Hard Drive
Upgrader FAQ
1.
2. My FAT16/FAT32 partition or host drive is full or almost full. Can I still use the Hard Drive Upgrader to expand the partition without freeing up space first?
3. Can I use the Hard Drive Upgrader to copy to a smaller hard drive?
4. Can I use the Hard Drive Upgrader to copy non-Microsoft operating systems?
5. I have a system with Windows NT 4.0 and Windows '95 that has the hard drive partitioned into 3 equal parts. I would like to transfer my data to a new larger hard drive. How does the new hard drive have to be prepared? Does it have to be fdisked and formatted first?
6. Does Hard Drive Upgrader work on Windows NT 4.0 server using an NTFS drive? I would like to put in a larger hard drive.
7. My HD has some bad sectors, can Upgrader ignore bad sectors while upgrading my system's file?
8. My C: is 27 G and its intended backup is 13 G! I guess I am forced to use the *free* copier from Maxtor after all *shrug*,Can yours do anything that one can't?
12. What types of operating systems does my "Hard Drive Upgrader 3.30" support?
A. Yes, Hard Drive Upgrader will do that automatically regardless of your current OS types of Win3.x, Win 95, Win 95 OSR2. It can also convert FAT16 to FAT32.
[TOP]
A: Yes. The Upgrader expands
FAT16/FAT32 partition(s) on the fly without requiring any minimum free space on
the partition(s).
3Q: Can I copy to a smaller hard drive?
A: Yes, target disk space permitted. The Upgrader performs intelligent copy, i.e., only copies those sectors that are actually used. If your source drive contains unallocated space at the end or FAT16/FAT32 partitions that are not nearly full, you may be able to copy to a smaller drive. The Upgrader will perform an intelligent analysis of your source and target disks and inform you if the target disk is too small. Sometimes defragmenting the source drive may help.
Some disk optimization programs, notably Norton Speed disk,
have an option to place infrequently accessed files at the end of the disk, if
you are using the Upgrader to copy to a smaller hard disk, make sure to uncheck
this option if it is checked in Norton Speed disk and run speed disk so that all
empty areas of the disk are placed last on the hard drive. This will allow smart
copying to a smaller hard drive.
4Q: Can I use the Upgrader to copy non-Microsoft operating systems?
A:
This version of the Upgrader is intended for Microsoft operating systems and the
associated FAT16/FAT32 partition types. Other operating systems and partition
types will be copied sector by sector (i.e., mirror image of partition created
without expansion) and are otherwise unsupported. Since the embedded system
[c/h/s], if any, is unmodified in this case, the target drive may or may not
work properly.
A:
The Upgrader does not require the new hard drive to be
fdisked or formatted or otherwise
"prepared." The Upgrader will proportionally expand each
"resizable" partition on the fly to the new drive. FAT16/32 partitions
are considered resizable, whereas NTFS is not (i.e., NTFS partition will be
copied as is without expansion). Windows NT 4.0 supports both
FAT16 and NTFS partitions.
I assume you use the
NT multi-boot feature to manage whether you boot to 95 or NT.
If all 3 equal partitions on your old drive are all FAT16/32 type, they will all
be expanded proportionally to the new drive, and both Windows 95 and NT should
work properly. If one (or 2) of the partition is NTFS, it will be copied as is
without expanding in size. All remaining partitions will then be proportionally
expanded to use the remainder of the new hard drive. Both Windows 95 and NT
should still work this way.
Note that FAT16 partition can be expanded subject to a 2GB limit, whereas FAT32
does not have this limit. Also note that NT 4.0 does not recognize FAT32, so if
there is any existing FAT16 partition that needs to be accessed by NT 4.0 after
the upgrade, do not convert to FAT32.
A: Hard Drive Upgrader will copy
and expend all the partition types (FAT16/32, NTFS). This means that any form of partition will be recognized by the software (Hard Drive Upgrader) when making a copy. During the process, It will skip the bad sectors in FAT16/32, or the unused clusters in NTFS. After it is done, FAT/NTFS partition is automatically reduced to a minimum size. Thus, the rest of the disk space can then be used to create additional partition(s).
7Q: My HD has some bad sectors, can Upgrader ignore bad sectors while upgrading my system's file?
A: When a bad sector is encountered by the Upgrade functions (Express or Custom), it will retry 30 times (default). After that it will be handled depending on where the bad sector is located. The upgrade function depends on certain system sectors (partition sector, boot sector, FAT, etc) to work properly. If the system sector is bad, the upgrade function cannot continue regardless whether the option is set to ignore bad sector or not. On the other hand, if the system sectors are all OK, but certain data sectors are bad, then the upgrade function can continue if the option is set to ignore the bad sector.
A:I presume that
you have FAT32 partition on your 27G running Win98. I further assume the data on
the 27G drive is less than 13G. Even though the information on the 27 gig is
less than 13 gig, it's possible that the data clusters may be scattered around,
even occupying some sectors toward the end of the 27 gig drive. If this is the
case, it needs to be defragmented first so that all the data clusters fall
within the FIRST 13 gig of the 27 gig drive. You can use "consolidate disk
space only" type option when performing defrag. After a successful defrag
with data clusters within the first 13 gig, you should be able to use the Hard
Drive Upgrader to copy from 27 gig to13 gig.
