Computer question: Gparted

[S Swap]

Situation: My primary drive is 40 GB. It keep filling up.
I have another drive ready to be installed, but I don't want to reinstall all of my programs and windows.
I've used Gparted before to manage partitions, but I've never tried a direct copy. Does anyone know if it'll work?

Edit: Actually, I reread it and it does say that it should copy partitions to allow upgrading to a larger drive. I guess I'll give it a shot!
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

[deevergote]

What's the plan? To copy your current drive as-is directly to a larger one? Same functionality, same programs, same everything... just more room?

If so, I'm curious about this myself. My current drive is quite old, and fairly small (not 40gb small... but 250gb small, and filling up.) With very large drives being so affordable anymore, switching would be convenient. My work database is very picky about what computers it works on, for some reason, and I'm hesitant to try a fresh start.

[Leung]

In my old dell i started with a 40 gig HDD also.

All i had to do was plug in another HDD but making sure to set the jumper to slave if it was PATA. If it's a SATA drive, you don't have to worry about the jumper pins anymore.

After turning on the PC, it'll notice the new drive and begin to install/configure it.

Next i'd right click on the MyComputer icon,

go down to manage,

click on disk management under the storage drop down menu.

From there you ought to be able to format the new drive and assign it a letter.

*now i have never cloned a hard drive because all my towers have always had room for more than one HDD.

[S Swap]

What's the plan? To copy your current drive as-is directly to a larger one? Same functionality, same programs, same everything... just more room?

If so, I'm curious about this myself. My current drive is quite old, and fairly small (not 40gb small... but 250gb small, and filling up.) With very large drives being so affordable anymore, switching would be convenient. My work database is very picky about what computers it works on, for some reason, and I'm hesitant to try a fresh start.

Kind of, I should have been more specific. I currently have a 40 GB, and 2 TBs. The 40 GB is the primary, and the 2 TBs are for media. Since the 40 GB contains the OS and most of my programs, it's necessary to keep it on the primary(if that makes sense). Since it's been filling up, I got myself a 750 to take it's place. So, the plan will be this:
Install the 40 GB and the 750 GB.
Boot Gparted
Copy 40 GB (It will come as a ~40 GB partition) onto the 750.
Expand the 40 GB partition to 750 GB
Hope everything copied ok, otherwise I'll just have to reinstall all my stuff.

In my old dell i started with a 40 gig HDD also.

All i had to do was plug in another HDD but making sure to set the jumper to slave if it was PATA. If it's a SATA drive, you don't have to worry about the jumper pins anymore.

After turning on the PC, it'll notice the new drive and begin to install/configure it.

Next i'd right click on the MyComputer icon,

go down to manage,

click on disk management under the storage drop down menu.

*now i have never cloned a hard drive before so without proper software i doubt that's possible.

From there you ought to be able to format the new drive and assign it a letter.

I know how to install a new drive, but that's not what I need. I need to make the primary drive bigger so Windows has more space to take up.


I just reread what you said. Windows won't allow you to clone a hard drive. That's what Gparted (there's also QTparted, haven't tried it) is for.


Also, for anyone who suggests it, just installing the drive and doing a copy and paste within windows won't work. Windows will do some funny magic with the files and not only that, but there are a bunch of hidden files that won't get copied.

[dj_ender]

Kind of, I should have been more specific. I currently have a 40 GB, and 2 TBs. The 40 GB is the primary, and the 2 TBs are for media. Since the 40 GB contains the OS and most of my programs, it's necessary to keep it on the primary(if that makes sense). Since it's been filling up, I got myself a 750 to take it's place. So, the plan will be this:
Install the 40 GB and the 750 GB.
Boot Gparted
Copy 40 GB (It will come as a ~40 GB partition) onto the 750.
Expand the 40 GB partition to 750 GB
Hope everything copied ok, otherwise I'll just have to reinstall all my stuff.



I know how to install a new drive, but that's not what I need. I need to make the primary drive bigger so Windows has more space to take up.


I just reread what you said. Windows won't allow you to clone a hard drive. That's what Gparted (there's also QTparted, haven't tried it) is for.


Also, for anyone who suggests it, just installing the drive and doing a copy and paste within windows won't work. Windows will do some funny magic with the files and not only that, but there are a bunch of hidden files that won't get copied.

Does GParted also clone the MBR?

[S Swap]

Does GParted also clone the MBR?

I really hope so. The website says partition copy, so I don't know why they'd leave that out.

[Leung]

well this program is free and it clones.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx?x-free=Y

[S Swap]

well this program is free and it clones.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx?x-free=Y

But I'd have to install that, and it won't let me change the size of my partitions.

I'm going to download the latest version and give it a try. I'll see y'all in a few hours!

[dj_ender]

I really hope so. The website says partition copy, so I don't know why they'd leave that out.

MBR is separate from the primary partition, its before it. I think you might need a dedicated clone program, but dont quote me on that.


edit... why dont you just keep the original hdd and use the other TB hdd for programs and media storage?

[S Swap]

MBR is separate from the primary partition, its before it. I think you might need a dedicated clone program, but dont quote me on that.


edit... why dont you just keep the original hdd and use the other TB hdd for programs and media storage?

That is what I'm doing(Was). It's not working anymore. This jump from XP to 7 seems to be to much for the little 40 GB. IIRC, Gparted will let me see all the data on the drive, and I'll be able to copy it.

[dj_ender]

That is what I'm doing(Was). It's not working anymore. This jump from XP to 7 seems to be to much for the little 40 GB. IIRC, Gparted will let me see all the data on the drive, and I'll be able to copy it.

I just did a little reading and it looks like Gparted will clone the MBR, but you have to do it yourself manually, its not automatic.

[S Swap]

I just did a little reading and it looks like Gparted will clone the MBR, but you have to do it yourself manually, its not automatic.

I've got kind of an interesting situation here.
I've copied everything over, but it still won't boot properly. I went back and set the MBR partition to boot, still no luck. So I plugged the old HDD back in to come post about it, and I could see the MBR partition on the new hdd.
Hmmm. I'm going to go back and mess with the partition flags some more.

[dj_ender]

I've got kind of an interesting situation here.
I've copied everything over, but it still won't boot properly. I went back and set the MBR partition to boot, still no luck. So I plugged the old HDD back in to come post about it, and I could see the MBR partition on the new hdd.
Hmmm. I'm going to go back and mess with the partition flags some more.

Here, read this it explains how to manually do the MBR, on an off not you have to unhook the hdd when messing with the MBR otherwise it fragments it on both hdds...


http://gparted.sourceforge.net/faq.php

[S Swap]

Here, read this it explains how to manually do the MBR, on an off not you have to unhook the hdd when messing with the MBR otherwise it fragments it on both hdds...


http://gparted.sourceforge.net/faq.php

Heh. I didn't even get that far. I just have a flashing _ _ _ _ _.
I'm going to try the copy again. I don't know how well this one worked.
Thank you for that link though.

[dj_ender]

Heh. I didn't even get that far. I just have a flashing _ _ _ _ _.
I'm going to try the copy again. I don't know how well this one worked.
Thank you for that link though.

Remember those commands are from the command line, in the recovery section of the CD. Like I said before, you have to do the MBR manually, the program wont do it by itself. Good luck, Ill help you as much as I can.