New Hard Drive questions

I'm going to be getting a new 1TB hard drive for my laptop, and have some questions about it:

1. Someone told me they didn't think my laptop would support a HD that's 1TB, that I'd have to partition it into smaller sizes. Is this true? Is there any way to tell? I wouldn't mind doing that, but I'd like to know beforehand.

2. I'm going to take my old 320GB laptop hd and use a SATA to USB connector to use it as an external storage device. Since it will still have Vista installed on it (at least until I reformat it) will I be able to boot vista off it through that USB connector? If not, is there any way I could do it through other means? I'd like to use it to experiment with dual booting and partitions (since I've never managed to do either successfully) but I want to do that on a hd other than the one I'll be using in case something goes bad again.

3. I'd like to duplicate the 320 HD I have onto the new 1TB HD, but there's a problem. I know there are several utilities I can use to back up an image of a HD, but I have nowhere to store that backup image. My current HD has about 10GB free, and the SATA to USB connector I'm going to get says it only supports sizes up to 500GB. I was thinking there's a way I could put the new HD into my laptop, then use a Linux Live CD to boot up and plug in the old HD with the USB adapter and use one of those utilities to copy that HD image right onto my new one, but I'm not at all familiar with any of those procedures. A little help would be great

4. Is there anything else I should know about doing any of this?

Thanks for your assistance!

Hello

Go to your manufacture's website and they will tell you what you can do and tell you what you can't do. Thats what I did and you can even print there instructions. LOL

You mean the manufacturer of my computer or new HD? Because I'm trying to avoid trawling through Dell's website to find any of this info...

For a start I do not know what that person was smoking because you can use a 1TB HDD in Full on any system

Just a question - Do you have a Install Disk?

Josh

That was my reaction as well, just wanted to be sure in case they happened to know something weird like that.

Unfortunately I don't. The computer was a gift, only came with an AC cable haha. Although I do have a recovery partition that I know works because I had to use it to restore my comp to factory settings once.

Okay please be aware of the risks that are involved with replacing a HDD

If your OS dies or has a problem then you cannot use the restore Partition in anyway or form

If you can make some recovery Disks if that option is available

Ok thanks I'll look into recovery discs. Also, it came from Dell and has a sort of "custom" Vista OS (such as Dell Games, Dell DataSafe, and a few things like that configured into it) so would it still be OK to reinstall Vista from a normal Vista disc (like you'd buy at walmart) if I ever needed to? Same question for upgrading to Windows 7. Because if I can't figure out how to copy an image of my HD onto the new one I may just install 7 directly onto it and reinstall all my programs.

If I do clone the HD, wouldn't it still include that recovery partition and basically be the exact same HD, just with 700GB of free space on it?

It depends on how you go about cloning your HDD - If you image all the partitions including the Restore Partition then it may work but there is a chance it will not

Also No your key will not work with a Normal Windows Vista Disk because your Product key is linked with Dell

Activation works as follows

You enter you product key

It is then converted into a bunch of Numbers and letters

This is then compared to a Certificate (In your Case Dells) which is found during the install (The Reason why you have a recovery Partition)

If it matches the certificate all is good - If not then No

________________________

If you Choose to upgrade to seven then I can help you with the setup and help choose the right edition for you

Josh

Ok well it sounds like it's worth a shot when I do clone it. So wait you mean even if I bought a totally new Vista disc from walmart I couldn't do a clean install of it on my current computer? Like reformat the HD and install it? Or do you mean I just can't restore the OS using a new disc?

Thanks for the offer, I'll let you know if I need any help if/when I do it, but I think I'll be ok. This site has some good tutorials up.

