External drive

[Pictor]

I have a 4.5yr old Freecom desktop drive that I use for website updates as it has a file on it that the programme doesn't recognise on the computer, but does on the drive.
The past few times I've used it, I've noticed it taking longer to actually open the file and a little slower moving around in the programme ...I've assumed this means the drive is likely getting old & tired.

Today, I ordered a Samsung desktop drive to replace that old one (one of the few I can find with an on/off switch).
I've never moved anything from one external drive to another before, but just want to copy the contents of the old one onto the new - is there any specific way to do that please ?

[curiousclive]

Should be able to just copy/paste to new drive once it formatted ( If not already when bought). May take a while if it USB connected, faster if esata connected.

[Just Plain Fred]

just want to copy the contents of the old one onto the new - is there any specific way to do that please ?

Pictor,
Hello.. an easy way is to "Image" the old.. and then recover the image to the new .. there are several programs that will do this ...as well as Windows Backup... The 3rd party ones are much better at this for various reasons ... I use both pay for and free, for my "Imaging" chores.Basically you save the Image of the old to a folder ..in this case on your C: ...Swap the old out and replace the new ... Format the new NTFS give it a drive letter, and recover the image (of the old) to it using the imaging program. The Free program is Macrium Reflect Free you can download and install this program Macrium Free...If your not sure how to do this post back ...many here will be glad to help get it sorted out. Regards Fred

[Pictor]

Thank you Clive & Fred.
Clive - reading your reply, I then wondered if I could copy the contents to one of the almost empty drives on my computer, and then copy that onto the new drive without having to format it ? I'm thinking the old drive will be FAT32 and the new one, NTFS ? As for formatting, I've never done that with a drive ..just plugged in and used.

Fred - if image is the way to go, then I'm thinking you mean for me to use a back up programme and copy the contents of the old drive onto my computer ? If correct, does it matter which drive it's backed up/copied to ?

I still haven't got around to getting a newer version of Acronis on my new computer, so I suppose that will do the job of copying the old external drive contents ?
There's not much on this drive, so not a lot to back up/copy etc.

I do have more questions about the procedure in your reply, but one step at a time may be better as this is all new to me.

Thanks for the help!

[ruirib]

If you don't have many files, probably copying and pasting is the easier way here. Just select everything in the root folder of the existing drive, press CTRL + C, go to the root folder of the new drve, press CTRL + V and you're done.

It's wise to format the new disk to use NTFS, if it comes with a FAT32 file system. Just right click it with your mouse, choose Format and choose NTFS from the file system dropdown.

[Infinicore]

All I would do, and have done, is make sure the new drive is formatted first, most likely NTFS as mentioned, then download and install a little program called TeraCopy, which will give you much better information as it copies from one drive to another and let you know if there were any problems such as one or more files that would not copy over for some reason. Unlike most Windows copy events, it won't get stuck if one file wont copy over and stop, it skips the file and continues.
As far as actual procedure, I open both drives up in side by side windows and either select files and right click copy move to target window and paste (preferred) or simply drag and drop.
If its a large amount of data to transfer, consider only selecting maybe a couple hundred gigs at a time to copy over, buffers tend to overload if there's to much to keep track of all in one huge transfer.

[Just Plain Fred]

Fred - if image is the way to go, then I'm thinking you mean for me to use a back up programme and copy the contents of the old drive onto my computer ? If correct, does it matter which drive it's backed up/copied to ?

Pictor,
Hello.... Acronis , or Macrium can do the job ..I'm not sure that i follow what your asking ... As i don't know what, or how large the Data on your old HD is ...i can only guess as to which way would be the best way to proceed... I'll take a guess ...
1. Say the data on the old drive is 10GB... Image it with Acronis or Macrium ..Create a new folder ( your name choice... Backup Blah Blah ) on your PC's C: and save the Image there,

2.Swap out the old drive and replace it with the new

3.Format the new NTFS, Assign it a drive letter and recover the "Image" from your folder( Backup Blah Blah) to the new HD

4. Done.. The benifit of doing it this way is that you now have a "Backup" to fall back on ..just in case Regards Fred

[DrWho]

Likewise, I never (well, almost never) clone one drive to another. It's always better to make a Partition to Image backup and store the Image file on a second drive. Then restore that Image File to the new drive.
If somewhere in the restore to the new drive, something goes wrong, and it can, you still have your original drive and the Backup Image file, so you can correct the problems and try again. Nothing lost!

