How do you move your operating system to a new drive

[TrogL]

I'm pretty sure my boot drive is toast. I want to move Windows 2000 to a different drive without losing my settings, programs, register etc etc.

Can it be done?

I really don't feel up to reinstalling everything.

[LoneStarLiberal]

1. There's Software for Moving Drives

I know there's some software out there for moving one drive to another...try checking this out, for instance:

<http://www.spearit.com/products.html#MM>

[Az]

2. Ghost

There are programs that enable you to copy HDs. Norton Ghost is one of the better programs for this. It allows you to copy the image from one drive to another and manipulate the partition size as well.

[NewHampster]

3. the software is called Ghost

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/

[blue agave]

4. Forget It !

Re-install W2k on a new system disk, then plug your old disk in as a secondary drive and copy your data files over to your new disk. Chances are you can still recover some of your files from the old disk even if it won't boot the o/s.

You will still have to re-install your application programs, but this will save you much time in the long run.

Regarding Ghost, I use this a lot at work, and you can make an image of your old disk with this program. But if your disk is crashed and won't boot, then you would not want to load that image onto a new drive.

W2k + Office takes about 2GB of storage to save an image file in high compression mode. It works best with another computer running the Ghost Console and acting as the storage location, over a network connection. Then you can use Ghost Explorer to retrieve your files from the image and transfer them back onto your other computer. This is a very powerful program, but there is a learning curve !

If you have some critical data on the old drive that you absolutely must salvage, then search the internet for disk recovery companies. They specialize in this service.

Good luck

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. Ghosting works okay if the disk hasn't expired yet

but if it's on the way out, you're right. My benchmark is, if it will take a full defragmentation run (which should be done before ghosting ANY drive) then the clone will probably be okay.

A caution-- ghosting will also transfer virus infections, and any bad system settings will also be transferred.

My usual method to recover (or save) data is to pull the hard drive and put it in a computer I've set up just for this, and just copy the data before I do a wipe and reinstall. -PM me for my rates!-

[blue agave]

6. Good idea ...

Regarding doing a defrag first.

It's always hard to decide when to cut your losses and go for the disk wipe, or replacement. Sounds like you have a system.

It helps to have good tools, just as in any trade.