Copying Drive

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Fergal1982, Dec 5, 2010.

  1. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

    4,196
    172
    211
    My current PC setup has a single HDD for windows/"essential" installations, whilst I place my user areas and applications onto three Stiped drives on my machine.

    I'm beginning to run a bit low on my data drive, so would like to upgrade (current capacity is only 298GB total), probably to a single, larger hard drive (I did think about striping again, but to be honest sometimes the drive doesnt register properly during loading of windows, and I suspect it may be due to the onboard RAID controller on the MOBO - so I think a single drive would resolve this issue).

    I do, however, have a few questions:

    1) Can anyone recommend a good HDD manufacturer (Probably looking for a ~1TB drive)

    2) in terms of replacing my secondary HDD, can I just copy the files across then replace the three with the one and change the drive letter? Or will I have to do anything fancy?

    3) I've also been thinking of replacing my Windows HDD (currently 149GB, with 103GB used) with an SSD - would I actually notice much benefit to doing so (running on Win7)? And if so, whats a good make without too much expense? I dont really need a capacity increase, so a bigger drive isnt an issue.

    Thanks Guys
     
    Certifications: ITIL Foundation; MCTS: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, Administration
    WIP: None at present
  2. davelee212

    davelee212 Nibble Poster

    61
    4
    43
    I've always found Seagate drives to be the most reliable ones I've had in recent years.

    If it's just a data drive then there's no reason you can't just bung it in, copy the files over, remove the existing ones and relabel the drive letter on the replacement... providng you have enough ports on the motherboard left! I quite often use Robocopy if I'm copying a large chunk of files, mainly just because it supports a kind of recovery if there is a problem (it can be set to copy only changed or new files).

    I'm not sure about the benefits of SSDs. They used less power so would be handy in a laptop but I'm not sure about the performance benefits...

    Dave
     
    Certifications: Network+, CCNA (expired), MCSA 2000/03 + Messaging, MCSE 2000/03, MCTS:Sharepoint Config, VCP4-DCV, VCP5-DCV, VCP5-Cloud, VCP6-DCV, MCSA 2012, MS Specialist: Hyper-V
    WIP: Dunno yet
  3. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

    3,681
    440
    199
    I like Western Digital drives myself but have had good experience with Samsung and Seagate in the past as well.

    As long as it's a data drive then it's simply a case of moving the data from one drive to the next, if however you have installed programs to the drive (to save space on the c drive) then you 'may' have issues.

    SSD's are great, they make sure that the pc boots up nice and fast and also loads everything a lot faster, things to consider if you do get an SSD however would be to move the pagefile off the C drive onto the D drive, stop the defrag util, prefetch and a host of other little services. Actually I would suggest a fresh install of Win 7 because the OS is SSD aware and will do all the tweaks you need.

    I would love to have SSD's across the board but they are just too expensive.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
  4. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

    4,196
    172
    211
    Cheers guys. I'll take a look at the two makers, see what's around.

    I want to upgrade the windows drive at some point, but its not so urgent at the moment, so it can wait. I would also like to swap out the Mobo for a new one that can take >4GB RAM (after all, I have this x64 OS, might as well get more benefit from it).

    Hopefully I can just move the drive letters around, and have it perform as well, but we'll have to wait and see I suppose.
     
    Certifications: ITIL Foundation; MCTS: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, Administration
    WIP: None at present
  5. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

    4,196
    172
    211
    Well, I picked up a WD 2TB Caviar Black - picked it up this afternoon. It's currently sitting in the caddy (good little things these caddies - I think I may have to buy a couple (SATA and PATA) for future use - this is a loaner from work) performing a full format.

    Once thats done (and it will take a while - it's been running since 6 and is only at 17%) I can start copying my files across, then get it properly installed. It should be pretty cool once it's in though - it reports 1863GB. Not bad at all really.

    Cheers for the advice guys.
     
    Certifications: ITIL Foundation; MCTS: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, Administration
    WIP: None at present
  6. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

    14,292
    265
    329
    Very good choice, I was about to suggest that one until I saw you had already bought.

    I built a system on saturday with that hard drive in it and to be honest I was expecting there to be something wrong as its one the first 2TB drives released but no problems were experienced and it's very quiet too.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?
  7. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

    4,196
    172
    211
    So I've just finished installing the new drive (took a while, I took the opportunity to install shorter SATA cables to all drives, and had to take a trip to maplin for a Molex-SATA converter).

    Thanks to the Caddy, it was all pretty painless to be honest. Once it had formatted, I copied the files from my data/non-"critical" application drive onto the new drive. This morning I fired it into the machine and hooked it up to a spare SATA port. After booting to Windows, I removed the drive association from the old drive and set the new drive to that drive letter. Another reboot later and the new drive is now functioning as my data drive commendably.

    So far there have been no issues relating to the swap of application files from one to the other - but I fired up a windows backup last night just in case. I'm just away to break the Raid array on the old drive and separate them into two separate drives - not sure what I will do with them to be honest, although I may well spread my VM's around a bit onto various other drives.

    Alternatively, i could always give one of the drives over entirely to a VM, and use it as I see fit. I'm still undecided - Suggestions on a postcard.
     
    Certifications: ITIL Foundation; MCTS: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, Administration
    WIP: None at present
  8. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

    14,292
    265
    329
    I would use them for your VMs or use one for the VMs and use one for backup.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?

Share This Page

Loading...
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.