If you cloned your HDD and transferred it then it would be A-Okay shouldn't need to activate and if you did ring the telephone number for activation

If you brought the disc and installed it you should have the Licence key for that Windows Vista with the Disc and even then you might as well have brought Windows 7

If it didn't have a product key then you may have a trouble activating your Dell OEM Key with a Retail Vista Install

Josh

I would recommend Macrium Reflect - Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

http://www.ehow.com/how_7608493_reinstall-macrium-reflect.html

I would use the Windows Built in Image system but since you have Vista Home Premium that option is not available



Josh

Shadowjk said:

I would recommend Macrium Reflect - Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

How to Reinstall With Macrium Reflect | eHow.com

I would use the Windows Built in Image system but since you have Vista Home Premium that option is not available

   Note

You will need to create a disk to be able to restore the image

Josh

Click to expand...

May I just add a note to what is already an excellent suggetion. It is merely this, rumours say that Macrium may not stay free, so follow Josh's advice without delay.

Ok That's what I thought.

Ya I know I just wanted to make sure that installing a retail version of vista wouldn't mess with my computer. Wasn't sure if it had to have the specialized Dell Vista installed or not.

Ya I'd be sure to get a key for it. But if I ever need to I'll probably just jump up to 7.

I think that's all the help I need for now, I'll come back if I have any more questions, and probably will once I actually get the new HD in and have time to mess around with it. You've been very helpful! Thank you!

richc46 said:

Shadowjk said:

I would recommend Macrium Reflect - Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

How to Reinstall With Macrium Reflect | eHow.com

I would use the Windows Built in Image system but since you have Vista Home Premium that option is not available

   Note

You will need to create a disk to be able to restore the image

Josh

Click to expand...

May I just add a note to what is already an excellent suggetion. It is merely this, rumours say that Macrium may not stay free, so follow Josh's advice without delay.

Click to expand...

Thanks rich, I'll check it out right away.

Ok i checked Macrium out, but on cnet EASEUS Todo Backup Free - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Downloads is rated higher. Is this one better? I usually trust cnet's reviews and would normally get that one instead, but if you still recommend Macrium I'd trust your judgement over theirs.

just aquick note. Makng your harddrive into an external one would work since u have the os already installed all uave to change is tue boot up order. I thought of doing the same thing but could not install vista on to my external.

Slammer said:

Ok i checked Macrium out, but on cnet EASEUS Todo Backup Free - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Downloads is rated higher. Is this one better? I usually trust cnet's reviews and would normally get that one instead, but if you still recommend Macrium I'd trust your judgement over theirs.

Click to expand...

I haven't used that before - You could try it but I will be unable to support you since I do not use that Program. Plus I only use EASEUS for a partition manager

Josh

Thanks Boatdude, a quick google search confirmed that I CAN boot off a USB HD like a normal HD as long as you chose it at BIOS. Like you said. Probably should have just googled it to begin with haha.

@Josh Ok well I downloaded them both so when it comes in I'll install both of them and compare the interfaces. EASUS looks likes its directed mainly at simplicity and ease for inexperienced users, so I'll have to see if it has as many features as Macrium, or if I even need other features.

Again, thank you all for your input and help with this, the first time you do something like this is always the hardest because you don't know exactly what to expect, and you guys are really helping me get a feel for doing this in a way google couldn't

I'll probably come back here occasionally between now and when it actually comes in (hopefully a couple weeks), but for now I think I'm good!

Most members use Macrium. I would go with Macrium.

Slammer said:

Thanks Boatdude, a quick google search confirmed that I CAN boot off a USB HD like a normal HD as long as you chose it at BIOS. Like you said. Probably should have just googled it to begin with haha.

@Josh Ok well I downloaded them both so when it comes in I'll install both of them and compare the interfaces. EASUS looks likes its directed mainly at simplicity and ease for inexperienced users, so I'll have to see if it has as many features as Macrium, or if I even need other features.

Again, thank you all for your input and help with this, the first time you do something like this is always the hardest because you don't know exactly what to expect, and you guys are really helping me get a feel for doing this in a way google couldn't

I'll probably come back here occasionally between now and when it actually comes in (hopefully a couple weeks), but for now I think I'm good!

Click to expand...

No Problem - As for me helping you I have to predict what will happen and what problems that might occur and then find a solution

Until you have the HDD and have imaged and restored completely I shall not mark this thread as solved

Josh