... |
|
Quoted:
Well, I want to change out the HD in my laptop. I have the new HD and I also have an external drive that I planned to use as a back-up. So I guess I can use the Acronis software to clone a version of my current HD to the external drive, then install the new HD and clone the version on the external drive to the new HD? If all that makes sense... Yup, Thats what I have been doing whenever I do a major change to my computer as a backup. Just burn the acronis boot disk, boot with it, with your external hdd attached, create an image of your internal laptop that is saved onto the external. After that is complete, install new HDD, boot with cd, and restore the image that you had just created. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Well, I want to change out the HD in my laptop. I have the new HD and I also have an external drive that I planned to use as a back-up. So I guess I can use the Acronis software to clone a version of my current HD to the external drive, then install the new HD and clone the version on the external drive to the new HD? If all that makes sense... Yup, Thats what I have been doing whenever I do a major change to my computer as a backup. Just burn the acronis boot disk, boot with it, with your external hdd attached, create an image of your internal laptop that is saved onto the external. After that is complete, install new HDD, boot with cd, and restore the image that you had just created. Is it going to be as simple as that sounds? I'm just afraid I'm going to get into this and screw the pooch somehow. 
Does the Acronis software kind of walk you through things? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Well, I want to change out the HD in my laptop. I have the new HD and I also have an external drive that I planned to use as a back-up. So I guess I can use the Acronis software to clone a version of my current HD to the external drive, then install the new HD and clone the version on the external drive to the new HD? If all that makes sense... Yup, Thats what I have been doing whenever I do a major change to my computer as a backup. Just burn the acronis boot disk, boot with it, with your external hdd attached, create an image of your internal laptop that is saved onto the external. After that is complete, install new HDD, boot with cd, and restore the image that you had just created. Is it going to be as simple as that sounds? I'm just afraid I'm going to get into this and screw the pooch somehow.
Does the Acronis software kind of walk you through things? Its easier then it sounds. I went from a 20gig to a 200 gig harddrive. It took less then 15 minutes and i was up and running on a 200gb harddrive. I then did a fresh install, installed all essential software and made a backup, now if my PC ever goes slow or acts up, i just recover the partition and within 20 minutes my PC is like new. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Well, I want to change out the HD in my laptop. I have the new HD and I also have an external drive that I planned to use as a back-up. So I guess I can use the Acronis software to clone a version of my current HD to the external drive, then install the new HD and clone the version on the external drive to the new HD? If all that makes sense... Yup, Thats what I have been doing whenever I do a major change to my computer as a backup. Just burn the acronis boot disk, boot with it, with your external hdd attached, create an image of your internal laptop that is saved onto the external. After that is complete, install new HDD, boot with cd, and restore the image that you had just created. Is it going to be as simple as that sounds? I'm just afraid I'm going to get into this and screw the pooch somehow.
Does the Acronis software kind of walk you through things? Pretty much, it will ask you what drive you want to back up, and show you a list of what drives you have in, with lables, like C:/ and the sizes of the drives, you click on it, then it will ask you where you want to save the image, and what you want to name it, you would then browse to the external drive folder you want it in. It then asks a couple options like full backup, etc. once you select the final options and start it, it will give you a progress bar, and eta. Restoring should be as easy as creating, you select restore, browse to the external drive and find the image you just created, it will then ask what drive you want to restore it to, it should show your blank new drive... couple more option screens, then it will start, and give you an eta, once done, reboot, and you are all set. |
|
Depends on how you want your PC set up.
I have a 200gb Harddrive, but i have a 80gb partition for my C drive and the rest is set up as another partition for storing files. Its much easier to find and browse through my files. But if you want a 200gb C: drive you want it to expand the 80gb partition into a 200gb one on the new HDD. Im not sure how i did it because it never asked me to maek a boot disc. |
|
Quoted:
Ok, I installed my new keyboard and RAM today, so I'm ready to tackle the HD change now. I just have a couple more quick questions. When I create the boot disc, it's this? http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1189/bta.jpg http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7946/btbv.jpg Or do I just use the original disc that came with the software? Yeah, that is the one I used. Also, It depends how you want your hard drive partitioned, if you just want one big drive, then yeah, when it asks, drag the drive so it covers all available space, if you want multiple "drives" then use only what you want, and you can create more in windows later. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Ok, I installed my new keyboard and RAM today, so I'm ready to tackle the HD change now. I just have a couple more quick questions. When I create the boot disc, it's this? http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1189/bta.jpg http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7946/btbv.jpg Or do I just use the original disc that came with the software? Yeah, that is the one I used. Also, It depends how you want your hard drive partitioned, if you just want one big drive, then yeah, when it asks, drag the drive so it covers all available space, if you want multiple "drives" then use only what you want, and you can create more in windows later. Dumb question I guess, but what exactly is the point of the partitions? I mean, why not just one big 200GB HD? |
| Some people do it to keep their OS on one partition, and their data on another, so if something goes awry w/ the OS, it can be re-installed w/o getting rid of all of your data. Personally I usually just use all the available space on the drive in one big partition. Then I use acronis to do a full backup every once in a while, or before I do a big change on the OS. |