Hard Disk Replacement Help

[mcclunyboy]

Good Afternoon guys,

I need to check what I am doing is OK:

In one of my PC;s my hard disk is failing - long read/write times and funny noises. I have bought a replacement hard disk that is much bigger (500gb instead of 120gb). I was hoping to take an image of my HDisk and copy it to my new disk. Then just take the old disk out and throw it away. Is this possible?

Could someone give me brief instructions on what is necessary for me to do this? I am also hoping it sees the disk as 1 partition of 500gb not of 120gb otherwise I would need a partion manager

If not, i will have to find the rebuild CD's and hope I can rebuild the PC onto my new hard disk.

 

[namliam]

An image would (I think) include the disksize and you need to think about the registry, so using something to actually clone it.... This is possible with some tools out there...

You would need the one partition of 120gb I think to "restore" the image onto... Then simply have a second partition with 380gb yet available to you, dont see an issue with that

 

[mcclunyboy]

I have been told to use Clonezilla but apparently it is a bit tricky to use.

If what you say is fine, i will create an image of the old harddisk, copy that image to my new one and create a 2nd partition on it...would something like Paragon Partition Manager do this for me?

thanks

 

[namliam]

Dont know either software so I cannot answer that. Normaly though you first create a 2 partitions to devide the 500 into 120 + 380 then apply the image to it....

 

[mcclunyboy]

Ah so before I copy create the partions...i get it.

then copy the image to the small one - OK.

Just if this doesnt work and I need to use the restore disks do you know whether or not the larger hard disk would be an issue? it would be the only hardware change for the PC since it was bought (well extra RAM too).

 

[namliam]

Your refering to windows authentication check yes?
If so, I dont know... Surely M$ shouldnt make a problem out of you inserting a new harddrive into you PC... If windows does complain, simply call M$ tell them to Stick it and fix your &*%^@#*&^@#*^%* authentication.

 

[mcclunyboy]

if it does cause a problem I will just stick the new ubuntu onto it...

 

[mcclunyboy]

Right need some advice...how do I make the hard disk bootable.

I stuck my new disk into the PC as slave, it wouldnt boot as master, went through the installation process and selected the 500GB disk as the source - erase all disk, install GRUB onto it and ALL the OS - i ignored old disk. However when I went to boot up it didnt work - I suspect I need to make the disk bootable but I don't know how to?

Any help

 

[namliam]

You cannot have 2 masters or 2 set on "wire select"

If you want the new drive to be master you have to "slave" the old one or not have any other drives connected.

Dont know about unix or what not, windows will with the cd inserted allow you to boot from cd then format and bootify your drive before installing windows.

 

[mcclunyboy]

I have tried connecting just one drive (new one) to my primary slot on the cable and booting but it just stops booting on the first screen. "Checking Primary master..." is the message and normally it would get through a number of these checks and boot - this time it stops on that.

Windows isn't installed on the PC - I may need to format the disk and start over, Ubuntu is installed on it but it is just not booting up...pain in the ass unfortunately.

OK if i was building a new PC, what should I have done to install an OS on a clean HD