How to migrate entire contents of "C" Drive to another drive..

[mdp]

I Have Intel Atom CPU 230@1.66 GHZ, Intel 82945 motherboard, 1GB RAM. desktop.

I have 2 Hard Disks:

1 )Seagate 80 GB (20/20/20/20GB partitions )
2) WD 500 GB.(100/100/100/100/100 GB partitions)

On my first Disk's "C" drive I have stored only my operating system ( XP SP2 2002) and application software s

Now I am running short for space to install any software on C Drive.

I wish to migrate entire C Drive to Any partition on 2nd drive.

what I need to do..? is any software available to do so..

will simply copying entire C Drive will do the job..?

Also i wish to install windows7 with office 2010. does my present hardware configuration supports it..?

pl. help..

 

[Sujeet]

On my first Disk's "C" drive I have stored only my operating system ( XP SP2 2002) and application software s

Do u mean that xp/2000 are installed on same c drive in multi-boot config or u r just talkin abouta storing iso of the os??

Now I am running short for space to install any software on C Drive.

Install Softwares On other partition.Its that Simple .
To regain some space on your C/ drive you can use ccleaner and run completet pc cleanup on it.

I wish to migrate entire C Drive to Any partition on 2nd drive.
what I need to do..? is any software available to do so..

I dont think it is possible.
Beacause the whole Boot Sector Records And Master Boot Records need to be rewritten to the new partition alongwith new system registry entries,active partition labelling etc which will simply mess the things up.

will simply copying entire C Drive will do the job..?

No

Also i wish to install windows7 with office 2010. does my present hardware configuration supports it..?

1gb Ram will prove to be main bottleneck. 2gb recommended.

 

[Neuron]

Windows 7 can be installed without a problem.But since you wish to use office apps. 2GB of RAM is recommended.One way to migrate your winxp is through win7 itself.

For this first install win7.Installing 7 on a partition other than C: will be better suited since you want to move winxp.

Boot into win7 and move everything from your 80GB HDD's C: drive to the current C: drive.[If win7 is not installed on this partition.]

Download,install and run EasyBCD.(The older versions of EasyBCD are free.)

Click on Add new entry.Select Windows NT/2K/XP from the drop down box right of Type
Uncheck Automatically detect correct drive.Select the current C: drive from the list box that says Drive:
Finally click Add entry.That should do it.

 

[Sujeet]

Windows 7 can be installed without a problem.But since you wish to use office apps. 2GB of RAM is recommended.One way to migrate your winxp is through win7 itself.

For this first install win7.Installing 7 on a partition other than C: will be better suited since you want to move winxp.

Boot into win7 and move everything from your 80GB HDD's C: drive to the current C: drive.[If win7 is not installed on this partition.]

Download,install and run EasyBCD.(The older versions of EasyBCD are free.)

Click on Add new entry.Select Windows NT/2K/XP from the drop down box right of Type
Uncheck Automatically detect correct drive.Select the current C: drive from the list box that says Drive:
Finally click Add entry.That should do it.

The solution you have provided is to setup a multi-boot xp/win 7 config on pc using easyBCD is helpful only if the req. oses are at their right places.
Simply dumping the whole os to another drive/partition aint gonna get your os to that drive.
It needs MBR and boot sectopr records for it.
even easyBCD will fail to detect any os without proper associated mbr on the partition holding the os.
Command Line /DOScan be used to write new mbr/bootsector to a partition for xp/win7.

 

[Neuron]

The solution you have provided is to setup a multi-boot xp/win 7 config on pc using easyBCD is helpful only if the req. oses are at their right places.
Simply dumping the whole os to another drive/partition aint gonna get your os to that drive.
It needs MBR and boot sectopr records for it.
even easyBCD will fail to detect any os without proper associated mbr on the partition holding the os.
Command Line /DOScan be used to write new mbr/bootsector to a partition for xp/win7.

Nope.There won't be any problems with the boot record.The only thing that is of concern is if xp fails to boot due to the change in root drive format.

