How to backup and restore WD image

[RoboticusJiang]

Hi,

I am trying to get my 1 tb MBR HDD's data, Windows 7 OS and all, onto a 4 tb GPR HDD. Both are WD blue.

I've been told that the easiest way to do this would be to image backup my 1 tb to a bootable USB or external HDD, and restore it onto the blank 4 tb.

Step by step, how would I go about this? I have downloaded Acronis True Image but I don't really know how to use it.

How do I back up the 1 tb as an image?
How do I make my USB external HDD (WD 2 tb) a bootable media for restoring an image?
How would I get the backed up image onto the external HDD?
How would I restore it to the 4 tb HDD?
Would I have access to the full 4 tb as one partition after all this is done?

Thanks for your help

 

[Rogue Leader]

Or much easier is to use this:

http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/index.htm

Connect the 4tb drive and partition it, then use the disk clone to clone your 1tb over. swap the 4tb into the 1TB drive's port and unplug the 1tb. Profit.

I have used this numerous times to migrate to bigger SSD's and things like that.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, RoboticusJiang!

Backing up and restoring is only one way to go about this, another would be cloning. Good thing that Acronis True Image WD Edition can do the job for you in both cases. Basically the cloning process would be a lot easier for you since you won't need to use an external and you can basically just create an identical copy onto your new WD Blue. I'd still recommend using the external HDD for backup though, better safe than sorry, right?
I'd suggest you to take a look at some guides and tutorials from our knowledge base that explain all the thing you wish to know about how to use Acronis.
How to manually clone a disk with Acronis (the manual clone lets you select whatever you wish to have onto your new booting HDD): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=NGi5Yi
How to automatically clone an HDD with Acronis (This would create an exact copy of your current WD Blue onto the new one): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=B8yeZM
Performing a backup using Acronis True Image WD Edition Software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=gLns2Q

Keep in mind that the WD Edition of the software does not provide a booting feature, so in order to create a bootable image on an external HDD, you'd need to purchase the full version of Acronis True Image, as explained here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Roo1eX

I'd recommend you to simply use the cloning feature. Keep me posted if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[RoboticusJiang]

Would a good way to go about this be to partition 1TB out of my 4TB HDD, clone onto that partition, and dual boot windows 10 onto that other 3TB? Thanks!

 

[RoboticusJiang]

Hey there, RoboticusJiang!

Backing up and restoring is only one way to go about this, another would be cloning. Good thing that Acronis True Image WD Edition can do the job for you in both cases. Basically the cloning process would be a lot easier for you since you won't need to use an external and you can basically just create an identical copy onto your new WD Blue. I'd still recommend using the external HDD for backup though, better safe than sorry, right?
I'd suggest you to take a look at some guides and tutorials from our knowledge base that explain all the thing you wish to know about how to use Acronis.
How to manually clone a disk with Acronis (the manual clone lets you select whatever you wish to have onto your new booting HDD): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=NGi5Yi
How to automatically clone an HDD with Acronis (This would create an exact copy of your current WD Blue onto the new one): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=B8yeZM
Performing a backup using Acronis True Image WD Edition Software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=gLns2Q

Keep in mind that the WD Edition of the software does not provide a booting feature, so in order to create a bootable image on an external HDD, you'd need to purchase the full version of Acronis True Image, as explained here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Roo1eX

I'd recommend you to simply use the cloning feature. Keep me posted if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD

The cloning feature didn't work. I'm still having trouble with MBR and GPT partitioning. In other words, I don't have access to the full 4tb with a clone because I'm cloning in an MBR partition style.
Would a backup and recovery solve my issues if I clean installed windows 7 onto the GPT 4tb HDD and then recovered off an external HDD?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, RoboticusJiang!

I'd recommend you to do a clean install on the 4 TB WD Blue, since you intend to use it as a primary HDD: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/clean-install
You already have the backup image on the external drive, so you can simply restore it once you've successfully installed the OS onto the primary HDD. However, in order to boot from a 4 TB hard drive and use its full capacity, your motherboard needs be able to boot from UEFI BIOS. Here's a guide from Tom's Hardware that explains this and you can follow it, if your motherboard supports UEFI: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1923415/install-windows-3tb-4tb-larger-hdd.html

Hope it helps you! Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD