Cloning a hard drive in W98

[Researcher]

Clone Your Hard Drive

For those advanced computer users who would like a little extra trick in your repertoire, consider the following. This little cheat is most often used when upgrading your primary hard drive. It’s a great way to replace the hardware without having to reload your operating system. It is also employed to replace a hard drive that is suspect, or even failing. Windows 95 or 98 will have to be running for this to work. Early diagnosis is critical in such cases, and even then you may not get satisfactory results. In all cases, though you must be sure that the new drive is of at least equal capacity to your original.

Start by powering down your system, disconnect the hard drive, and install the replacement drive, (as a MASTER drive). Disconnecting your original hard drive will protect your existing data while you prepare the new drive. Boot the system with a floppy disk equipped with FDISK and FORMAT utilities. First use FDISK to create a primary partition and make it active. Reboot the machine and FORMAT the new drive. This is where having the original drive disconnected can save the day, (by preventing accidents). Once the new hard drive is ready, it is time to connect the original hard drive, (reconnect the original as the MASTER drive it was). Make the new hard drive just another installed drive, (by changing its jumper to SLAVE).

Once you’ve restarted the system with the newly ‘prepared’ (SLAVE) drive installed, it’s time to start making your clone. For the next part you’ll want to be sure that ‘Windows Explorer’ is set to show all files. Highlight the root directory of your ‘C:’ drive, select all but the ‘Windows folder, and copy it to the new drive. Once that is done, create a new folder on the new drive and name it ‘Windows’ Go back to the ‘Windows’ folder on the original drive, select all but the file called ‘win386.swp’, and copy all of this to the new ‘Windows’ folder you created on the new drive.
(Be careful, take your time, and the ‘Invert Selection’ command in W98 is very useful for copying all but the ‘win386swp’, which is the Windows swap file. The ‘Invert Selection’ command is very helpful for the first part also. It is tedious and possible to make a mistake without using’ Invert Selection’, so if you never used this command, investigate it before using this procedure.)

Now all of the files on your original drive have been copied, except the swap file used by Windows, which is recreated every time your system restarts. (This is the reason), You can’t perform an ‘all at once’ copy from one hard drive to another, because of the dynamic nature of the swap file.
This cloning method avoids that problem completely. Now you can replace your original hard drive with the cloned drive, and have everything as it was before the cloning operation. Without loading, reloading, or restoring anything, you now have your system back, with a new primary hard drive. Not to mention a great backup in the form of your original drive, if it still works.

I used the above for W98 from www.appliedcompadmin.com/Clone.html
But it is no longer a valid URL. They get the credit for the above. The words in parenthesis are my additions to help clarify a couple of points.

For those still using W98 and probably ME this is a neat procedure.

For others, I think it is interesting to read.

 

[donkey42]

Clone Your Hard Drive
For those still using W98 and probably ME this is a neat procedure.

this seems the long & hard way of copying a partition to a new HDD

personally i would connect both HDD's (similar to what you suggested, as master and slave) then with both HDD's connected boot a 3rd party bootable CD (like Acronis Disk Director) and copy the partition from the old HDD to your new HDD and resize it[ot]unless your on a strict buget[/ot]

 

[Researcher]

donkey42,
Yes I agree with your comments, but in reality it doesn't take that long to do, using the Invert Selection command, its pretty quick. When I used it I had a few other "Images" when copying CDs etc that didn't work well so I just liked the fact that this was a "copy" process, even if it was just symantics. It was cheap and easy also. I also think it helps to understand why you coudn't just do a straight copy of a hard drive to another hard drive and have the copied drive boot-up. (Lots of people in the World still use W98, I think)

I need to clone a 160gb from a 80gb drive pretty soon. Both WD drives. I want to use the 80 in another computer and I don't want to lose anything from either one. I also need to solve the XP operating license problem. I will buy another copy of XP and will probably use Acronis, which I have not used before, so it will be interesting. I don't do this everyday, so I will take my time.

