Chuck,
The only method I know of is to install the new drive as Drive "C" and
install the operating system on it. I'm presuming it's some version of
Windoze, which since Win95 is nearly impossible to move a boot drive
letter. It has all manner of things embedded in a "system registry" and
other configuration files with absolute paths to essential files. Anything
else risks nagging problems with the system. I tried this once a long time
ago with Windoze 3.1, which was simpler than Win95 and everything else that
followed (no system registry, only configuration files in ASCII text). It
was a massive nightmare that continued having nagging problems until some
applications were completely uninstalled and reinstalled. Found it all but
impossible to track down everything that referenced the O/S on Drive D and
switch it to the proper path on Drive C.
Not too long ago I had a similar headache with the wife's desktop computer
. . . her O/S boot drive was Drive "D" and in doing an O/S upgrade I
decided to put in a larger drive . . . and get her machine back to booting
from Drive "C."
How I did approximately the same thing:
(1) Prepared to install new drive by segregating all data files I knew I
wanted to transfer from the old drive to the new one by puting them into
"data only" directories. Many files were already segregated in this
manner, but some were not and this moved them from where they were mixed in
with program files.
(2) Assembled all operating system and application disks so I could
reinstall them on the new drive . . . including making an organized stack
of disks containing hardware drivers, and firewall and AV software. Some
of this was ensuring I had the latest motherboard and peripheral drivers on
hand, and any version updates that would not be easily downloaded after
starting the installation on the new drive. Also downloaded and saved to
disk the latest comprehensive update to the AV software.
(3) Physically installed the new drive as Drive "C" leaving the old drive
completely out of the system (so as not to mistakenly destroy anything on
it). WD drives have a Master, Slave or Single drive jumper configuration .
. . I configured it as a "Single" drive.
(4) Disconnected the machine from the network and installed the O/S,
followed by the motherboard and peripheral drivers, followed by the AV and
firewall software.
(5) Updated the AV software with latest engine and "dat" files. Didn't
have to update the firewall as I had ensured the latest version of it was
on hand when it was installed.
(6) Reconnected the machine to the network and immediately went to the AV
software and asked it to check for an update.
(7) Went to "Windows Update" and asked for it to do so . . . selecting
updates to everything that came up except a couple things I've declined to
update (e.g. Win Media Player update from 9 to 10). This can take several
iterations as one update may trigger the need for another . . . and some
updates require machine reboots. Keep iterating until nothing is left but
those things you don't want.
(7) Installed Microsoft Office (which I have) and went back to the Windows
Update . . . the opening screen for which has a link to doing the same
thing with Microsoft Office. That also will likely require several iterations.
(8) Installed all application software . . . a few of these also have
on-line update features and did the same with them as with Windows and
Microsoft Office.
(9) Turned off machine and added old drive as Drive "D" (check jumpers
when doing this to ensure "C" is configured as Master and "D" as "Slave").
(10) Copied data files that were segregated earlier from old drive to the
new one in the directories where I wanted them.
(11) Turned off machine, took old drive out and reconfigured jumper on the
new drive back to being a "Single" drive.
Hopefully you've got all the installation disks for your O/S and
applications. If you do it this way, and have a broadband internet
connection DO NOT leave the machine connected to the network while
installing the O/S. Don't reconnect it until AFTER you have firewall and
AV software completely installed (with latest AV engine and AV DAT
files). The computer is quite vulnerable to attack during an O/S install
and it WILL happen and it does so in under 30 seconds . . . too many
friends at work have "been there, done that." If you still use dial-up,
just turn off the modem and don't let anything "phone home" untill the AV
and firewall are up.
Last but not least . . . allocate an entire weekend for doing this . . . it
takes a while. Wish I knew of a faster way to accomplish this. If you
were already booting from Drive C and simply wanted to leave it that way,
it would still be quite time consuming, but not nearly as complex a
sequence of steps. I have a new 200 GB drive to replace the 120 GB in one
desktop and will use the 120 GB to replace a 40 GB in another (older)
desktop. I'm allocating an entire day, uninterrupted, to do each one.
Best Wishes
-- John Lind
At 08:54 PM 4/29/2005, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>I bought a Western Digital 160GB drive which I would like to use to
>replace the current 80GB boot drive. I have Partition Magic 6 and
>simply partitioning and formatting a logical drive is not a problem for
>me. However, it has not been since DOS years that I have diddled with
>primary partitions, boot sectors and their activation, etc. In short, I
>don't know how to copy the present boot disk onto the new disk and also
>have it be bootable.
>
>At first I was impressed that the WD drive was supplied with a utility
>to do exactly that. Attempting to run it, however, soon elicited a VC++
>run time error at the point where it appeared to be about to do some
>actual work. I then went to the WD web site and downloaded the latest
>version of said utility. This did not inspire confidence either as it
>informed me that there was only a single drive installed on my system.
>If fact, there are three. I uninstalled this puppy and reinstalled the
>original version that was on the CD enclosed with the drive. I figured
>that by following the custom rather than standard setup path I might be
>able to avoid the run time error. It looked like everything was going
>great until I encountered yet another run time error. It would appear
>that Western Digital is outsourcing software development to the
>chimpanzees at the San Diego Zoo. Perhaps the software was confused by
>my having the proposed new boot drive attached temporarily as a USB drive.
>
>So, my single button push solution to the problem has evaporated. Can
>anyone advise me of another single button push solution or tell me how
>to do it with a thousand button pushes and Partition Magic 6?
>
>For extra points, class, can you also tell me how to change the boot
>drive from D:\ back to C:\. At one time in the past the boot drive was
>C:\. However, C:\ failed one day and, in the rebuilding process, the
>boot drive ended up as D:\. Don't ask me how as I'm not quite sure.
>
>Anyhow, if the 80GB drive is successfully copied onto the 160GB drive as
>the new boot drive how do I get all those registry entries converted
>from D:\ to C:\ not to mention getting the drive itself referenced as
>C:\ rather than D:\? Obviously, this needs to be done before hooking it
>up as the boot drive. But I don't think regedit is going to work on any
>copy of the registry that's not from the boot drive. Final note: There
>is physically a non-bootable C:\ drive installed at the moment which I
>have determined can be removed from the system without detriment to
>booting from D:\.
>
>Thanks, please reply off list.
>Chuck Norcutt
>
>
>
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