# Old harddisk to New Harddisk

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-harddisk-to-new-harddisk/421263>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-harddisk-to-new-harddisk/421263 "2007-10-02T15:03:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-harddisk-to-new-harddisk/421263/1 "2007-10-02T15:03:27Z")

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I’ve got a new Harddisk arriving tomorrow.  
Is there a way I can clone the data from the old drive to the new one without reinstalling / reformatting ?

Maybe a program that boots from a CD and will clone _all_ the information to the new drive ?

My Google-fu is weak today but my dope is strong.

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**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-harddisk-to-new-harddisk/421263/2 "2007-10-02T15:10:43Z")

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Acronis True Image does this. It couldn’t be easier. You can also use it for backups, so it has continuing utility. I got it for about $30 from Newegg.

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**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-harddisk-to-new-harddisk/421263/3 "2007-10-02T16:41:10Z")

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[QUOTE=Gus Gusterson]  
Acronis True Image does this. It couldn’t be easier. You can also use it for backups, so it has continuing utility. I got it for about $30 from Newegg.  
[/QUOTE]

Does sound like a good choice, and sounds like they might give you a trial-version to test…

[http://ask.metafilter.com/62303/How-to-clone-a-harddrive](http://ask.metafilter.com/62303/How-to-clone-a-harddrive)

**essell** - Is this a laptop or a desktop? If it’s a laptop, do you have an external USB caddy or some such so you can transfer on the fly? If it’s a desktop you can probably just put it in a drive free bay to transfer.

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**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-harddisk-to-new-harddisk/421263/4 "2007-10-02T17:24:44Z")

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Tiz a Desktop.  
Well, two actually, as my old HDD is going to Mrs. Essell who’s going to have the same trouble.

I’ll give that program a look over tonight and have a crack tomorrow. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-harddisk-to-new-harddisk/421263/5 "2007-10-02T17:35:27Z")

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XXClone does a great job and runs from Windows.