The procedure I posted also eliminates the need to boot from a CD, which I have had problems doing in the past with a few PCs. (I do know how to set the BIOS)

 

[donkey42]

Lots of people in the World still use W98

true, but it's not a good idea to use 98 on the net[ot]irrelevent of the firewall or antivirus you use[/ot]

I need to clone a 160gb from a 80gb drive pretty soon. Both WD drives. I want to use the 80 in another computer and I don't want to lose anything from either one. I also need to solve the XP operating license problem.

good, XP will require you to reinstall it, if the new mobo has the same chipset as the old one (usually works) and also you can use XP for 30 days before you have to enter a valid licence key

I will buy another copy of XP and will probably use Acronis, which I have not used before, so it will be interesting. I don't do this everyday, so I will take my time.

well, i use Partition eXpert 2k3, which was superseeded by Disk Director[ot]PX 2k3 is excellent[/ot]

The procedure I posted also eliminates the need to boot from a CD, which I have had problems doing in the past with a few PCs. (I do know how to set the BIOS)

true, it also reduces the amount of errors (as it is a new FS, unlike my FS copy, but the file defragmentation is also copied, also as in my suggestion) but my way is much quicker[ot]booting from a CD is easy, enter the BIOS and select an option like "Integrated Peripherals"[/ot]BTW: each mobo / BIOS could be different

 

[Researcher]

You just hit on something that I am aware of but haven't yet figured/decided how I am going to handle it. The PC that now has the 80gigWD is a nForce 4 Ultra M/B and the M/B that this 80 will move to is a GeForce 6100 M/B. They are both SATA drives.

I have two new 350 watt Power supplies and a nice case so when I upgraded my processor I decided to build a back up PC. The GForce has an optional PCI express slot for a Video card and 3 PCI slots so the 350 watts should be enough for this system with the 939 3700+ proceesor from the first system. A while back I learned that with PCs one can lead to a 2nd etc.

Of course they are both AMD 939 M/Bs and the M/B drivers are no doubt different. I have the Driver CDs for both M/Bs, they are Epox brand and the GeForce 6100 is unused so far. The first thing I was going to do is check the CDs for an "uninstall drivers". If there is none, I need to research and ask questions first because I don't want to screw this up.

I use XP Media edition and have had good luck and minimum problems with my nForce 4 system. I want to keep it that way. I intend to buy another copy of Media edition and for what I do with my PCs, I probably won't need Vista, even though I now have an X2 processor.

Now that the holidays are almost over, I will be starting on this. I will probably be back. Thanks for the comments. I will check into the Cloning software you mentioned. I have noticed that lots of people like Acronis, I looked at a review, and it seems to make sense to me.

 

[Researcher]

this seems the long & hard way of copying a partition to a new HDD

personally i would connect both HDD's (similar to what you suggested, as master and slave) then with both HDD's connected boot a 3rd party bootable CD (like Acronis Disk Director) and copy the partition from the old HDD to your new HDD and resize it[ot]unless your on a strict buget[/ot]

This is what sometimes gets me in PC speak, you say "copy the partition" when I am thinking about copying the entire contents of the drive, because I don't use "partitions" on my drives. I use the whole drive as one "partition". My memory is not getting better with age, so I try to keep things simple. I can "translate" what people mean in PC speak because I worked in engineering for over 25 years and nobody speaks exactly the same language there either. I haven't "translated" what you mean by "resize" it yet. I am going to copy the contents of an 80 gig to a 160 gig, so how does "resize" fit in here.

 

[donkey42]

I am going to copy the contents of an 80 gig to a 160 gig, so how does "resize" fit in here.

all HDD's have at least 1 partition (although most users only have 1 partition, using the whole drive) if you copied an 80Gb partition to a 160Gb drive you would still have 80Gb free



this snapshot is my 320Gb drive, the first partition (hda1, far left) is an Ext3 file system (linux)
the free space is in the extended partition (you can only have 4 primary partitions (bootable) or 3 primary and 1 extended (i think you can only have 128 logical partitions, logical partitions must be created inside the extended partition

resize just makes a partition bigger or smaller, v v easy with 3rd party utils, like Disk Director from Acronis[ot]i couldn't live without PX2k3[/ot]

BTW: as you can see from my screen shot, i have multiple partitions, this is so i can boot any version of linux i want[ot]as i don't use crappy Windows anymore, moving to linux is NOT easy, but i wish i'd drop kicked Win years ago[/ot]

 

[izzy007]

f***in crap, how many partitions u gt, about 15. LOL

 

[donkey42]

f***in crap, how many partitions u gt, about 15. LOL

which part is :swear:ing crap ?

presumably

(i think you can only have 128 logical)

why, how many logical partitions can exist within an extended partition ?

