Thinkpads Forum

Weel, I ordered a new HDD for my T61. As far as I know, to replace one HDD with another is quite easy for these models. What concerns me is the best way to transfer all my installation (system + files) for the old HDD to the new one. I will appreciate any advice you can offer. I would prefer to do it without acquiring any additional software (provided that it is possible).

Most retail packaged drives include (or can be downloaded from their website) software to set up the new drive. Most will allow you to clone your old drive onto the new one. You will need to have a means of connecting both drives to the machine at the same time to transfer the data.

Or, you can copy all your files to some sort of backup media. Then install the new drive and install the OS fresh from recovery media, then restore your files from the backup.

Thank you for suggestions.
What do I need to connect both HDD?

I use an external USB enclosure.

Thank you!
It seems to me that I'll try it to do by creating a system image in Windows 7 and then restore my HDD from it.

The ultrabay might be worth consideration. It's more expensive than an external enclosure, but when your done transferring you're files over to the new drive, you can use use the old drive for backups, which are always good to have.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I already have an external HDD for backups.