Copy / clone a laptop hard disk

rubadub

I was given a toshiba laptop which is going fairly slow for its spec. When doing diagnostics it said there was SMART warnings about the HD being likely to fail.

I have a spare HD I can put into it and wanted to clone the current HD. This toshiba disk also contains recovery software so if it ends up still running slowly (i.e. not the HD causing trouble) then I could try doing a restore.

I am wondering what software is best to do this, hopefully free. Ideally I would use the laptop itself, I have a caddy for the other spare drive so can I plug it in and backup onto it. Or do I have to take them both out.

Also should I back up stuff off it now, before attempting the cloning? I did see some warning along with the SMART warning, along the lines of "do not try full error checking on this failing drive before backing up first". So I am guessing if it tries to access a corrupt part on the disc it might wreck it all.

Torqay

This will do.

It is always recommended to have a backup (especially if the drive is about to fail) but the cloning process will not put your data at risk. Of course it will overwrite the target drive, so if you have anything valuable on the other drive you should back it up.

Edit: Cloning may fail if there are bad sectors on the drive, so backing up your files while you still can should be your priority. If you can't clone, you'll have to reinstall Windows on the other drive.

Cork24

You could just set up a Disk Mirror with a Second HardDrive so if your C Drive Fails the Backup should kick in..

you could buy Apples Time Capsule they come in 1 and 2 TB and it can work off your Wireless

rubadub

Torqay wrote: »

but the cloning process will not put your data at risk...

Edit: Cloning may fail if there are bad sectors on the drive, so backing up your files while you still can should be your priority.

So are you still saying cloning does not put the data at risk? if so I would try the cloning first and if it fails I can still backup the data and then wipe it.

Backup up now would be a pain as it is not my PC and I have to be sure to get everything off it and question several people who use it.

Cork24 wrote: »

You could just set up a Disk Mirror with a Second HardDrive so if your C Drive Fails the Backup should kick in.

are you talking of desktop PCs here? the one I have is a laptop

We think the failing drive is causing the slow down of the PC right now so want it out. In the diagnostics there was also a warning about some transfer rate being slower than expected or something.

Patrick 1

When I've done this I tend to rely on the big pc and a bootable copy of clonezilla, plug in the two drives an hit copy. IF you can plug both drives in simultaneously this is a good method, if not you may need a usb hard drive.

Torqay

rubadub wrote: »

So are you still saying cloning does not put the data at risk? if so I would try the cloning first and if it fails I can still backup the data and then wipe it.

Cloning a drive will put data at risk no more than backing up your data. But if the read heads hit bad sectors, all sorts of bad sh*t can happen, wether you clone or copy. Having said that, your priority should be saving your files, you can always clone later.

rubadub

I have both drives out now and can use them on a desktop PC using a caddy. This is probably the easier option for me.

So what software can I use?

I now see the dodgy drive is 500GB, and my good spare is 320GB, the desktop has 380GB free. I know there is only about 80GB actually used on the 500GB, but I see clonezilla says
The destination partition must be equal or larger than the source one

I only have one caddy so expect I have to
-put the dodgy drive in the caddy,
-create an image on the desktop PC's hard disk then
-put the good drive in the caddy and burn it on.

The easeus & clonezilla appear to be livecds (suited to my original request) but I would prefer something installed on the desktop PC (win 7) if possible.

Torqay

DriveImage XML? It's free.

rubadub

Torqay wrote: »

DriveImage XML? It's free.

Reading their FAQ it still has the problem of the smaller drive

http://www.runtime.org/driveimage_faq.htm#smaller

Q. Can I restore the image to a smaller partition?

A. No, currently you can only restore your data to a partition that is exactly the same size or larger, regardless of the data size.

Reading other forums guys said norton ghost will do it. The free alternative is to use gparted to change the partion size on the dodgy drive, then make an image which will fit on the good drive.

Torqay

I'm using Symantec Ghost and Drive Snapshot for my cloning needs, neither is free but both can clone a disk/partition to a smaller disk/partition (as long as the amount of data doesn't exceed the space available on the target, that is).

Edit: Clonezilla can do it as well. CLICK.

REXER

This Hard Drive Copy and Docking station is the bee,s knees for cloning SATA drives. Slot in the old drive and a new drive, press the copy button twice and sit back while the drive is cloned. I did 3 laptops in less than an hour.

Great bit of kit!

http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/Integral_Hard_Drive_Copy_and_Docking_station_for_HDD_SSD_SATA_drives/index.html

rubadub

It turned out the 500GB was partitioned roughly in half. I was expecting 2 partitions of maybe 490/10GB.

So I got easeus disk copy and am attempting to copy just the partition with windows on it. The other parition seems to have only toshiba recovery software.

I backed up all photos & docs beforehand.

It is at 24GB now with 24 read errors already. So I am not sure if it will even boot.

I am wondering what would be the possible next moves if the cloned one doesn't boot, or boots and starts to hang. I would like to keep all profiles etc the same.

I found this about repairing a broken one.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

Is this the best way forward? I realise some programs might be corrupt which this would not fix, like office.

I am also thinking I might be able to resize the other toshiba backup partition and put it on the 320GB along with the one being transfered now, and then do a restore, which I would hope contains office on it, not sure if it usually works like that.

Patrick 1

The cloned one will now have all of the data you wanted from the old drive on it. The errors mean you'll probably lose some stuff but it may still boot. Even if it still boots I'd say repair the OS via a usb key with windows on it otherwise there's a good chance that you'll be missing something or running with broken drivers. As that's basically what the link is saying I'd say you should be good to go. There is a slim chance that all the damaged areas were empty and that the OS is fully intact but it is better not to run the risk.

Anyways, good luck with the repair and if you need advice you know where to look.

whizbang

If you are looking to copy the recovery / diagnostic and other partitions, I use Selfimage

http://www.majorgeeks.com/SelfImage_d5588.html

rubadub

I had 36 errors in the end and it will not boot, just hangs. I was getting an error message PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable which seems common. Guys were saying to change the boot order to HD first. I did this and it just hangs with a blinking underscore.

Maybe this could be due to it looking for the other missing partition.

I am now thinking I might try and see if I can do a "windows easy transfer" on the dodgy one, if this works I can try a fresh install of win 7 and transfer them back on.

Patrick 1

Throw in a windows install cd or usb and tell it to install to the good hard drive with the newly copied stuff on it. During the install there will be an option to preserve any found windows installations. If you select that option the new install will put anything it finds into a folder in the new OS called windowsold. That'll be where the cloned stuff will be left, it would just be a matter of rooting around in there then.

Torqay

You're still messing around with this? For more than a week? Seriously?

A fresh Windows installation on the new drive takes what? 30 minutes? Then hook up the old drive, retrieve whatever is possible and be done with it.