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How to clone large HDDs?

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Darwin:
I don't know that there is a guarantee that this will work and that you'll be good to go, but something like True Image (from Acronis) should be able to clone your drive in under an hour. I *understand* that if you toss the old drive in the freezer in a ziploc bag over night, it will increase the chances of recovering all of your data. Google this tip for more complete instructions/explanation...

The nice thing about imaging software is that you can create bootable discs, meaning that you don't have to further stress the failing drive by installing anything on it (assuming that you have a backup computer to create the disc with!).

So, er, I guess this is where I admit that I haven't got a clue about XXClone  :-[

EDIT: clarified what I don't know about freezing electronics!

mouser:
The fact that some areas are not readable, will that cause problems with XXClone?
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thats a good question, and no way to know until you try.

here is what i would do:

FIRST:
copy all your data files using normal copy methods.

ONLY THEN:
proceed to making a drive image or drive copy.

4wd:
My Acer laptop HD (5 years old, IDE 40GB) is showing signs of wear. It seems to have problems reading some areas of the disk and gives me a "blue" screen followed with a major crash, at times. I have an 80GB IDE portable drive which I could swap (2 years old).
-PPLandry (August 20, 2008, 07:26 PM)
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It should be noted with laptops that if you set a 'Harddrive password' in the BIOS, it's a good idea to remove it BEFORE you clone the drive.

You can then set it back AFTER you have installed the new drive.

The fact that some areas are not readable, will that cause problems with XXClone?
--- End quote ---

Or if there is no data in those areas, use a program that doesn't read them, eg. TrueImage NOT in Sector-by-Sector mode.

Darwin:
Hmm... googled the freezer trick myself and this was the first 'hit':

Freezing a hard drive can be used in data recovery, but will only fix the hard drive for a short period of time. If the drive is spinning (you will hear it turning) this is not the method to use, this method is best suited for data recovery cases where the drive is not spinning. If the drive is spinning it not physically damaged so it is a problem that should be approached through other methods.
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PPLandry:
Hmm... googled the freezer trick myself and this was the first 'hit':

Freezing a hard drive can be used in data recovery, but will only fix the hard drive for a short period of time. If the drive is spinning (you will hear it turning) this is not the method to use, this method is best suited for data recovery cases where the drive is not spinning. If the drive is spinning it not physically damaged so it is a problem that should be approached through other methods.
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-Darwin (August 20, 2008, 08:09 PM)
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Thanks for the link"

My hard disk is still functional, so I'll wait before freezing it...

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