Cloning and swapping hard drives T43

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stuartf · #1 Post by **stuartf** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:18 am

I am in China, my rescue disks are in Vermont! I need to swap out the original 40 gb drive for something larger. I have Acronis v10.

Can I just clone the Lenovo hidden partition to the new drive (in a USB enclosure) and then install the new drive in the machine and then restore apps and finally documents from the original drive.

I am after a clean install of XP Pro. And, I am looking to make this as fool proof as possible (I also have a complete backup on a large external hd.

Alternately, I can but a copy of XP on the street for $.50 (US) lol.

Brad · #2 Post by **Brad** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:10 am

I have not tried cloning the recovery partition.

Of course you can try this and report back and let everyone know. You could always clone your drive and then delete the main partition and then start with your .50c CD.

You could also recover the system from the recovery partition on the newly cloned hard drive.

Did you miss the fall foilage?

Brad

#3 Post by **bill bolton** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:22 am

stuartf wrote:Can I just clone the Lenovo hidden partition to the new drive (in a USB enclosure) and then install the new drive in the machine and then restore apps and finally documents from the original drive.

You should be able to simply clone the whole drive onto the new disk, then put it in the ThinkPad and start using it.

Cheers,

Bill B.

stuartf · #4 Post by **stuartf** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:40 am

Thanks for the responses, so if I do the clone and then put the new drive into the machine, can I access the hidden partition to get a fresh install of XP. After almost two years it feels like sludge has built up in the arteries!!

Brad · #5 Post by **Brad** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:43 am

After you clone to the new drive and then install the new drive in your ThinkPad you should have no trouble recovering the system. After the new install is complete you would need to reinstall your applications and copy your data to the new drive from the old drive or your backup.

I would make 100% sure you have a working backup or that your original drive can be accessed before beginning the recovery.

Brad

stuartf · #6 Post by **stuartf** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:08 pm

What about programs that I have downloaded and for which I have no discs (AVG, Mozilla, etc)??

#7 Post by **Harryc** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:52 pm

stuartf wrote:What about programs that I have downloaded and for which I have no discs (AVG, Mozilla, etc)??

AVG and Mozilla are free downloads from the Internet.

CeeBee · #8 Post by **CeeBee** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 4:31 am

Did you manage to clone the hidden IBM/Lenovo partition? I plan to clone my 40GB drive to a larger 100GB drive with Acronis True Image 10 .. so I face the same issue. Thanks

sagara · #9 Post by **sagara** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:26 pm

I've just cloned my original 40GB drive onto a Seagate 100GB 7500rpm Momentus on my T42. I used Acronis 11 (cheap off ebay). It was a very simple operation. Popped the Seagate into an Ultrabay adapter, adjusted the jumper to Master - no need to format - rebooted, and started up Acronis True Image Home, selected Disk Utilities/Clone Disk, selected Automatic, and that was it! When the whole operation was finished - about 25 mins - I replaced the old 40GB with the new Seagate, rebooted and all was well. Even the IBM Fat 32 partition is there. Couldn't be simpler!

#10 Post by **richk** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:36 pm

The T42 is different from the T40. The T42 generally has a fat32 partition with recovery stuff. T40 will have a HPA that will not show up as being part of the disk. Acronis will see a 37GB disk instead of a 40GB disk ind not copy the HPA.

sagara · #11 Post by **sagara** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:19 pm

Ah, now I know what an HPA is.

Cloning and swapping hard drives T43

Cloning and swapping hard drives T43

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Cloning and fresh install

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