How to properly transfer hard drive data

[swoveman97]

I have never replaced a hard drive before and I am in need of a new one. What is the process to safely transfer all data to the new one? Are there ways to do it without an external hard drive? Thanks.

 

[clutchc]

Desktop or laptop?

 

[swoveman97]

Desktop or laptop?

Desktop

 

[R_1]

the new drive will supply migration software on their website, if they don't you can use macrium reflect.
a refresh on grounding first
Canned Grounding Rant-
shut down system and remove side panel. with the power cable plugged into the PSU touch a bare unpainted metal area of the case. (my favorite spot is an unpainted screw securing the PSU) once you have grounded yourself you can unplug the computers power cable from the PSU and can touch the system.
if you move your feet, or shuffle in your chair, plug in the cord, reground yourself and unplug again.
end canned rant-
now that the case is open and you are grounded you can install the new hard drive in the system.there are 4 screws that will secure the drive in the case (screwless cases notwithstanding) secure the drive and connect the SATA cable and the power cable.
the new drive is blank and will not be bootable so start the system as normal. make sure the new drive is seen in the disk manager. open explorer and right click on this pc (my computer, Computer) go down the list to disk manager and click on disk manager. a window will open and you will get a depiction of the drives. blue is the main drive and black is the new drive. if its there good, exit to desktop and install software/reboot to software (if bootable)
run the transfer software to clone the drives.
after the cloning shut down the computer and ground yourself. disconnect the power cable from the OLD hard drive. boot up the computer. if windows boots up as normal you are on the new drive (the old has no power). explore the folders till your comfortable that everything copied, run some programs ensure everything needed is working. shut down the computer, you can now remove the old hard drive. reverse steps for install. cables, screws, remove.
if you want to keep the drive as secondary storage. leave the drive in and connect the power cable. turn on the computer but when running check the disk manager, verify the new drive is labeled as the c: drive. if you are sure the c: is the new drive you can right click on the other drive (should be d: ) and you can format it from the disk manager. the system may have booted to the OLD HDD, if so you will need to reboot with access to the BIOS and change the boot order, you want the new drive to be the C:.

the process above is the way to do it without the external cradle/enclosure

 

[clutchc]

Desktop or laptop?

Desktop

Connect the new drive to the system * and run a clone pgm like EaseUS Todo Backup Free. It will make an exact clone of the original to the new drive. If the new drive is larger, you will have to use the "Edit" option to stretch the partition to full size on the taget drive or the clone will produce a partition the same size as the original.

* If the new drive isn't recognized in Windows, you will have to initialize it.


Another option is to make a disk image of the system using Win Backup to another device like an external disk drive, followed by making a recovery disk (requires an optical drive). Then swap disks, boot to the recovery disk, and restore the image to the new drive.