[SOLVED] Migrating exact files from old HDD to new HDD internally

[registersano]

I'm so sorry as I'm struggling to understand how this works, although there are many articles and discussion related to this - but they are confusing to me.

I'm replacing my secondary HDD (not my boot drive) with a new HDD. I'm not changing my PC so I'm hoping all files can be migrated to the new drive exactly the same way as how it was running, to save me the problem in reorganizing every shortcuts and file path.

May I know what's the steps I need to take? Just take the old drive out, insert the new one connecting the same cable? Then I copy paste the files from the old HDD via a dock station into the new HDD?

I read from somewhere it is not that straight forward, as it involves installing drivers, and risk of file corruption?

Please enlighten me with a good guide.

Sorry if it is a stupid question... 🙁

 

[USAFRet]

This is just a secondary drive?

Can you show us a screencap of the current Disk Management window?

What size are the drives, old and new?
How much space is consumed on the old drive?

For a secondary drive, "cloning" is not strictly required.

 

[registersano]

This is just a secondary drive?

Can you show us a screencap of the current Disk Management window?

What size are the drives, old and new?
How much space is consumed on the old drive?

For a secondary drive, "cloning" is not strictly required.

Hi USAFRet! Please find the screencap at this link

https://imgur.com/S4fkbT3

View: https://imgur.com/S4fkbT3


The old one is 1TB and the upcoming new one is 4TB, both are 3.5" SATA.

The old drive is nearing its limit.

 

[USAFRet]

As I feared...cloning IS required in this situation.
Disk 0, the 1TB, contains the System Reserved boot partition.
Without that, and no boot for you.

So, clone to the new 4TB.

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new 4TB
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing Disk 0.

If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect the old 1TB.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[registersano]

As I feared...cloning IS required in this situation.
Disk 0, the 1TB, contains the System Reserved boot partition.
Without that, and no boot for you.

So, clone to the new 4TB.

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new 4TB
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing Disk 0.

If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect the old 1TB.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

Thanks for the guide question on the part when I do the

"
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off"

At this stage, I don't connect the new drive to the PC right? Also, when I'm cloning does it mean I need extra space for that in my existing old drives?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the guide question on the part when I do the

"
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off"

At this stage, I don't connect the new drive to the PC right? Also, when I'm cloning does it mean I need extra space for that in my existing old drives?

No, the new target drive (the 4TB) is already connected.

 

[registersano]

Thanks for the guide question on the part when I do the

"
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off"

At this stage, I don't connect the new drive to the PC right? Also, when I'm cloning does it mean I need extra space for that in my existing old drives?

Ok, May I connect it via a SATA to USB adapter? As I'm not sure how to connect it internally on the motherboard.

 

[USAFRet]

Ok, May I connect it via a SATA to USB adapter? As I'm not sure how to connect it internally on the motherboard.

Only if you have the correct USB thing.
A single cable to a USB port won't work.

The top one won't work with a 3.5" HDD
The bottom docking station would

This new drive gets connected exactly as the current one is.
SATA power comes from the PSU, SATA data cable to a SATA port on the motherboard.

You're going to have to connect it that way anyway, so might as well do it right the first time.

 

[registersano]

Only if you have the correct USB thing.
A single cable to a USB port won't work.

The top one won't work with a 3.5" HDD
The bottom docking station would

This new drive gets connected exactly as the current one is.
SATA power comes from the PSU, SATA data cable to a SATA port on the motherboard.

You're going to have to connect it that way anyway, so might as well do it right the first time.

Ok, I'm getting the one with the docking station and it's own USB and power cable.

Also, I can do that on reconnecting the new drive - that's seems straightforward. Just that opening a new drive slot and cabling, to transfer the mirror is unfamiliar for me.

I will try doing it once my docking station and new HDD arrives. Thanks for your great input, appreciate it.

 

[registersano]

Only if you have the correct USB thing.
A single cable to a USB port won't work.

The top one won't work with a 3.5" HDD
The bottom docking station would

This new drive gets connected exactly as the current one is.
SATA power comes from the PSU, SATA data cable to a SATA port on the motherboard.

You're going to have to connect it that way anyway, so might as well do it right the first time.

Thanks USAFRet, it works!

But I have extra spaces grey out in the new 4TB disk as MBR capacity is only at 2TB. Online search pointed me to a convert the drive into GPT, but it seems that option is not available on my disk management nor 3rd party software like EaseUS?

My last resort would be reclone everything into GPT, but does that works? Sorry for troubling you, but your inputs are the best from the rest. 😀

https://imgur.com/a/B8YK7bO

View: https://imgur.com/a/B8YK7bO

 

[USAFRet]

MBR2GPT, from Microsoft
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/mbr-to-gpt

 

[registersano]

MBR2GPT, from Microsoft
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/mbr-to-gpt

I found another solution, as I didn't managed to convert it from MBR to GPT, just sharing it here for food for thought.

I cloned my old HDD to the new HDD in 4TB GPT format, that however made me unable to boot the window although my PC is GPT supported with UEFI. In my layman understanding, my PC need to boot from BOTH my SSD drive and another partition of "System, Active" in my old HDD, and I really have no idea how to troubleshoot the UEFI GPT issue. Not wanting to revert back to the 2TB MBR mode for my 4TB HDD, I began experimenting.

I cloned my old HDD's boot partition to my SSD into a new partition, and made everything boot from there by renaming the drive. And it works! Currently I'm typing from the bootable PC with my new 4TB HDD, I'm thankful for your guidance. 😀

Hope the above can be a case reference for others facing the same problem as I'm, as it could be quite confusing for newbie like me.