How do I copy my 2TB HDD contents to a 5TB HDD?

[skippy647]

I have a 256gb SSD I am using as my C:\.

I think my I:\ is failing. It acts very slow at times.

This I:\ that has a lot of installed games, documents, music, videos, etc... and I would like to transfer the contents of my I:\ to another 5TB I have.

This 5TB would replace the current I:\

What would be the best method to transfer my contents to this new HDD?

 

[Natsukage]

Hello.

What brand is your drives? If it is Western Digital, then I suggest using the free Acronis True Image utility.
https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=119

This will allow you to make a complete clone of the 2TB to the 5TB, while adapting the partition to the new size. Remove all content from the 5TB beforehand.

If you have a Seagate HDD, then use DiscWizard, for the same utility.
http://www.seagate.com/ca/en/support/downloads/discwizard/

Read the manual or guides carefully before attempting a clone or a transfer. These two utilities can completely delete a hard drive, including your SSD.

 

[skippy647]

Good to know,

My I:\ is a Seagate HDD so ill be making the transition to a Western Digital.
DiscWizard will be my tool I suppose.

Hello.

What brand is your drives? If it is Western Digital, then I suggest using the free Acronis True Image utility.
https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=119

This will allow you to make a complete clone of the 2TB to the 5TB, while adapting the partition to the new size. Remove all content from the 5TB beforehand.

If you have a Seagate HDD, then use DiscWizard, for the same utility.
http://www.seagate.com/ca/en/support/downloads/discwizard/

Read the manual or guides carefully before attempting a clone or a transfer. These two utilities can completely delete a hard drive, including your SSD.

 

[Natsukage]

If you're transitioning to a WD drive, you can use either application. I personally prefer Acronis True Image, but Seagate Disc Wizard is as easy to use. They essentially use the exact same interface.

Read this article for how to clone your drive:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/007716en

 

[USAFRet]

If this is simply a secondary drive, just copy/paste from old to new.
When done, swap drive letters. Have the 5TB be the same drive letter as the old 2TB drive was.


When you do this, do NOT try to grab the entire folder structure at once and copy.
Only a part of it at a time.

 

[ArtPog]

Assuming that your current 2 TB HDD has been MBR-partitioned...

Understand that if you do decide to utilize a disk-cloning (data migration) program to clone the contents of that 2 TB HDD to a 5 TB HDD the latter drive will also be MBR-partitioned (regardless of whether that disk was GPT-partitioned prior to the disk-cloning operation).

Now you could utilize some third-party partition management program (I'm assuming you're familiar with those types of programs) following the disk-cloning operation to convert the 5 TB drive to the GPT-partitioning scheme *presumably* without the loss of data. As long as no OS has been cloned to the 5 TB drive the MBR-to-GPT conversion process usually works. BUT IF YOU GO THIS ROUTE DO NOT FORMAT OR DELETE FILES FROM THE 2 TB DRIVE UNTIL YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THE 5 TB DISK CONTAINS ALL THE CLONED DATA AND WORKS FLAWLESSLY AS A SECONDARY DRIVE IN YOUR SYSTEM. CAPICHE?

(Now if by chance your 2 TB HDD had been GPT-partitioned then you could go ahead with a disk-cloning operation if you chose to.)

It seems to me that in this instance you would be well-advised to harken to USAFRef's advice to undertake a simple manual transfer of data from the 2 TB to the 5 TB drive after you've formatted the latter disk with the GPT-partitioning scheme.