10 year old 1T HDD

Hello all, not sure if i should post this here I have a 10 year old 1T HDD which has severed me well, i have several partitions on that drive ( 3 partitions ) with a variety of games and videos and data spread across all 3 Partitions. i will be purchasing a new 2T HDD for storage, ( 51 pounds which i think is a good deal )
i would like to move , copy or image all 3 partitions to the new HDD ( i will be making 3 partitions on the new HDD to match the old HDD. and i would like to also keep the specific drive letter on the old HDD to match the new HDD
i was wondering what would be the best way to accomplish this ?

Thanks in advance

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free copy partition function:
Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

or Macrium Reflect Free clone function:
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

A little hint:
Do 1 partition at a time. Make the destination partition smaller than the original partition when you clone/copy it. That forces the software to actually defrag during the partition copy. After the first partition is copied/cloned, then expand the new partition to the size you want it. Then move on to the next partition to copy/clone, using the same method.

When you install the new hard drive, do not manually create empty partitions. Let the software create the partitions during the clone/copy process. You'll have to adjust the drive letters after you clone/copy the partitions and the old hard gets removed (or at least it's drive letters changed.)

Hello NavyLCDR and thanks for your reply , i currently have the free version of marcium reflect which i use to do disk image of my SSD which has my OS on it. i think i will use MR for the clone / copy

so i should not make any partitions on the new HDD once i install it, and just clone each partition of my old HDD one at a time, ?

i am not sure what you mean by ( Make the destination partition smaller than the original partition when you clone/copy it ) my partitions at approx 300mb Each, on the old HDD

Thanks in advance

Pantz said:

Hello NavyLCDR and thanks for your reply , i currently have the free version of marcium reflect which i use to do disk image of my SSD which has my OS on it. i think i will use MR for the clone / copy

so i should not make any partitions on the new HDD once i install it, and just clone each partition of my old HDD one at a time, ?

i am not sure what you mean by ( Make the destination partition smaller than the original partition when you clone/copy it ) my partitions at approx 300mb Each, on the old HDD

Thanks in advance

Correct - do not make new partitions on the new HDD. Just clone/copy the partitions from the old drive to the unallocated space on the new drive.

After you drag and drop the partition (which is how you do it in Macrium Reflect), you can select the new partition properties before you click apply. Then shrink the new partition to like 280 GB. After the partition is copied/cloned, before you do the next partition you can use disk management, diskpart, or minitool partition wizard free to expand the new partition to the size you want.

I know this seems like extra steps, but you will get a good defragmented partition out of the process. If you just clone/copy the partition without shrinking it, I know the Macrium Reflect will not defrag in the process.

The other option is to manually create the new partitions and copy the files/folders from old to new (which will also defrag). But I prefer the partition copying/cloning using Macrium Reflect or MiniTool Partition Wizard. In Macrium Reflect you will select the clone disk function. Once you select the clone disk function, you can drag and drop individual partitions from old drive to new drive.

Hello again and thanks for the response, i think i understand it, since i dont have the new HDD as yes , could i not just defrag each of the old HDD partitions now ?

Thanks in advance

Pantz said:

Hello again and thanks for the response, i think i understand it, since i dont have the new HDD as yes , could i not just defrag each of the old HDD partitions now ?

Thanks in advance

You could, yes. Since they are only data drives there is not likely to be any system files in use that would not defrag.

Hello All. well i was successful able to Clone my 10 Y/O 1T HDD to my new 2 HDD, but since my old HDD had the lower letters for drive labels. ( For the 3 Partitions ) since i installed the new HDD i am unable to re assign the lower letters to the new HDD. is there any way to re-assign the New HDD the lower letters to the new drive ?

thanks in advance

You need to remove the existing assigned letters and then you can add them in the order you want.

On each partition on old disk right click and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..."



Then click on "Remove"



Once you have removed (and freed up) the lower letters can assign them to other partitions - again by right click (on partitions of the new disk) and "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." but this time take "Change" and pick the letter you want.

You can then assign different letters to the old disk if you want.

@Pantz,

Options 5 or 6 here is what you want:
Remove Drive Letter in Windows 10 | Tutorials

or do both options:
open a Command Prompt (Admin) ["Run as Administrator" command prompt] and enter:
diskpart
automount scrub
exit
mountvol /r
exit

Then restart the computer.

Hello and thanks for the Reply, i have already removed the old HDD, does this mean i have to put it back in to rearrange the drive letter ?

Thanks in advance