Software for cloning HDD

[PhreakBoy]

Hi,

My operating system currently runs off a 250Gb drive. Partitioned into 20Gb for the OS and program files and the rest on a different partition for general file storage.

I've now installed a new 500Gb. I want to move all the files across to the 500Gb iin order to remove the 250Gb.

Can I just copy everything across to the new drive and boot from there?

If not, what should I use?

 

[ponder]

Clonezilla & GParted.

 

[DJNgoma]

Clonezilla & GParted.

+1, helped me a lot in the past.

 

[ponder]

+1, helped me a lot in the past.

Last time I used them was today

 

[DJNgoma]

Last time I used them was today

lol.
@OP. Clonezilla for doing the exact cloning of the hard drive. GParted to move/shrink/expand the partitions.

 

[I am Penguin]

Two programs I use.
Norton Ghost
Acronis true image

I use a separate bootable CD/DVD to boot tgen run above. Google MiniPE2 XT v2k6.05.24 there is updated versions too!

 

[howardb]

+ 1 for Acronis True Image - never failed me yet. You can also try Acronis Disk Director. Neither of these programs are free, but worth it if you do a lot of disk swapping.

 

[PhreakBoy]

Ok, so with Acronis or Clonezilla, I can just clone the drive and then unplug the 250Gb and boot of the new 500Gb?

The 250Gb has two partitions. Would it be able to clone both to one partition on the 500Gb, or would I have to create 2 partitions on the 500Gb?

 

[I am Penguin]

Ok, so with Acronis or Clonezilla, I can just clone the drive and then unplug the 250Gb and boot of the new 500Gb?

The 250Gb has two partitions. Would it be able to clone both to one partition on the 500Gb, or would I have to create 2 partitions on the 500Gb?

Acronis for that if you want to change but the cloning will clone it as is.

 

[DJNgoma]

Ok, so with Acronis or Clonezilla, I can just clone the drive and then unplug the 250Gb and boot of the new 500Gb?

The 250Gb has two partitions. Would it be able to clone both to one partition on the 500Gb, or would I have to create 2 partitions on the 500Gb?

With CloneZilla it will make an exact copy of the drive(meaning it will copy the 2 partitions exactly as they are on the 250GB to the 500GB), it even copies the boot up info stored in the MBR(replace the drive and it will boot up). To move and expand the partitions so you utilise the full 500GB, use GParted. If you want to combine the partitions... I advice copy and paste between the two.