I do backup image files of my C: drive every week and store them on a number of places, just for safety sake.
I can store a backup Image file, for a quickie backup, to the second partition on my main drive, or to a separate backup drive, or to an external drive, (much slower process) or even burn the image to a DVD, (slowest process and may take more than just one DVD)
Ghost 11.5 handles all these options for me and I can boot it from a CD, Flash Drive or even an SD Flash Memory Card, like I use in my digital camera. Many computers won't boot from an SD card, but mine will. My netbook will, but only if I put the SD card in an SD to USB adapter.
Go figure!

But however you do your backups, and with whatever program you like, it's just SO important to keep your PC backed up, against a virus attack or hard drive failure.
No one ever has to say, "I can't afford a backup program" because the best ones are FREE if you just look for them.

Cheers Mates!
The Doctor

[Pictor]

If you don't have many files, probably copying and pasting is the easier way here. Just select everything in the root folder of the existing drive, press CTRL + C, go to the root folder of the new drve, press CTRL + V and you're done.

It's wise to format the new disk to use NTFS, if it comes with a FAT32 file system. Just right click it with your mouse, choose Format and choose NTFS from the file system dropdown.

Thank you - nothing in the rather poor instructions for these things actually tells you how to format them! I see now how easy it is.
The new desktop drive is, to my surprise, FAT32 - thought all new ones would be NTFS. I'll format that before I do anything else if that's necessary - I won't be using this drive for anything else.

There's 8.46GB on the old drive, so not a huge amount to move.
I'm supposing that the old drive being FAT32, and moving the contents to the new NTFS drive will not affect how my web programme & computer use the files on it ?

[Pictor]

Pictor,
Hello.... Acronis , or Macrium can do the job ..I'm not sure that i follow what your asking ... As i don't know what, or how large the Data on your old HD is ...i can only guess as to which way would be the best way to proceed... I'll take a guess ...
1. Say the data on the old drive is 10GB... Image it with Acronis or Macrium ..Create a new folder ( your name choice... Backup Blah Blah ) on your PC's C: and save the Image there,

2.Swap out the old drive and replace it with the new

3.Format the new NTFS, Assign it a drive letter and recover the "Image" from your folder( Backup Blah Blah) to the new HD

4. Done.. The benifit of doing it this way is that you now have a "Backup" to fall back on ..just in case Regards Fred

Thank you - my query was, when you say create a folder and save an image on my C: ..does it have to be that drive (it's SSD) - I have two other 1TB drives on this PC with lots of space: D: or K:

Also, can I just open the old drive, select all, or a few at a time (8.46GB total), and copy to the new folder on the PC as a back up ?

Re giving the new drive a letter - the old one is called 'FREECOM HDD (I ...would the computer programme that uses a file on the desktop drive be able to find it easier if I called the new drive by the same name/letter ? (I'm concerned about the programme opening if it can't find the file on the new drive)

Forgive my ignorance on these matters - I've never needed to move anything from a desktop drive before. I think I need to do this one step at a time.
I really appreciate all the help everyone gives here.

[Just Plain Fred]

Thank you - my query was, when you say create a folder and save an image on my C: ..does it have to be that drive (it's SSD) - I have two other 1TB drives on this PC with lots of space: D: or K:

Also, can I just open the old drive, select all, or a few at a time (8.46GB total), and copy to the new folder on the PC as a back up ?