 

[donkey42]

found this, so i was wrong when i thought the maximum number of logical partitions that can exist within an extended partition was 128 (at least in Win)

 

[Researcher]

Hi Donkey42, I haven't done my cloning and relocating of the original drive yet. I see what you were referring to as far a "size" is concerned. The size of a partition. I am one of the people that just use the whole drive as one partition so I didn't automatically get what you meant by "resize". I have a few other hobbies that I also "live and breath" and my memory is getting taxed with it all, so I try to keep some things simple, but I inadvertantly sometimes complicate things. XP Media Center is based, the way I understand it, on XP PRO the 32 bit version. Now I have a X2 processor in my nforce 4 M/B, so I could use a 64 bit version of XP, (or Vista?) but there would be more problems with a lack of drivers. Now I am trying to decide if I should get another copy of XP Media Center or go with XP PRO version. I do have some programs, important to me, that I need Windows for, that probably won't work on a 64 bit program (now that I think of it). I have been reading about Vista and wondering if it is going to be any good at all for most users, at least the ones that are not gamers like me. Drivers will probably be a bigger problem with Vista?? I don't use my PCs for a business or server application so I am getting closer to just sticking with XP. I am going to check into the cloning software you use, that is the first step.

 

[Karanislove]

I am one of the people that just use the whole drive as one partition

Its not good actually.....Reasons
1. If something happens to ur windows, you have to format whole drive...Which is very time consuming process.
2. You loose all your data, important files, music, videos etc etc..... Or you have to look for another disc/drive for backup

But if you make partitions out of your HDD
1. Installation will take less time.
2. You can set your files properly...for eg, C for windows n programs, D/: for Music n Videos, E:/ for Files, softwares n pics etc..


Now wat u say?

 

[donkey42]

The size of a partition

yep

XP Media Center is based on XP PRO the 32 bit version

dunno, i don't use Win anymore

But if you make partitions out of your HDD
1. Installation will take less time.
2. You can set your files properly...for eg, C for windows n programs, D/: for Music n Videos, E:/ for Files, softwares n pics etc..

personally i'd fully partition the system e.g.

• C: = boot partition
• D: = windows partition
• E: = program files directory
• F: = settings & emails
• G: = media

[[ot]or something like that[/ot]

 

[Karanislove]

personally i'd fully partition the system e.g.

* C: = boot partition
* D: = windows partition
* E: = program files directory
* F: = settings & emails
* G: = media

Well! I thik that depends on how big HDD u have got...

 

[Researcher]

This thread needs an addition to the title now, I guess. Maybe I should have checked here before Cloning my XP drive. I got Acronis and after getting a bit familiar with it I used the "adding a hard drive" and "cloning" features and my 160 gig drive is cloned and working. The 80 gig drive is disconnected for now. About partitioning? My first experiences with computer were with old disk drive computers, CPM computers, they had no hard drives, and this was years ago. So I remember problems trying to run programs if you didn't have enough of the needed files on the program disk. I tried using partitions once on an old hard drive in a 486 and had a problem trying to run a program and didn't quite figure out why it wouldn't run before the Hard Drive solved the problem by dying. Ever since then I have thought about partitions, but haven't tried what you guys are suggesting. Main reason: It adds more items to remember! The time to reformat if necessary would not be a consideration, these computers now are fast as all get out, compared to my first one. Remembering all of the partitions and how you organized them can be done, but doesn't get any easier as we get older. I consider mysel lucky to be able to do what I can do with computers at my age. I am 67 and trying to figure out how that happened so quickly. The World changes, most of you have been exposed to PCs for most of your lives, and at your present ages still have excellent memories. My memory is still good for my age, but, I am not too proud to ask you younger PC fanatics questions, PCs are part of your World at a younger age, that is just how it is. I spent a lot of years in engineering offices, including electricity and electronics, and never was afraid to tackle anything. Now I am considering Partitioning again. Acronis could be a big help with it, I suppose. Now I guess I need to research it more. This post is long, I'll think about the guestions/concerns I have about partitions.

