Transfer Data Between Two Hard Drives

Whether it's just to clean up our hard drives, or because we're running out of room as file sizes swell, but from time to time, we may need to back up a good amount of data. One easy way to do this is to copy all the data from your primary drive to a back-up hard drive. We'll show you a few ways to do this, and get your digital house in order!

Steps

External Hard Drives

  1. Keep it simple! Plugging in an external drive has never been easier or more cost effective. In 1980, a 1 gigabyte hard drive—an unimaginable amount of storage weighing 500 pounds—cost $40,000. Today, you can easily find a 2 terabyte drive (2,048 gigabytes) that sits on your desktop for about $130 USD. In 1980, it would have cost $80 million dollars!
  2. Read the manual. Normally, everything should be as simple as plug and go. To be safe, check the owner's manual of your external drive to make sure there is nothing unique about it that requires you to take additional steps to plug it in.
    • In some cases, you may need to install driver software. If this is the case, there will be an included CD or DVD—or you can generally download the latest versions from the manufacturer's website.
  3. Plug in the power cord. Your external hard drive may need an AC power source, or it may run fine with USB power. If it requires AC, now's the time to plug it in.
  4. Plug in the USB cable. With your external unit powered down, plug in one end of the USB cable into the drive, and the other end into the USB input on your computer.
  5. Power up the drive. Whether you're using Apple's OS X or Microsoft Windows, your drive should be recognized. Let it go through any power-up sequences or initializations required, and follow any on-screen prompts.
  6. Copy your files. This can be as simple as drag-and-drop. Click on a folder or directory you want to move, drag it to the external drive, and release the mouse.
    • At this point, you have a choice: if you are backing up files to a second drive (always a good idea), then continue on to the next folder, and continue copying files over until you have moved everything you plan to back up. If you are moving files to a second drive to free up space, then as soon as you are done copying, verify the copies are good, then delete the originals.
    • Many drives include some form of backup software that lets you move files automatically. Be aware that the more files you move—or back up—the longer it will take. Doing this process overnight is not a bad idea.

Cloud Storage

  1. Go virtual. Because of the dramatic drop in the price of storage, coupled with the dramatic increase in bandwidth, making your second hard drive virtual is an idea to consider. It's safe, secure, and perhaps best of all—it's backed up constantly, off site, in secure locations.
    • Cloud storage also gives you access to all your data no matter where you are, or what machine you're using.
  2. Sign up for a service such as Evernote or Dropbox (or both). They are solutions that provide, for free, from 2GB of storage to unlimited storage. Not only do they provide storage and retrieval from any location, they both let you share files with other people and groups, add notes to files, and much more.
    • Evernote gives you unlimited storage, but you can only upload 50MB per month for free.
    • Dropbox gives you 2GB for free, but has no maximum upload limit.
    • Once signed up, simply drag your files to a folder you've created on the service.
  3. Use a backup service. If your needs are simply to make sure all your files are backed up regularly and securely, consider using a cloud-based backup service. You schedule when the backups happen, and you can be confident your files are ready for you no matter what, when, or where.
    • Carbonite, which is designed to back up your computer only—no external hard drives—lets you access those files anywhere, and read them on any device, whether that be another computer, an iPad, or an Android. Carbonite offers unlimited storage for a few dollars a month.
    • Mozy has pricing plans that vary, and lets you save up to 125GB of data on up to 3 computers. For business owners and those with critical files, Mozy will send you a restore disk in the mail (for a modest fee) should the need arise.

It's A Hardware Thing

  1. Power down. First turn off the power to the computer, and open the case.
    • Unplug all cords—power cord, keyboard, mouse, etc.—from your computer.
  2. Connect your secondary drive.
    • Search the exterior of the drive for a diagram showing the different jumper settings for the modes. Look for the "Cable Select" or "Slave" settings.
    • On the rear of the hard drive, remove the jumper and fit it over the two pins that match the diagram for the "Cable Select" or "Slave" setting.
  3. Connect the data cable. Find the wide cable that the hard drive in the computer case is connected to. There should be a long plastic connector plug somewhere in the middle this cable.
    • Attach this connecter to the long connector plug in the back of the external hard drive. Connect this cable to the hard drive you have in your hand. The colored strip (usually red) should be on the side nearest the power connector.
  4. Add power. Find a power connector that is not hooked into anything. It will usually be black or white, with 4 female sockets.
    • Plug the power connector into the power slot in the rear of the hard drive.
  5. Put it back together. Plug the power, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and anything else you unplugged back into your computer.
  6. Turn on the computer. Everything should boot normally at this point. If not, power down and check all connections.
    • The hard drive should be displayed in My Computer as another drive.
  7. Drag and drop the files from your main hard drive to the new hard drive.

If You Build It

  1. Determine what type of hard drive you have. There are many interface variations, IDE, SATA, PATA, and more.
  2. Purchase an external USB housing. Make sure that it is suitable for your hard drive. This example features an IDE drive.
    • Set the jumpers. Consult your hard drive manual and ensure your drive is set to master or single drive. On IDE interfaces there is usually a small jumper that you place over 2 adjacent pins.
  3. Open the external drive case. Plug in the drive power and data leads. Note: these are keyed so that you can only put them in one way—the correct way! If you need to force it, you are probably wrong.
    • Check your connections again before closing up the housing.
  4. Power up! Make all your connections secure and then power your system back up.
    • Plug the external power block into the back of the external drive. Note: for small notebook drives the housing usually gets its power from the USB lead.
    • Plug the USB lead into the external drive.
    • Plug the other end of the USB lead into your PC.
    • Power up your external drive, and then your PC, and login.
  5. Wait for your system to find the USB device. If using Microsoft Windows, check in My Computer.
    • You should find the device listed as a removable drive.
    • It will have a drive letter. Your PC's hard disk is usually C: and the CD/DVD drive D: so it may be shown as E:
    • Remember when finished and before disconnecting the drive, click the Safe to Remove Drive icon on the task bar near the clock.
  6. If using SuSE Linux: Check My Computer if you don't get a screen pop up with the device listed.
    • In My Computer, open the drive to list its contents.
    • Open a second Windows Explorer window to find the data you wish to copy from.
    • In SuSE Linux, click on the blue House icon or open a Konqueror window and browse the directories to the data to be copied.
  7. Copy the data to the external second drive

Tips

  • Ensure that the drive you are copying to has enough capacity. When making copies of a drive it is best to choose a drive of the same size or larger.
  • Files can also be transferred through a network with shared folders
  • If your aim is to make a complete copy of the drive in your PC, then there are software tools such as Norton Ghost. For such activities you might consider a removable drive caddy, which runs on the internal data bus.
  • When copying data try doing it in small chunks, sometimes taking large blocks of data can cause systems to stall. Try a folder or directory at a time.
  • You can set up a FTP server to allow files to be transferred over a network or the Internet
  • Compressing your files (WinZip, WinRAR, or compressed folder on Windows XP) cuts down on transfer time (but increases prep time).

Warnings

  • Static shock can fry a computer! Use caution. Use a static strap if possible. If not, just touch the metal part of a computer before you start working on it with the power cord plugged in for grounding.
  • Beware of sharp edges within the computer case.
  • Why use an external housing? If you open up your machine you may void your warranty, you may also accidentally disconnect a lead or cause some other problem. You would not want to open up a notebook (usually it would only take one drive anyway)!

Things You'll Need

  • A computer
  • Two hard drives (one to copy to, one to copy from)
  • An Internet connection for cloud storage

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