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October 10th, 2015 07:00

Copy Hard Drive data to another one

Alright guys

A few days ago I found out that I needed a replacement hard drive due to the Smartelftest failing (hard drive is critical)  Contact dell support and they have sent me a new replacement had drive but I am little bit confused...

If I stick the replacement hard drive into the laptop how will I get my 3 profiles and data from the damaged drive to the new one??  Will data backup recover program do that? Or do I need something else? 

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

October 10th, 2015 07:00

Unless you have a backup already, you likely won't - you can try mounting the faulty drive in an external case once you've replace it with the new one, but if the damage to the existing drive is extensive, you will likely have trouble and the process will fail.

13 Posts

October 10th, 2015 08:00

Well the faulty hard drive at the moment is currently still working... So I have no idea why the smartselftest is saying that it's failing...

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

October 10th, 2015 08:00

All drives have built-in algorithms that constantly monitor reads, writes, retries, and a host of other parameters.  When a thresh-hold is exceeded, they trip a warning.  When you see that warning it meas the drive is on its way out -- if it's still working, make a backup of your data NOW to and external drive, flash drive, cloud storage, etc. -- and restore the backup once the drive has been replaced.

13 Posts

October 10th, 2015 09:00

So I can use the Data Backup Recovery program for that?? Does that also copy profile data as well??

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

October 10th, 2015 09:00

If the existing drive is in good enough shape, use a cloning utility (Macrium Reflect is free for personal use) to image the existing drive to an external.  Then make a set of recovery media using Reflect and restore the image, and the drive will be a mirror image of the original.  Turn OFF secure boot before doing this, though.

13 Posts

October 10th, 2015 11:00

Do you use this software?  Or could I used something like easus todo

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

October 10th, 2015 11:00

I do use Reflect and True Image -- I have no experience with the easus software.  The warranty replacement drive is pre-imaged - whatever you do, DO NOT image directly from the existing drive to the new one until you're sure you have a working set of recovery media.  There's always a chance the imaging will fail, particularly on a drive that's known to be faulty. 

13 Posts

October 10th, 2015 14:00

Can I just confirm using reflect if I create an image disk of drive c, that will copy all the data plus the 3 user profiles??

Then I need to get some RW disc tomorrow

13 Posts

October 10th, 2015 15:00

Yeah I copied the image on to an external hard drive..  I stored it in a folder on that one, because I am already using it..  But for the boot media I need to get disk right??

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

October 10th, 2015 15:00

Reflect will make an exact image of the existing disc, yes.  You'd be better off using an external hard drive than using optical media, though.

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

October 10th, 2015 16:00

You will need a bootable recovery disc or flash drive, yes.

13 Posts

October 11th, 2015 06:00

Darn it I wish these laptops Inspiron 17 7000 had come with DVD/CD RW built in them... Now I'm going to have to buy one..

Pity I can't use the USB external hard drive, and then boot to that and run the recovery disks that way.. Oh well

13 Posts

October 13th, 2015 11:00

I have brought a USB flash drive today and done the boot process through Reflect.. However I did not see anyway to Turn OFF secure boot before doing this,

So a little bit confused

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