Re giving the new drive a letter - the old one is called 'FREECOM HDD (I ...would the computer programme that uses a file on the desktop drive be able to find it easier if I called the new drive by the same name/letter ? (I'm concerned about the programme opening if it can't find the file on the new drive)

Pictor...
1. Save the Image to wherever you want to D: or K: or C:
2. A drive letter is assigned when you run "Disk Management" on windows ... After you Format the drive...Choose from "Drop down" after right clicking on it.
3. The name is something that you append to the drive ...(not the drive letter ) example... My DATA drive i assigned D: and called it "DATA" (Right click on the drive using Windows explorer and select "Rename")
4. The reason for "Imaging" is for 8.GB would take forever to copy, one to another. Macrium or Acronis should handle it in about 10minutes Regards Fred

[Infinicore]

4. The reason for "Imaging" is for 8.GB would take forever to copy, one to another. Macrium or Acronis should handle it in about 10minutes

Care to place a wager? You install Macrium or Acronis, make an image of the drive, swap drives, and reconstitute the image on the new drive.
I'll install TeraCopy and drag and drop (I'm guessing we're working with USB 2.0 bus speed here) from one drive to the other. I'll even do 16 GB just to make it a bit more fair! : )

Also, can I just open the old drive, select all, or a few at a time (8.46GB total), and copy to the new folder on the PC as a back up ?

Yes, you should have 3 copies of important data, one of which should be off site in case of disaster that wipes out the current data and the backup stored locally.

I'm currently in the midst of transferring about 1.47 terabytes from a RAID 1 to a RAID 5; my computers barely lift a cheek to transfer 8.5 GB. Should take under 6 minutes if everything is reading ok and the drives are not connected to the same bus if it is USB 2.0. In fact it probably took me almost as long to compose this little bit of prose. Good luck on whichever way you go.

[Pictor]

Care to place a wager? You install Macrium or Acronis, make an image of the drive, swap drives, and reconstitute the image on the new drive.
I'll install TeraCopy and drag and drop (I'm guessing we're working with USB 2.0 bus speed here) from one drive to the other. I'll even do 16 GB just to make it a bit more fair! : )


Yes, you should have 3 copies of important data, one of which should be off site in case of disaster that wipes out the current data and the backup stored locally.

I'm currently in the midst of transferring about 1.47 terabytes from a RAID 1 to a RAID 5; my computers barely lift a cheek to transfer 8.5 GB. Should take under 6 minutes if everything is reading ok and the drives are not connected to the same bus if it is USB 2.0. In fact it probably took me almost as long to compose this little bit of prose. Good luck on whichever way you go.

Thanks - I'll put a copy of the drive contents onto my computer before doing anything else.

Pictor...
1. Save the Image to wherever you want to D: or K: or C:
2. A drive letter is assigned when you run "Disk Management" on windows ... After you Format the drive...Choose from "Drop down" after right clicking on it.
3. The name is something that you append to the drive ...(not the drive letter ) example... My DATA drive i assigned D: and called it "DATA" (Right click on the drive using Windows explorer and select "Rename")
4. The reason for "Imaging" is for 8.GB would take forever to copy, one to another. Macrium or Acronis should handle it in about 10minutes Regards Fred

Thanks for the clarification - I've fallen foul of putting things in the wrong place in the past, or changing file/folder names.
Once I get to putting a copy onto the computer, I'll format the new drive and hopefully get it sorted!

Getting a new copy of Acronis is on my to do list, just had too much work to deal with these past few months.

Here's hoping it goes smoothly & the old drive keeps going in the process!

[Just Plain Fred]

Getting a new copy of Acronis is on my to do list, just had too much work to deal with these past few months.

Pictor,
A word of warning... The last two releases or Acronis True Image Home (2011 and 2012) have all sorts of problems ..don't know what version you have ...But if want you can still buy v2010..(on line search)..If you do.... stick at update 7046.. have a read at their forum to see what I'm talking about Acronis Forum Regards Fred

[Pictor]

So glad you told me that Fred! I'd have bought 2012. The copy I have is Home version 10.0 (build 4,942). I didn't reinstall it because I understood it had glitches with W7.
All I ever want with a back up is a copy of my images, files/folders and records - as such, I never fully understood Acronis anyway, and opted for copy my com. Is Macrium easy to use for an idiot proof copy of my files etc each week ?