Computer Help...

A Gruesome Time

Needs wheels.
Ok... I have 2 hard drives, an 8gb and a 120gb. I installed the 120gb after the 8gb, and all of my programs are installed on it. Is there any way to transfer all of the program files from the smaller to the larger without having to reinstall everything? I've only got the 8gb, because I had hard drive failure before and could not afford a new one at the time.
 

flipper

New Member
Ok... I have 2 hard drives, an 8gb and a 120gb. I installed the 120gb after the 8gb, and all of my programs are installed on it. Is there any way to transfer all of the program files from the smaller to the larger without having to reinstall everything? I've only got the 8gb, because I had hard drive failure before and could not afford a new one at the time.
The short answer: yes. Pretty much, you need to get a tool that can repartition your 120gb. Then you image over the 8gb onto a new partition.

Answer from an computer repair guys perspective: No. Just reinstall everything to avoid headaches.
 

A Gruesome Time

Needs wheels.
Cool, I thought that would work... But my father said that I would still have to reinstall everything to work properly. I appreciate it.
 

Zuplar

Zup
like flip said, best bet is to just re-install it on your new one. if it's mostly stuff you downloaded anyways it shouldn't take that long.
 

rgl

i eat rice
Eh if you don't need the 8gb and are looking to make the 120gb your new main hdd, just backup an image of the 8gb and load the image to the new 120gb drive.... it'll work fine. :wtf:

Ever heard of "imaging" computers? Yeah.

On a side note, doing a fresh OS install would be beneficial to a certain degree, not because of any fault with imaging, but because Windows installations become sloppy over time to put it bluntly. Also, if there's a chance that there is any spyware/viruses/etc on your old one... then just do a fresh setup.

waaaaaaaaait i just read what you meant haha... Thoughts organized now (more or less): :crazy:

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think you guys understand... I think he is saying that the 8gb hdd is his boot harddrive, and that the 120gb hdd was added later and contains programs, games, etc. So "reinstalling" would mean installing windows on the 120g drive... on top of his data. This would be disgusting to say the least.... (there are ways around this but all of it would be a waste of time in comparison to what I will explain next) so moving on:

There are programs that can shrink partitions. So you could shrink the partition on the 120gb drive to make room for the 8gb of data. You will then effectively still have both drives, but on one HDD. but the same would apply, image your 8gb drive over to the new partition you made (make it like a 9 or 10gb partition). Just make sure that your new partition has the same drive letter as your old hdd.

I've been pretty vague, but that was on purpose... this is a good jumping off point for a good ol' "google it" session. :p If you need help with something more specific, just ask :)

<insert windows sound "tada"> :lol:
 
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