Can I transfer all data from one HDD to another in a single step. Win7/Kubuntu 14.04

[Shabakthanai]

I screwed up and entered Windows 7 instead of Vista in the subject and don't appear able to edit and correct the mistake. Sorry!

I was just notified that my laptop HDD is close to expiring. It is 500GB and is to be replaced by a TB drive. Installed on my system is Windows Vista in a dual-boot configuration with Kubuntu 14.04. I would like to avoid all the installation processes if possible. I have never done anything like this before. Additionally I have been having trouble with the laptop never before experienced and am thinking that the worn HDD may at least in part be responsible.

I have 2.5" back-up drive case and the appropriate cable to transfer from a USB port. And so I am absolutely not misunderstood, if the BIOS is also stored in the existing HDD, I would like that included in the transfer. My TB drive arrives tomorrow. Thanks!

[GerardV]

Your BIOS does not reside on your HDD, but on the motherboard in a EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) chip, so no worries there.
You can clone your HDD with the dd command in Konsole. This command will make a perfect copy.
So if the HDD you want to copy is /dev/sda and the HDD you want to copy it to is /dev/sdb then the command will be

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=4096

. Where "if" is input file and "of" is output file. "bs" is the block size.
You will see no output at all during copying in the console so don't panic, have cup of tea and come back in an hour, depending on the size of your drive. It will copy the complete drive, including any free space. So even if you think it should not take this long, remember it will copy the entire drive.

Good luck!

[Shabakthanai]

Thanks GerardV,

I have two Operating Systems on the one HDD. Kubuntu 14,04 an Widows Vista. Do I have to concern myself about the two different Operating Systems?

Your BIOS does not reside on your HDD, but on the motherboard in a EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) chip, so no worries there.
You can clone your HDD with the dd command in Konsole. This command will make a perfect copy.
So if the HDD you want to copy is /dev/sda and the HDD you want to copy it to is /dev/sdb then the command will be

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=4096

. Where "if" is input file and "of" is output file. "bs" is the block size.
You will see no output at all during copying in the console so don't panic, have cup of tea and come back in an hour, depending on the size of your drive. It will copy the complete drive, including any free space. So even if you think it should not take this long, remember it will copy the entire drive.

Good luck!

[GerardV]

No, it will copy the HDD regardless of what's on it.

[Shabakthanai]

So I am copying using the konsole and not using a clone application, is that correct? Unfortunately I don't appear any dumber than I actually am. Sorry to keep asking what must seem very boring and perhaps foolish questions, but I am so used to making mistakes, making one here would be pretty catastrophic. I am hoping my drive will last until the copy is complete. Thanks for your patience GerardV.

No, it will copy the HDD regardless of what's on it.

[GerardV]

You can use something like Clonezilla which will give you a tonne of options and probably confusing the issue at hand. For what you want to do, the "dd" command is perfect.
That command will not modify your original HDD at all, it will just read from it. So if there is a failure, say a power cut, during copying, your original HDD remains untouched.

Sorry to keep asking what must seem very boring and perhaps foolish questions

"There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question"

Carl Sagan

[vinnywright]

one thing I noticed,,,,,,,,if you do the dd thing the way it is written the 1TB drive will only have the 500GB of the "if" drive ,,,,,,it will think it's a 500GB drive .

I think

VINNY

[andystmartin]

one thing I noticed,,,,,,,,if you do the dd thing the way it is written the 1TB drive will only have the 500GB of the "if" drive ,,,,,,it will think it's a 500GB drive .

I think

VINNY

This is correct. I would not recommend using dd to copy from one disk to another unless the disks were identical.

[Shabakthanai]

Thanks guys. Guess I have some thinking and decision making to do.

Andy, do you know if it is possible for me make the transfer using my TB drive, and at a later date transfer back into a 500gb drive then restore the TB drive from its then current 500GB back to a TB drive. I am concerned about losing all the data by waiting and having the damaged drive fail completely before a successful transfer can be made, and I really don't want to discard 500GB of storage.

