Clone a 250GB HDD to a 1TB HDD?

[Rob_B]

I've just bought a 1TB HDD & need to move my main PC's data over to it, I don't fancy a reinstall so can I clone the 250GB over to the 1TB with no additional drives needed to store the data in between?

I'm aware there seem to be threads about this but what is the up-to-date method/software for this?

Cheers guys!!

Rob

[Unique]

you can do it, it's a pretty basic function for most clone software like ghost. i think easus partition manager is still free and does the job. you end up with a bootable drive with all your data from the old drive but a single 1tb partition (or multiple partitions, whatever you want)

http://www.todo-backup.com/products/comparison.htm

[mikerr]

Yes, easus todo backup even backs up a running copy of windows - though it takes longer.

[redddraggon]

I use Clonezilla for this sort of stuff. You have to put it on a USB stick/DVD/CD and boot to Clonezilla though, and then it's pretty simple to clone the 250GB drive onto the 1TB drive, you'll end with a 250GB partition and 750GB of "unclaimed" space, but the hard drive manager thing in windows will quickly and safely expand the 250GB partition to take up the whole drive (or partition the drive as you see fit), if you so wish.

[mrt9888]

I've used clonezilla before, it takes a while to load when starting then you can choose easy or advanced mode. I haven't tried advanced mode but you should be able to choose use the whole disk instead just copying the partitions on the old disk.

[cptwhite_uk]

Acronis TrueImage can also do this. Once opened, go to the top menu "Tools" > "Clone Disk" (or words to that effect) If it's your active windows drive it will ask to reboot and copy content across in a DOS like environment. The wizard will ask you if you want to expand the partition to 1Tb during the set-up process before the reboot.

[peterb]

I use a linux live cd and the dd command.

[oolon]

I use a linux live cd and the dd command.

I also use linux dd to copy discs.

[IronWarrior]

I use copy and paste or sometimes cut and paste.

[Rob_B]

Cheers guys, I'll look at this when I get home

[Rob_B]

Just tried clonezilla, l went through the options to clone drive to drive & include the boot sector, I'd assume that should just enable me to unplug the old HDD & boot straight from the new one?...well it doesn't, it boots but just stays on a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top left.

Looks like when it gets to the copying stage it shows 20 odd KB/min transfer rate then completes after about 3minutes or so, that's not right is it?!

Would I be best just booting from a linux cd & do the DD command? How long does that take & does it create a bootable drive?

Any ideas?

[jim]

If you're running windows 7, it's worth doing a startup repair once you're finished, since the boot information isn't always so simple.

If it isn't copying properly, have you run a check on both disks?

[watercooled]

dd is a pretty foolproof way to do it but it's far slower than a filesystem-aware cloner like Clonezilla unless the disk is nearly full (dd will copy everything, block-by-block, even empty space). But Clonezilla should work fine, maybe combined with a boot repair as snoootyjim says.

[peterb]

Had to do this (on a linux drive) myself - although wiyth smaller diskds than you are using.

I used the dcfldd command (an improved dd) as it was installed on my system, with a largish blocksize (IIRC 4096K) and it took about 3 hours to clone 250GB. (not sure of the exact time as I did it overnight) but dd would have done it just as well.

Once that was done, I rebooted using as live cd and used gparted to extend the extended partition and create secondary logical partitions as required. But I could have extended the existing logical partitions (or primary partitions) as easily, but it suited me better (using a logical volume manager) to create more logical partitions inthe new space.

The reason for booting from a live CD is to ensure that the files sytems are all unmounted during the resize. The resizing of the partition is quick (only involves re-writing the relevant partition tables) but stretching file systems can take a lot longer.

But the procedures are straightforward - just ensure that you correctly identify the input and output files for dd, or you could end up cloning the new disk to the old - effectively doing a secure erase!

[bledd]

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

[CrimsonAvenger]

Not free but Acronis does a good job of this.

I've used it quite a few times to go from a smaller to bigger disk without losing my Windows installation.