What's the best way to upgrade to a higher capacity storage but not loose data?

[Sammyjo20]

I've currently got a Samsung 850 EVO (250gb) with my OS on and a few steam games.

I also have a 1tb Seagate Barracuda mass storage drive where I keep everything else. I actually don't have any space in my case to just add another HDD in, but I want to upgrade this 1tb drive to a 3tb Seagate Barracuda drive.

The only thing is, I can only have the new drive in. What's the best way to transfer all of the data over, making sure no fragmentation or buggy stuff? It's also going to have to have the same drive letter (E:\)

Thanks.

 

[Barty1884]

Hmmm, an interesting one.

My first thought is to clone the 1TB HDD to the 3TB and then expand the partition afterwards.
That would require you to either use a USB enclosure, or attach it directly to the motherboard (considering you don't have space in your case, you would need to find a way to secure the HDD while the clone completes.

After the clone is completed, remove the 1TB and secure the 3TB in it's place. It should auto-before drive E, but if not, you can simply assign that in Disk Management, then expand the partition size to the full 3TB (it'll still show as a 1TB partition initially).


I guess the same objective could be achieved using an external HDD - move everything from the 1TB to an external, switch the 1TB out for a 3TB and then migrate everything back........but that seems an unnecessary step in the chain.

 

[elbert]

Hook them both up and use DiscWizard. DiscWizard will allow you to setup the new drive and copy all the files over. After you done simply remove the old drive from your case and move the new drive in. You would set the new drive on a book near the PC to connect it to the sata cables. It doesn't have to be tucked into the case until your finished. I suggest getting an external incloser for your old drive.

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/discwizard/

 

[Sammyjo20]

Thanks for both of your replies guys.

Expanding on Barty1884's idea, I'm thinking, how about I unplug the old drive completely, take it out of the PC and then install the new one. I can then get a really cheap SATA power extender and just a normal sata cable and plug it into the spare sata port (sadly only sata 2). The 3tb drive will then be read as "E" and the old drive will be detected as "F"?

I can then partition it for 3tb and just transfer all of the data over through windows explorer?

How's that idea? Sorry if I explained it terribly... haha

- Sam

 

[Barty1884]

That'll work too. I'm assuming your 1TB is pretty full though (hence the 3TB upgrade)? In my experience, a clone of a drive is much faster than transferring the files manually - even when you just drag/drop everything in one fell swoop & let it run. I have no idea why I've had that experience, maybe someone else can shed some light on it), but it definitely 'feels' faster.

Don't get too hung up on "E" and "F" etc, that can all be amended in disk management afterwards.

 

[Sammyjo20]

That'll work too. I'm assuming your 1TB is pretty full though (hence the 3TB upgrade)? In my experience, a clone of a drive is much faster than transferring the files manually - even when you just drag/drop everything in one fell swoop & let it run. I have no idea why I've had that experience, maybe someone else can shed some light on it), but it definitely 'feels' faster.

Don't get too hung up on "E" and "F" etc, that can all be amended in disk management afterwards.

Yeah... It's getting to around 200gb left of it, and lets just say I don't want to run out of space. Hence the overkill 3tb XD

Okay, so would you suggest the seagate cloning software? I really don't feel comfortable letting third party software formatting my brand new drive. Don't know why... I'm much more familiar with using Disk Manager.

Do you mind explaining the cloning process please?

Cheers!

 

[elbert]

yup you should clone or use my diskwizard suggestion. You risk missing hidden files.

 

[Snipergod87]

You will also need to make sure that the 3TB drive is not a MBR partition but a GPT partition, MBR cannot access over 2TB capacity wise. Cloning software depending on how it works may not do what you want.

 

[Barty1884]

There are many cloning software options out there, and each have their own pro's & con's.
I've never used Seagate's offering, but their tools (generally) are pretty user-friendly.

There's a pretty comprehensive guide when you follow the link elbert posted earlier:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/007716en?language=en_US&key=ka03A000000amGIQAY&kb=n&wwwlocale=en-ca

You can do it inside Windows, or from bootable media.

Note, no *reputable* cloning software will format or erase your existing drive. The clone will either work, or it won't.
If it works, great! If it doesn't, your 1TB will still have all your data and we can try another program - but I see no reason to suspect Seagate's offering won't work. Afterall, this is exactly what it's designed for.

 

[ko888]

Thanks for both of your replies guys.

Expanding on Barty1884's idea, I'm thinking, how about I unplug the old drive completely, take it out of the PC and then install the new one. I can then get a really cheap SATA power extender and just a normal sata cable and plug it into the spare sata port (sadly only sata 2). The 3tb drive will then be read as "E" and the old drive will be detected as "F"?

I can then partition it for 3tb and just transfer all of the data over through windows explorer?

How's that idea? Sorry if I explained it terribly... haha

- Sam

That'll work. It would be ideal if the 1TB drive was completely defragmented but that process could take hours.

Don't perform a sector by sector clone. That will just duplicate the fragmentation.

 

[Sammyjo20]

Wow cheers for the help guys!

So i'll probably plug in both of the drives and clone it. Going back to the answer about the different partitions. When I get my new 3tb drive, I think i'll format it in Windows like normal and then clone the drive to it. Will it still detect all of the capacity through this way?

Cheers

 

[Barty1884]

Not initially, I don't think.

After the clone, you'll likely see a 1TB partition - which is an exact clone (space & all) of the 1TB drive.
Then, inside disk management you can expand the partition to the full capacity.

As ko888 stated, a clone is exactly that - an identical clone. Including fragmentation. A disk defrag would be helpful, but will take time. Perhaps clone the drive overnight one night...........and then run defrag on it the following night (so anything that'll take a significant amount of time doesn't impact your usage. Just a thought.

 

[Sammyjo20]

Okay, cool.

Thanks for the help guys! 😀 Appreciate it!

- Sam

 

[ko888]

Wow cheers for the help guys!

So i'll probably plug in both of the drives and clone it. Going back to the answer about the different partitions. When I get my new 3tb drive, I think i'll format it in Windows like normal and then clone the drive to it. Will it still detect all of the capacity through this way?

Cheers

Instead of cloning, you can perform a copy of the old drive to the new drive. That will defragment the files during the copying process and there will be no need to resize/extend the partition on the new drive.