When my daughter got her new laptop, she gave me this one for a backup to use, if and when my Desktop PC is down. It is a great little machine, but registered to her not me. I would like to retain the Windows Vista OS but do not have the CD. I am not, however experienced much in OS backups. Could I save the Windows Vista application to USB or DVD, and save the important saved data to a separate DVD or USB, as well as on another DVD or USB Drive save critical data from the Kubuntu OS, then partition the TB drive and put WinVista and its important data in the TB drive, install Kubuntu fresh, partition to take full advantage of the TB drive put /homesaved back into the/home of the TB drive and just have to deal with the configuration? I can't believe I just said that, but it made sense to me. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too. Or is this idea just creating another kettle of worms?

I am learning a lot from the resolution of this problem, thanks!

This is correct. I would not recommend using dd to copy from one disk to another unless the disks were identical.

[GerardV]

This is correct. I would not recommend using dd to copy from one disk to another unless the disks were identical.

The disks don't have to be identical in size, as long as the size of the target disk is equal or larger than the source disk.

[vinnywright]

The disks don't have to be identical in size, as long as the size of the target disk is equal or larger than the source disk.

we were refering to 500GB of disk space being lost on the 1TB target drive .

VINNY

[verndog]

Clonezilla and the like will only copy used sectors, whereas 'dd' will copy everything. Much slower.
Partition your new drive the size you want then clone the two partitions using Clonzilla. Also crate a swap partition.

[Shabakthanai]

But if my new larger HDD is a TB, doesn't it become a 500GB drive after the "dd"? If so, I am trying to save the 500GB that I would lose by doing that, and still save the data. I would rather lose Windows Vista than lose the 500GB. I only use Windows when something goes wrong with the Kubuntu OS. Handy to have it then, but not that handy. Maybe I am misunderstanding something here. Gerard, can I 'dd' to the TB drive and not lose 500GB of storage? The data is coming from a 500GB HDD.

Basically I am trying to save both OS's, but not at the expense of 500GB of data storage. Most of the time when I am using a Windows OS, even though it is saving me some problems, it is keeping me in a state of anger. I can't wait to get back to Kubuntu. I can live with the irritation, but not at the expense of losing 500GB of storage. I chose the larger drive for a reason. Actually I am satisfied either way; I am learning a lot of very interesting stuff on this post, easily worth the losses to me.

The drive still isn't here, but if I haven't figured a way to save everything, I will download the most recent version of Kubuntu 14.04 and install it on the TB drive with fresh partitions. If I have saved any data, I will put that into the new OS, and forget and ignore my losses. And whatever happens, I am very grateful for the input on this one. I am learning much and enjoying my problem for what I am learning. Thanks friend an all. I may still have enough time to gain confidence in attempting a clone of the disk, hopefully saving the use of the entire TB drive.

The disks don't have to be identical in size, as long as the size of the target disk is equal or larger than the source disk.

[GerardV]

But if my new larger HDD is a TB, doesn't it become a 500GB drive after the "dd"? :

No, it is still a 1 TB drive of which 500 Gb has been used and has 500 Gb of free space.

[Silent Observer]

To clarify, if you do a full-drive copy using dd, the partition table will be copied as well, so you'll get the same partitions, each the same size, on the new 1 TB drive that currently exist on the old 500 GB drive -- but you'll then be able to use a partition tool to resize/move partitions (CAUTION: don't move or resize the Windows partition with a Linux tool or you'll render it unbootable; use the Windows OS tools for that job) or create new partitions and allocate the remaining unused space. I have six or seven NTFS partitions on my 1 TB HDD, the result of once upon a time having had, under Windows, four (small, by today's standards) physical hard disks, copying each to a single larger drive, resizing, then copying that set to another still larger drive and adding partitions to use the empty space.

This is not as complicated as you're making it out -- the only thing that can make your 1 TB hard drive unable to allocate the unused space with common partitioning tools would be a low level format (i.e. rewriting the sectoring and tracks) using incorrect parameters, and I'm not at all certain that low level formatting is even possible with modern SATA drives (nor would I know how to attempt it, nor would I want to try; if it fails it can make a hard disk into a paper weight and the only sensible reason to want to do it lost most of its validity over the past twenty years of reductions in cost per gigabyte; i.e. with TB drives now under $50 from discount sources, there's no sense in trying to low level format a drive).