Data Backup Digest

Personal hard drives are available in terabyte sizes now and aren’t uncommon to find in systems. Go back ten years and it would have been a different picture. Not only has technology evolved, but the amount and size of the data we’re storing has grown too.

If you’re finding yourself pushed for hard drive space then you might want to consider upgrading your hard drive. Hard drives only continue to drop in price, so you should be able to secure a large capacity drive at a relatively low cost.

If you’re planning to be on the move a lot then an external hard drive might be the best for you. This plugs into a USB slot on your computer and can quickly be moved between devices. Another option would be to upgrade the internal drive(s) of your system.

Every computer is different and will have a varying number of slots inside the case to store an internal hard drive. If you’ve only got one internal drive, but have spare slots, then it’s just a case of plugging the new drive in. Your system should automatically detect it on boot and you’ll be able to go about storing data on it.

However, if you don’t have any spare slots then it’s going to be a slightly different process. You’re going to need to transfer all the data from your existing drive onto your new one (assuming the new one is a larger drive).

Firstly, check that you don’t have any other spare SATA connections on your motherboard that you can temporarily hook the new drive into. If you’re not sure what a SATA connection looks like then just check out your existing drives.

Chances are that your disc drive uses a SATA connection. While you complete the transfer process, you could disconnect this and plug your new drive into it. If that isn’t a possibility then you’re going to want to pick up a USB to SATA connector.

Once you’ve got your new drive plugged in it’s time to transfer all the data from the old drives. You could just take your personal information, but this isn’t going to bring along your applications, operating system or customised settings. It’s a hassle to get that all set up again, so it’s time to use an imaging software.

Creating a disk image means to replicate the contents on the drive exactly. A suitable piece of software for this is R-Drive Image. Run this program and get it to image your old drive onto your new one. The process won’t take too long, but it’ll vary depending on how much data you’re imaging.

Once complete you can disconnect the old drive and plug the new one in its place. Don’t forget to reconnect your disc drive if you disconnected that earlier. Boot your system back up and you should find everything is exactly as it was before, with all your applications and settings in place, except now you have a brand new drive that gives you much more space.