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What is the best way to transfer Boot Camp to a new drive?

D

Delameko

macrumors member
Original poster
May 1, 2008
63
0
I have two 500GB data drives, one is split in half with Boot Camp getting 250GB.
The Boot Camp drive is starting to fail and needs to be replaced.

I ordered a 1TB drive and my plan is copy all data from the first drive on the 1TB, and then format the working 500GB and put Boot Camp onto it (this time filling the whole drive).

What is the best way to do this?

I'm thinking maybe - run Boot Camp Assistant, set up the partition, then clone the contents on the drive? Is this the best way?

What is the best software to use?

Thanks.
 
Which Mac? Which Windows OS?

Winclone works well under most circumstances even though it has been "discontinued."

There is generally no need for Boot Camp Assistant if you are getting to this level of tweaking you can partition it yourself with Disk Utility.

B
 
Delameko said:
I have two 500GB data drives, one is split in half with Boot Camp getting 250GB.
The Boot Camp drive is starting to fail and needs to be replaced.

I ordered a 1TB drive and my plan is copy all data from the first drive on the 1TB, and then format the working 500GB and put Boot Camp onto it (this time filling the whole drive).

What is the best way to do this?

I'm thinking maybe - run Boot Camp Assistant, set up the partition, then clone the contents on the drive? Is this the best way?

What is the best software to use?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You might be able to get away with deleting the OSX partition and extending your Windows partition to take the entire drive. I think Windows 7 and Vista support this without utilities. Let's see if anyone else has tried this. If not perhaps I can run an experiment just to test it. I have a ton of drives laying about.

Cheers,
 
balamw said:
Which Mac? Which Windows OS?
Click to expand...

2008 Mac Pro, Windows 7.

Winclone works well under most circumstances even though it has been "discontinued."
Click to expand...

Ah, actually cloning it on the Windows side, I hadn't thought about that, I figured I'd be doing it in OSX. I'll try out WinClone, thanks.

There is generally no need for Boot Camp Assistant if you are getting to this level of tweaking you can partition it yourself with Disk Utility.
Click to expand...

Doesn't it need to create some sort of, I don't know, boot record or something. So that it knows its bootable (I'm not clear on how this works)? Or will cloning the contents copy everything that's needed?
 
panzer06 said:
You might be able to get away with deleting the OSX partition and extending your Windows partition to take the entire drive. I think Windows 7 and Vista support this without utilities. Let's see if anyone else has tried this. If not perhaps I can run an experiment just to test it. I have a ton of drives laying about.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

I think I've done this before and it worked fine. The problem is that the drive I currently have it on is dying, and I need to move it off. Although I supposed I could make a carbon copy of the entire drive and then resize the partitions... that's an idea.
 
Delameko said:
2008 Mac Pro, Windows 7.

Ah, actually cloning it on the Windows side, I hadn't thought about that, I figured I'd be doing it in OSX. I'll try out WinClone, thanks.

Doesn't it need to create some sort of, I don't know, boot record or something. So that it knows its bootable (I'm not clear on how this works)? Or will cloning the contents copy everything that's needed?
Click to expand...

Winclone handles creating/restoring the disk image from OS X.

It also handles resizing the partition and creating the boot record approporate to either XP and/or Vista/7.

B
 
CCC on the mac side wont clone your boot camp partition, just mac, it will come up with an error, ive tried this before. So the boot camp assistant makes the drive recognizable for a windows installation and recognizes it as a bootable drive, will the windows software work for this purpose???
 
tomscott1988 said:
CCC on the mac side wont clone your boot camp partition, just mac, it will come up with an error, ive tried this before. So the boot camp assistant makes the drive recognizable for a windows installation and recognizes it as a bootable drive, will the windows software work for this purpose???
Click to expand...

As I mention in the post above yours, Winclone does it all. Cloning/restoring, resizing and making it bootable.

BCA doesn't make anything bootable. it just sets up the partitions in a way that is beneficial for enabling MBR booting. Windows actually does the rest.

B
 
balamw said:
As I mention in the post above yours, Winclone does it all. Cloning/restoring, resizing and making it bootable.

BCA doesn't make anything bootable. it just sets up the partitions in a way that is beneficial for enabling MBR booting. Windows actually does the rest.

B
Click to expand...

Cheers, I used WinClone and it worked a treat! Thanks a lot.
 
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