 

[donkey42]

I am 67 and trying

good, try, try, and try again, if that doesn't work just throw it against a wall and try again[ot]LOL[/ot]

I'll think about the guestions/concerns I have about partitions.

well, we'll be here

 

[Researcher]

Using partitions? I can see where someone that wants to run different operating systems would definitely need to have them segregated in different partitions. The programs that I use the most run under windows. If (when I get the time) I decide to run Linux and I have thought about it, I will try it on a seperate PC.

Okay, the way I understand it, and I am saying it this way because after a quarter of a century working on engineering projects, I have learned a few things about communicating technical subjects. I have found that few people explaining technical information give the needed background information, especially for new people on the project. Granted, you first need to get an idea of how much the new guy understands to begin with, you can't proceed without that. That is where my handle comes from, I always found out what I needed to know or where to get it.

The way I understand it, again, is that you need an operating system to have access to a program to run it, so since all my programs run on windows I just settled on one partition. Something like a partition to create a large file of photos would be no problem because we usually select the storage file when we want a photo(s). With the older systems, you could create PATHS to get the operating system access to a program, and you needed to remember a whole hell of a lot when something went wrong to staighten out the mess. I guess I just settled on one partition because there is a whole lot of other stuff in life to do. I guess you guys just grew up with using partitions. I still haven't decided on what I will do. I also have a few other projects going. I am going to start another thread on the speed of this PC causing problems.

 

[Karanislove]

I can see where someone that wants to run different operating systems would definitely need to have them segregated in different partitions.

Not actually, coz u can use softwares to run other OS's on one operating system. One such example is VM ware from Microsoft. Its a free software...

The way I understand it, again, is that you need an operating system to have access to a program to run it, so since all my programs run on windows I just settled on one partition. Something like a partition to create a large file of photos would be no problem because we usually select the storage file when we want a photo(s). With the older systems, you could create PATHS to get the operating system access to a program, and you needed to remember a whole hell of a lot when something went wrong to staighten out the mess. I guess I just settled on one partition because there is a whole lot of other stuff in life to do. I guess you guys just grew up with using partitions. I still haven't decided on what I will do. I also have a few other projects going. I am going to start another thread on the speed of this PC causing problems.

You r talking exactly like the linux in its old ages.. and windos in old age. I think thats the reason that most of the world has started using computers now coz GUI in the OS's made them much easy to use.~!

 

[Researcher]

I see, some of the old bugaboos are not a problem now, but having them in the back of your (my) mind can still keep you gun shy about being too quick to start doing something and ending up with the old saying, Aw ----.

Thanks for the comments. Linux sounds interesting, but the older we get as everyone finds out for themselves, the more important out time becomes. I will have an older PC, a K6-2+ 550 available in the near future to try Linux. I would also like to see how many programs it can run.

I still need to find out what all I can do with Acronis, it is a slick modern program that wasn/t even dreamt of with the Old Windows, as you say.

 

[donkey42]

I still need to find out what all I can do with Acronis

yeah, Acronis is good, in fact i still use a PX 2k3 boot CD on my *nix box but in my opinion Acronis Privacy Expert Suite is not very good, if you set a stopwatch to time between security alerts you'll soon see a patten arising

VMware from Microsoft

VMware is not from M$, M$'s version is called M$ Virtual PC, although both are free but i prefer VMware although ive never used Virtual PC

Linux sounds interesting

it's more than interesting, and i've only been a fully fledged linux user for just over a year

I will have an older PC, a K6-2+ 550 available in the near future to try Linux

you will probably be better trying Ubuntu, cos i would not recommend running KDE (Kubuntu) on less than a 750Mhz CPU