 

[Sujeet]

.....if xp fails to boot due to the change in root drive format.

it will faill for sure and due to the reason i have stated.. i have tried it all myself..
If you want to be sure do it for yourself practically, and dont be surprised by the results.

 

[Neuron]

it will faill for sure and due to the reason i have stated.. i have tried it all myself..
If you want to be sure do it for yourself practically, and dont be surprised by the results.

Like i said, it will work.To see that for yourself,copy the entire windows folder on to a pendrive,then create a boot entry which points to the windows folder on the pendrive.To your amusement ,xp will start booting from the pendrive and eventually give you a BSOD since windows doesn't normally support booting from a pendrive.

 

[OSxSnowLeopard]

Hey,
You installed windows xp in your c drive and you usually install all programmes in it as well. Now you want to move your programmes or entire c drive content to another drive as it is running out of space. But it is not possible to move them just like that(programmes or os will not work by doing this), even if you know how to make and restore drive image using third party softwares, it isn't recommended to apply that image to some other partition because it will try to read old registry data that you will restore along with it(which was drive c before). Your only option is to uninstall programmes and reinstall them to some other drive, it will save your time of reformatting and installing os is again.

REINSTALLATION:
// I will advice you to back up your entier 80gig drive to some usb external drive and then repartioin it to a single partition. For example : your 80 gb hard drive into a c drive for os. 20gb is just to low you will again stuck into this prob with windows 7 even faster as it consume more drive space than your current win xp os. For attom CPU xp is the best option but still if you want to use use win7 for some particular purpose then try win7 starter, but it is not available for retail(ment for oem preinstall only).

 

[dashing.sujay]

Why not merge an empty (or with some free space) partition of first HDD? Also clear restore points have some space.

 

[Vyom]

Since for XP, 20 GB partition is usually ok, you can follow these ways to reclaim space from your OS drive (C: drive):

1. Move files from Desktop to some other drive.
2. Move your My Documents folder to a different drive, by right clicking My Documents and specifying a folder on other drive as target foler.
3. Install CCleaner. Do a thorough cleaning.
4. Delete old restore points, as mentioned above.
5. Move pagefile.sys file from C: drive to some other drive by turning Virtual memory from C off, and set it to other drive.
6. Use Space Sniffer tool to detect if there are any unused big file or folder present on the drive and move it.
7. After all above steps have been performed you should get GB's of free space, but if you still want to get more space, just empty D drive, and merge it with C. (Ask if you need help in merging drives, or use Google!)

Happy Clearning!

 

[Sujeet]

Like i said, it will work.To see that for yourself,copy the entire windows folder on to a pendrive,then create a boot entry which points to the windows folder on the pendrive.To your amusement ,xp will start booting from the pendrive and eventually give you a BSOD since windows doesn't normally support booting from a pendrive.

BSOD=purpose failed...therefore the whole method turns to be usless anyway.

 

[Neuron]

BSOD=purpose failed...therefore the whole method turns to be usless anyway.

It showed bsod because it was a portable usb device.Copy the folders 'windows','program files',and 'documents and settings' to an IDE or SATA device,add a boot up entry and windows will boot up successfully.I've done this myself and i wouldn't have posted it if i weren't sure.

 

[Sujeet]

It showed bsod because it was a portable usb device.Copy the folders 'windows','program files',and 'documents and settings' to an IDE or SATA device,add a boot up entry and windows will boot up successfully.I've done this myself and i wouldn't have posted it if i weren't sure.

 

[Neuron]

Why the clap?It's not making any sense.

 

[Sujeet]

Why the clap?It's not making any sense.

it means appreciation.
If you have really tried the trick you are talkin about then it must be working and i appreciate that.wILL keep note of that trick in future.
although last time something like that happened to me i ruled out that most of prob were due to mbr.anyways next time will check yours.

 

[animax]

Thanks

 

[Vyom]

Thanks

For?