Transferring HDD data

[BigFest]

Hi all! This is my first post on Tom's hardware, so I'm really sorry if this thread is already somewhere else on the site, but I couldn't seem to find one. Anyway, here goes. I currently have two hard drives, a 160GB IDE drive, and a 250GB SATA drive. Under my computer, they appear as Local Disk C (50GB) Local Disk D (110GB) and Local Disk E (250GB). I am running out of room, so I would really like to get a new hard drive, preferably something along the lines of a single 1TB SATAII drive. My question is, is it possible for me to take all the data from my two original drives and transfer it to a brand new single drive? Would my computer still load with all files and folders in the same places? If someone could explain the process, or what would happen, I'd be really grateful. Thanks guys!

 

[r_manic]

You'll have to clone your drive C to your new hard drive. After that you can copy whatever's on D. You should have no problems, but don't delete anything on your current drives just to be sure! Here's a list of disk-cloning software: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disk_cloning_software

 

[BigFest]

Thanks. So would this be a relatively simple procedure? And would it be safe to do it on my own just using this software, or are there quite a lot of risks in doing this? Would all of my documents, saved games, drivers etc all be recognised in the same places they were before? Cheers.

 

[Outlander_04]

Acronis migrate easy
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/migrateeasy/

free for 30 days . Install on your computer and use it to clone to the new hard drive . Your data is safe because the original is not changed in any way

The second hard drive , that doesnt have windows on it can just be copy and pasted once you have installed and booted from the 1 terabyte drive .

 

[photonboy]

Get the Western Digital 1TB Black.

WD has a diagnostics disc image and one for installing hard drives which includes cloning.

0) Create the WD Setup CD (or floppy?)
1) shut down PC
2) remove the non Windows drive
3) add the new 1TB drive
4) run the Setup disc and CLONE (partition your 1TB to two partitions. One for Windows and one for the rest)
5) Copy the D content to what will be your future D drive
6) shut down
7) remove the old Windows drive
8) Boot up and make sure everythings okay
9) Shut down and add the other drive, then copy the data
10) I'd keep a second drive just for creating backup images (i.e. Acronis True Image) and backing up critical information. In other words, plan for the case that your 1TB drive failed. It's reliable but plan anyway.