Hard drive replacement

[samjesse]

Hi

I will be getting a 20GB hard drive from ebay to replace my noisy one. How can I copy the old to the new so that when I put the new, every thing is there?
I have a usb hard drive enclosure with a 30GB hard drive in it?

thx

[Harryc]

Install the new drive in the Thinkpad. Put the old drive in the enclosure. Clone the old to the new using Acronis True Image.

[RealBlackStuff]

If they are the same size, take out the disk from the enclosure and put in your old laptop drive.
Download the Acronis Trueimage trial program, install that on a PC or other laptop, take an image of the old HD in the enclosure. Then swap the 'new' drive into the enclosure, and restore the image on the 'new' HD.
Then put the 'new' HD in the Thinkpad, using the caddy from the old HD.
Why you bought a 20GB is beyond me, you should have gone for 100GB or even all the way up to 320GB...

[samjesse]

The enclosure is 3.5" so the 2.5" HDD will not fit. I did not buy the new HD yet.

[samjesse]

Should I clone the 2.5" old HD from the laptop to the 3.5" enclosure then from the latter to the new HD once I install it in the laptop?

[Harryc]

No, install the new HD in the laptop first then clone from the old (as an external drive) to the new one.

[samjesse]

No, install the new HD in the laptop first then clone from the old (as an external drive) to the new one

OK, I understand.
Since I do not have a 2.5" enclosure, but have another A31, can I use the other A31 as an enclosure? if so, how?

[Harryc]

External enclosures and adapter kits are so inexpensive I never thought about it. I recommend this adapter kit because you can use it in the future for SATA and other drives.
http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/266
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812232002

[RealBlackStuff]

It would also be helpful if you told us for which PC/laptop you are getting a replacement.
Sounds like you are talking PC rather than laptop...

[samjesse]

It would also be helpful if you told us for which PC/laptop you are getting a replacement.
Sounds like you are talking PC rather than laptop...

A31 Laptop.

[samjesse]

Is it the as this
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/USB-2-0-to-SATA ... a54314efa

[Harryc]

Looks similar, but no power adapter . It would actually work for an IDE drive, but it would need a power adapter for SATA.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/USB-2-0-to-SATA- ... 2c539d39a5

[samjesse]

but it would need a power adapter for SATA.

I am wondering if one of the many power cables I have collected would actually work. I tried to deduce from the picture for no avail.

[tbartold]

If you want to replace the hard drive in your A31p, you need to get a PATA/IDE drive. A SATA drive won't work.

A 2.5 IDE enclosure is cheap (under $10). You'll want one that's USB 1.1 compatible. This means you only have to copy once. USB 2.0 won't work on the A31p (unless you get a $40 cardbus adapter).

A 320GB PATA hard drive costs about $100, anything smaller will still cost you over $50. I would not buy a used hard drive, you'd be living on borrowed time.

Obviously, you could copy your current drive to the 3.5 enclosure, and then copy back to the new drive after installing it, but at USB 1.1 speeds it'll take a while. If you don't have a power cord for your current 3.5 enclosure, then this is probably moot.

[samjesse]

In TrueImage, I have:
Recovering you system partiiton.
Recovering a disk backup to a different capacity hard disk.
Recovering a disk without a hidden partition.
Recovering a disk with a hidden partition.
Recovering a data partition or disk
Recovering files and folders.
which apples to A31. I am guess, hidden partition and different capacity.
Is that correct?

You'll want one that's USB 1.1 compatible. This means you only have to copy once. USB 2.0 won't work on the A31p (unless you get a $40 cardbus adapter).

I ordered http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWNX:IT before reading the above.
It includes:
USB 1.1 / 2.0 cable

will that do?
thx

[Harryc]

Yes that's fine. In fact the statement "USB 2.0 won't work on the A31p " is slightly misleading. Any USB 2.0 device is also USB 1.1 downward compatible, so the device itself will work on an A31's USB 1.1 port ... just at a slower data transfer rate than in a USB 2.0 port.

[samjesse]

Any body knows if A31 has a hidden partition, it that the partition which contains the Thnkpad drives and the OS?

[Harryc]

It has a hidden partition from the factory unless the drive was replaced or erased. Hold down F11 on boot and see it it will go into recovery. If it does the partition exists. If it does not ...

[samjesse]

F11 makes peeping.
Inter Boot Agent Version 4.0.2
...
Intel Base-code, PXE-2.1 bild 083
...
PXE-$61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.
Operating System not found.

oops, the hard drive was not all the way in.
F11 did not go into recovery.

[samjesse]

which of the following would apply?
Recovering a disk backup to a different capacity hard disk.
Recovering a disk without a hidden partition.

[Harryc]

... then you do not have a functional recovery partition.

[samjesse]

... then you do not have a functional recovery partition.

what does that mean in English in this case?