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small hard drive full large hard drive empty dilemma...

I have an older computer with two hard drives attached. The master is a 1.6 gig and the slave is 6 gig. Regrettably all of my programs are on the smaller drive and hardly anything at all on the larger one. Do I need to install an operating system on the second drive in order to save programs on it(like mcafee,office,etc.). while on the subject is there any way to swap everything from smaller to larger hard drive. I haven't been able to find any solutions that didn't cost 70 or 80 bucks(since the computer is'nt even worth a couple hundred). I was also toying of the idea of opening the desktop and removing main drive and replacing with the larger drive and reinstalling all software. Any suggestions?

Robing66066

You don't need to install an operating system on the larger drive, but you will need to format the drive.

Transfering your programs to the new drive is going to be hard work in most cases because there will be entries in your registry that point to your old drive. You are better off in most cases to save whatever configuration information you can and then reinstall them if you want to.

qualserve

Remove the larger drive (on which you only have data, correct?) Purchase a new drive (you can always use it again on another computer with an fdisk and reformat) and place that in the computer as slave to the old small drive. Purchase a program called Copy Commander (around $25.00 - $30.00) using compy commander, you can clone your small drive to the new, larger drive. Remove both drives, set the new one to master and you have moved all your old programs and operating system to the new drive. Replace the 6 gb drive as the slave and you can now access all your stored data. Ok, so you have now spent about $80.00, but everything you purchased can be used in other applicatiions when this computer goes kaput. The neat thing about Copy Commander is that you DO NOT install it, it runs from the CD and can be used over and over.

I use this one:

Xclone
http://www.topqualityfreeware.com/dfu.shtml

Slave new HD to old HD, then run Xclone from a DOS prompt in windows:

xclone c: d: It will copy everything but the swapfile ( which windows will recreate later ),
then make the new drive master and you are done. This is a freeware program and I use it to clone my HD before I do something new and/or stupid with my computer ( about every 2 or 3 weeks ) ; ) Don't forget to Fdisk and Format the new HD first.

I don't know what you want to do about the stuff on the 6gig. You might want to make a small partition on it and move it there before you format and xclone the 1.6 over. I have used Resizer and it works good. Just be sure to READ the help file!!

< list by CrazyOne >

Freeware

Ranish Partition Manager
http://www.ranish.com/part/
Partition Manager is a freeware program that partitions hard disks. It will help you to install and dualboot Linux and multiple copies of Windows. For example, it will let you to run Win ME, Win 2k, and Linux on a single box. Also, using Partition Manager you can copy, move, and resize disk partitions.

http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/

Partition Resizer
http://www.zeleps.com/
The popular freeware partitioning program is back! The first free program to resize and move partitions without data loss, is now more complete, with support for disks up to 2TB of size.

New features include:

Int13 extensions support allows handling of disks up to 2TB (2048GB) of size.
New Resizing/Moving engine with simpler inerface. Move and resize your partitions in one step.
Transparent extended partition resizing (no more confusion with extended partitions).
Command line parameters for accessing advanced options (read-only operation etc.).

qualserve

And Xclone is NOT free. You must pay $20.00 for a one year subscription to the web site.

Must have just started then. I'll have to check it out.

OK. Looking for another link.

cdcatais

ASKER

Regarding comment from qualserve. The information on the 6 gig drive is the information that is left on it after a format. no other info has been saved to it separately. In your scenario above couldn't i fdisk or format the 6 gig drive and use the copy utility that you mention above on the driva I already have, instead of buying a new one. the person who is using my old computer now does not need more than 6 gig for now. Also, the reason for the money saving aspect is that we're trying to get these people acclamated to a computer before we go ahead and buy a new system.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

qualserve

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note: Xclone is freeware. That download site is now a pay site. : (

Try these:

http://www.softlookup.com/download/down9372.html < simtel download link >
http://www.simtel.net/welcome.php < have to find it yourself : ( >

qualserve

Hhhhhhmmmmmmm, Nov 29 2003 until April 16 2004, let's see, that is about 6 months. Your internet connection is a little slow?
:)