up vote 1 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I have bought a new laptop but HDD is not sufficient for me (5400rpm). I have my 'old' one (better one - Seagate Momentus 7200) and I would like to replace it but without reinstalling everything. And there my question arises : can I copy my boot partition from my laptop hard drive to my old drive so that it will boot from it properly? If so then how to do it? will Norton Ghost be useful here ?

My point would be to just replace this partition and leave the rest.

I use Windows 7 64 bit.

link|improve this question
89% accept rate
feedback

migrated from stackoverflow.com Mar 25 '11 at 2:03

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

4 Answers

up vote 0 down vote accepted

windows 7 has a VERY good built in backup system. do a full backup to an external drive, boot with an install/recovery cd, tell it to restore, and you should be good.

link|improve this answer
I think that's a good idea. I will give it a go as soon as I get a pendrive big enough to store win 7 cd. I have found a good and simple tutorial : youtube.com/watch?v=v3Wrsfa89n4&feature=related youtube.com/watch?v=v3Wrsfa89n4&feature=related – Patryk Mar 25 '11 at 10:23
So finally, I did the thing with Windows 7 recovery cd ( on USB drive ) and everything appeared to be fine ;) – Patryk Mar 25 '11 at 13:37
if its the right answer, mind selecting it as such? – Journeyman Geek Mar 25 '11 at 14:47
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

I think you want more than the boot sector. Windows installs on laptops are very much specific to the hardware.

Start with a clean HDD and see if you can get any OS to boot with the laptop hardware.

link|improve this answer
Using a new drive in the same laptop shouldn't prove to be a tough endeavor. The drive controller isn't changing, so there should be little to no issue with windows drivers/configuration. – xelco52 Mar 24 '11 at 15:22
Oh, ok. If your old hdd is good. Copy partn or ghost to the new drive. Try to boot the new one. You have the old as backup. You might have a boot sector issue. If so, it should be fixable. – Anonymous Mar 24 '11 at 18:04
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

Yes, ghost will do the trick on windows. "Ghost for Linux" (G4L) is an option for linux. I'm not exactly sure what you're envisioning, but you'll be best served by cloning the old drive to the new drive. Two tutorials included below to familiarize you with the process:

link|improve this answer
Hello, I have checked your links to these tutorials and : they are kind of complicated and involve access to desktop computer (which I don't have) and floppy disc ( the same ) is there any other simpler way ? I heard about hiren's bootcd or norton livecd or something like this. – Anonymous Mar 24 '11 at 19:56
Sure - Hiren's Boot CD is an option. It includes "DriveImage XML" which is a free drive cloning app similiar to Ghost. And if i'm not mistaken, with DriveImage you can clone a drive that is currently in use, so you don't need a desktop PC. Here is another tutorial for using DriveImage XML: bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial160.html – xelco52 Mar 24 '11 at 20:08
I have tried to use DriveImageXML from normally running Windows but I get some errors as I just start making the image of my C: drive. I will download Hiren's Boot CD and try to do it from it. – Anonymous Mar 24 '11 at 21:54
Now I have used "MiniTool Partition WIzard Home edition" (I don't know why, I just google epartition software and give it a go) and make a full disc copy and I failed - I get a bluescreen when I boot from the drive I copied to (when windows logo pops up after BIOS) – Patryk Mar 25 '11 at 10:13
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

You can copy your disk with Aomei Partition Assistant, considering your OS is Windows 7 64bit, so you can use its Partition Assistant Professional Edition to copy you disk to another. Learn more about disk copy.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.