Yes, our Upgrader (full
release) has long overcome the 8.4 GB limit on hard drive
size. The free-downloadable demo/trial version on our web site may still have
the 8.4 GB limit. Did you find other places on our web site that imply the 8.4
GB limit? We'd be happy to update the information.
As to the Windows Me support, did you mean a version of the Upgrader that would
RUN under Windows Me with all the GUI support? Or did you mean a version of the
Upgrader that would copy (and enlarge) an original drive with Windows Me on it
to a larger drive and keep everything.
If you meant the former, then the version does not exist. If you meant the
latter, then the Upgrader should be fine. The Upgrader is designed to run from a
clean (i.e., DOS) environment due to the nature of what it does. You don't want
to have other tasks running while copying from a drive to another. Otherwise you
run the risk of a corrupted target drive.
A: There might be three possible reasons for what happen to you and here is the solution.
(a) When you finished copying,
I assume that you removed the old drive and try to boot from the new drive. Did
you reset the jumper on the new drive so that it becomes MASTER? Did you place
the new drive where the old drive was?
We also recommend, even before copying, that the new drive be set up as the boot
drive (master), and the old drive set up as the secondary.
(b) Do you have some kind of disk manager (e.g., EZ-drive, On-track, other DDO)
on your old drive? The way to use Upgrader correctly is different.
In our documentation (user.doc or user.txt), there is a section (appendix) that
deals with the Disk Manager (including EZ-drive, among other things). Because EZ-drive
(or other Disk Manager) prepares the hard drive in a special way which is NOT
recognized by other software (including the Upgrader software or other), in
order for the Upgrader to see this type of hard drive correctly, it requires the
EZ-drive software to be loaded first. Typically, this can be done by booting
from the hard drive with EZ-drive, by holding down a key (e.g., Ctrl) half-way
during the boot up
sequence, it will load the EZ-drive software and allow you to continue booting
to a boot diskette. If you run the Upgrader at this point, it will see the hard
drive correclty and be able to copy it successfully.
[this paragraph is probably not applicable to you] If you're installing the new
hard drive on the same PC, you may have to set up the new hard drive with the EZ-drive
again if the PC cannot recognize the full capacity by itself. You need to
set up your old drive as your boot drive, and the new drive as secondary. This
way, as mentioned above, you can boot half-way to the old drive and continue
booting to a boot diskette. You can then run the Upgrader to copy the drives
correctly.
(c) If step 2 above is not the case or does not address your problem, there may
be a mismatch of translation scheme [c/h/s] on the hard drive and on the system.
Try a hidden option 24 at the main menu of the Upgrader. Change the embedded
[c/h/s] on the hard drive to match what BIOS says. This should make it boot.
If things are still not
working, could you tell me more about your original drive's partition layout?
any special partition (e.g., boot manager, diagnostic partition, etc)? OS? Where
in the config.sys is the system stuck? Or can you email me the config.sys file?
And whatever info that might be useful.
Our software has copied many
Win98/SE drives without any slightest problem. The corrupt target drive problem
you mentioned could be caused by several factors listed below, most of them, we
believe, are external to our software:
1) Compatibility problem among two master/slave hard drives and perhaps the IDE
controller (during copying process, maybe on a different machine). Since our
program is INT 13 (BIOS) based when accessing the hard drive, if indeed there
is a drive conflict problem, it will not be restricted to our program. If you
were to install a new OS onto the new drive under this configuration, you
probably have the same problem.
The best way to avoid this potentially troublesome situation is to configure
both drives to be master and connect them to separate IDE channels with its own
cable. Temporarily disconnect all other IDE devices (CD-ROM, etc). Copying
drives under this setup perhaps gives the best result.
Also check the adapter you used to connect the 2.5" drive in the 3.5"
bay on the desktop. The adapter can sometimes be a source of the problem.
2) (Partially) corrupt source drive to begin with. You can run SCANDISK to
isolate this situation.
3) Non-standard partition layout on the source drive. Some PC vendors are known
to add their own diagnostic and/or boot management partitions that won't work
when copied to a different-sized hard drive. Some hard drive has so called disk
manager (DDO, EZ-drive, etc) installed which requires special procedure
performed before actually copying the drive. Let me know if this is the case for
further info.
4) Incorrect settings of the C/H/S (cylinder/head/sector) parameters on the
target drive. It's possible that the cloning machine (e.g.,desktop) translate
this parameter
differently than the target machine (e.g., laptop) causing the new drive to
appear corrupted. Simply run the Upgrader option 24 (hidden) on the target
machine to change the embedded C/H/S to match the current BIOS settings.
12Q: What types of operating systems does my "Hard Drive Upgrader 3.30" support?
A: Hard Drive Upgrader 3.30 supports all the FAT 16/32 and NTFS based file systems. In another word, it supports from FAT based systems like Win 3.x, Win 95, Win 98, Win ME, to NTFS based systems like Win NT, Win 2000, and Win XP.
[TOP]
A: Yes, Hard Drive Upgrader 3.30 is programmed to recognize any form of partition disregard weather they are in a same hard drive or not. When making the copy, it will choose the appropriate copying method for each particular partition it encounters.
[TOP]
A: Yes, "Hard Drive Upgrader 3.30" will scan through all the partitions in the source hard drive before the copy begins, and it will copy them into the destination hard drive one at time.