Transfer Old Hard Drive to New, Larger Hard Drive (HD)

Infopackets Reader Richard C. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

You mentioned that Acronis True Image could be used to restore a backup (image) from an old harddrive to a new, larger harddrive. Question: does that create a problem with the hard drive partition structure from the old, smaller drive? If so, how does one take advantage of all the extra space on the new drive? "

Reminder: we have a 50% sale on Disk Director Suite available through Infopackets.com which expires on August 31st, 2009. Also offered is Acronis True Image at 15% off, expires September 2nd, 2009. Click the respective link for more detail.

My Response:

Using True Image, the simple answer is that you can:

a) Either keep the original structure as the original drive, and leave the remaining free space as unallocated. Note that unallocated space means that no partition is set and nothing will appear under "My Computer" until you assign the unallocated space to a partition.

b) You can also tell True Image to incorporate the remaining free space of the new drive into the restored image.

Example Scenario (A):

Old C drive: 60 gigabytes

New Drive: 300 gigabytes

--> New C drive = 300 - 60 = old drive + 240 gigabytes unallocated

Example Scenario (B):

Old C drive: 60 gigabytes

New Drive: 300 gigabytes

--> New C Drive = 300 - 60 = old drive + 240 gigabytes free space

More Control over Partition Sizes, Options

If you want more control over how you wish to partition the remaining free space on the new drive, you could also use Acronis Disk Director Suite: an excellent compliment to True Image. Note that Disk Director Suite uses a graphical user interface (GUI) similar to True Image and is extremely easy to use.

Using our previous examples:

In addition to your C drive (60 gig), you could make a D and an E drive each containing 120 gigabytes with your free, remaining space. This would be very useful especially if you share your PC with more than one family member. Each member could have their own designated harddrive space, for example.

Reminder: we have a 50% sale on Disk Director Suite available through Infopackets.com which expires on August 31st, 2009. Also offered is Acronis True Image at 15% off, expires September 2nd, 2009. Click the respective link for more detail.