Reply With QuoteYup. You could use an application like Norton ghost. It's pretty os agnostic as it copies at block level.
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I've noticed a few bad sectors have appeared on my laptop's hard disk, it's had about 3 years heavy use so I'm planning to replace it. The last time this happened the disk died completely, so I reinstalled unbuntu and all the applications manually and then restored my data, which was a lengthy process.
I'm wondering if, to save time, I could copy the existing drive's content (assuming it keeps going long enough) on to the new drive and simply slot the new one into the laptop? Is there an application that would allow me to do this?
Yup. You could use an application like Norton ghost. It's pretty os agnostic as it copies at block level.
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any imaging software like a acronis or norton will do, but be aware that any errors on the blocks from the old drive will be copied over too, and it can be a royal PITA to get right afterwards, sometimes resulting in a worse state than when it left the old drive,
I would re-install again a fresh, all your apps etc, and then make an image, that way when it happens again you can us that image for the new drive.
A shout-out for Clonezilla as it is a good free tool. Can be booted from a USB drive or CD. Doesn't like imaging from a big disk to a small disk regardless of partition size but is a handy tool to have in one's arsenal.
I don't believe bad sectors are cloned, they are a physical property of the disc. If the data on those sectors is corrupt and you have not run chkdsk etc to tell windows to no longer use the bad areas, then that bad data may be potentially copied over.
If you have not already moved to a SSD this is the perfect time to do so, all SSD come with cloning software as well. The performance difference between SSD and mechanical has to be seen to be appreciated! I cloned my desktop over about 6 months ago a 1tb clone too. PC went from booting in about 4 5 minutes to 15 seconds, I kid you not. I used to turn it on go grab a coffee and toast come back up and it would just about be ready, now It's booted before I can walk out of the room after turning it on.
Thanks. If only I'd asked this question the first time around :)Originally Posted by soundood
Not sure what you mean about the bad sectors, are you saying they won't be a problem? I hadn't considered a SSD, might be worth it, but ubuntu boots up quickly anyway, so not sure the extra cost would be worthwhile. How are they for lifespan, do they last as long as a conventional drive?
Modern SSD's easily last as long as mechanical drives so don't worry about lifespan. Bad sectors are physical areas on a disk so they themselves are not copied over, however if the data is somewhat readable and windows is still trying to use the sector to store information that will be cloned over. Speedwise loading times for everything increases, I htink even with ubuntu they would be worth it, just make sure it supports the drive properly though.
Err... if you're running Ubuntu shouldn't you know how to do this? ;-)
THE tool for the job
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
I would definitely go SSD, the all round speed difference will blow your mind.
Easiest way is to do a disk-to-disk clone in a hardware cloner like this sort of thing:
http://www.ebuyer.com/661720-startec...dd-sdock2u33re
I have one if you're anywhere near Bristol / Bath.
Johnny
Oooh no, I'm simply not clever-arsed enough! ;-)
Sadly Windows only & the OP is running Ubuntu
It's a useful software to diagnose the HDD (fortunately my drives were always ok) and there's a trial version as well:
https://www.hdsentinel.com/
I'd recommend you to check bad sectors on HDD (for example the list of software). ALso check SMART info of your hard drive. Hope it helps!
Advice might be too late.
By way of moral support, I'm not a hardware person but managed to clone my PC hard drive and copy it to an SSD. As others have said, I'm not sure if there is any reason not to use an SSD although I think desktops often have a smaller SSD for programs and a bigger conventional drive for data.
Oh, and obviously make sure you have all your data backed up. I learned that lesson painfully in 2006 and have been a back up zealot ever since!
Good luck!
OP's problem was in June last year, I doubt he's still working on it.
Thanks all for the advice. As Kingstepper has pointed out it was more than a year ago and I have it all under control now.
Why the **** do people resurrect year old threads?? It’s a seriously irritating habit. I’ll have to start scrutinising post dates now.
Kingstepper did give a clue?
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