I ordered a 7,200 RPM drive to replace the stock

filburt1 · 01-31-2006, 06:13 AM

I ordered a 7,200 RPM drive to replace the stock 5,400 RPM drive in my M200. What is the easiest way to swap the drives and preserve all data? I don't want to have to reinstall the OS from the restore DVD unless absolutely necessary.

I know the restore works by restoring a drive image, and I've successfully done that twice over my network. Is it possible to swap drives in a similar manner: make an image, transfer it to my desktop PC over the network, put in the new hard drive, and restore it as if restoring from the DVD?

(I don't have an external DVD drive, hence all the network stuff)

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M

Mindfull1 · 01-31-2006, 06:53 AM

Congrats! I just completed this upgrade last month and am enjoying the 7200rpm on a 100GB drive. WOW!

I'd encourage making a full backup of your current system & copying it onto the new drive. Preferably, you'd do this before the new drive is even installed. I'm not sure the network can handle such a task (I don't use my office netork for such hefty storage), but you can certainly accomplish this with an external drive.

Before writing off the external drive option, it might help to know that since you already have the new 7200 rpm drive, you can buy just a 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure at any CompUsa or Best Buy for around $20. They're even cheaper online, but shipping often balances out the cost.

In that case, you'd just install the new drive into the enclosure, plug it into your system, and copy the image onto the new drive. (I've used Acronis TrueImage 9 for this, but you may have other options- I like Acronis b/c it manages details automatically, like accounting for a difference in source vs. destination disk size, partitioning, etc). Once that's complete, you just swap out the drives internally and you're ready to go. The enclosure can then be used with your OLD HDD as a backup drive, if you need it. If not, you can sell it to offset the cost of the new one.

Hope this helps.
M