Replacing an Existing Drive | Upgrading and Repairing PCs (17th Edition)

Previous sections discussed installing a single hard drive or adding a new hard drive to a system. Although formatting and partitioning a new hard disk can be challenging, replacing an existing drive and moving your programs and files to it can be a lot more challenging.

Drive Migration for MS-DOS Users

When MS-DOS 6.x was dominant, many users used this straightforward method to transfer the contents of their old hard drive to their new hard drive:

The user creates a bootable disk containing FDISK, FORMAT, and XCOPY.
The new hard drive is prepared with a primary partition (and possibly an extended partition, depending on the user's desires).
The new hard drive is formatted with system files, although the operating system identifies it as D:.
The XCOPY command is used to transfer all nonhidden files from C:\ (the old hard drive) to D:\, thus:
```
XCOPY C:\ D:\/S/E 
```
The XCOPY command also is used as necessary to transfer files from any remaining drive letters on the old hard drive to the corresponding drive letters on the new drive.

Because the only hidden files such a system would have were probably the operating system boot files (already installed) and the Windows 3.1 permanent swap file (which could be re-created after restarting Windows), this "free" data transfer routine worked well for many people.

After the original drive was removed from the system, the new drive would be jumpered as master and assigned C:. The user then would need to run FDISK from a floppy and set the primary partition on the new C: drive as Active. Then, the user would exit FDISK and the drive would boot.

Drive Migration for Windows 9x/Me Users

Windows 9x/Me have complicated the once-simple act of data transfer to a new system by their frequent use of hidden files and folders (such as \Windows\Inf, where Windows 9x hardware drivers are stored). The extensive use of hidden files was a major reason for a greatly enhanced version of XCOPY being included in Windows 9x/Me.

Note

XCOPY32 is automatically used in place of XCOPY when XCOPY is started within a command prompt session under Windows.

XCOPY32 for Windows 9x Data Transfer

Compared to "classic" XCOPY, XCOPY32 can copy hidden files; can preserve file attributes such as system, hidden, read-only, and archive; can automatically create folders; and is compatible with long filenames. Thus, using it to duplicate an existing drive is possible, but with these cautions:

The XCOPY32 command is much more complex.
Errors might occur during the copy process because of Windows's use of temporary files during normal operation, but XCOPY32 can be forced to continue.

This command line calls XCOPY32 and transfers all files and folders with their original attributes intact from the original drive (C:) to the new drive (D:). This command, however, must be run from an MS-DOS prompt window (and not MS-DOS Mode) under Windows 9x/Me, as follows:

xcopy32 c:\. d:\ /e/c/h/r/k

The command switches are explained here:

/e. Copies folders, even if empty; also copies all folders beneath the starting folder.
/c. Continues to copy after errors. The Windows swap file can't be copied due to being in use.
/h. Copies hidden and system files.
/r. Overwrites read-only files.
/k. Preserves file attributes.

Repeat the command with appropriate drive-letter changes for any additional drive letters on your old drive.

After the original drive is removed from the system, the new drive must be jumpered as master (or single), and the operating system assigns it C:. You next need to run FDISK from a floppy and set the primary partition on the new C: drive as Active. Then, exit FDISK, and the drive will boot.

Note that although the XCOPY method has worked for me, some people have problems with it. A much more automated and easy approach to cloning drives is to use commercial software designed for that purpose, such as PartitionMagic Drive Copy or Norton Ghost by Symantec. Drive copying programs included with older versions of hard disk installation programs provided by drive vendors have not always worked well, but the latest versions of these programs can be very useful for drive copying and other preparation tasks. In recent installations, I've found that the Maxtor MaxBlast disk copying program worked perfectly in transferring a Windows XP installation to a much larger target drive. So, I recommend you try the drive vendor's copying program first. If you have problems, you can use a third-party product instead.

Even though many users have prepared new hard drives for use with nothing but FDISK and FORMAT, today's more complex systems are presenting increasingly good reasons for looking at alternatives.