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Copying Windows9x
to Another Hard Drive

If you are upgrading to a larger hard drive and don't want to go through the process of re-installing Windows9x, it is very easy to copy your existing version to your new drive

The first steps are to:

1. Install your new hard drive as a secondary
2. Boot to Windows9x
3. Using FDISK, partition your new hard drive. Make sure it is the active partition if it not the only partition on the drive or if it it not the full size of the partition.
4. Format the new hard drive with the /S parameter. This will make it bootable.

With either of the following solutions,
boot Windows to Safe Mode.
This is so only a minimal amount of programs will be loaded.

Method 1 - Using XCOPY

1. From within Windows, open a DOS Window . This will allow you to copy the necessary Hidden files. You cannot use the XCOPY by just booting to DOS due to the long filenames You have to have Win9x running for all the switches to be available.
2. Assuming you are copying everything from the C: drive to a new D: drive:
run XCOPY C:\ D:\ /S /E /H /C /K /R
The /S switch includes subdirectories
The /E switch includes empty subdirectories
The /H switch includes hidden files
The /C switch continues copying on an error
The /K switch keeps the file's current attributes
The /R switch writes over any read-only files

Method 2 - Using the Explorer

1. Open the Explorer
2. Make sure you can view hidden files - View / Options / Show all files
3. Move to the root of your C: Drive
4. Highlight the first directory in the right hand panel
5. Press Shift-End to select all files and subdirectories
6. Unselect the file WIN386.SWP
7. While over one of the highlighted files or directories, right click on the mouse and select Copy
8. Move to the root of your new hard drive
9. Right click the mouse and select Paste
When you are done with either method, remove your original hard drive, set your new hard drive to be a Master, and re-start the computer.

Method 3 - Using Imaging Software

1. In the past several years, there are some good programs available that will let you image your current hard drive to a new one
2. Basically they let you create bootable floppies or CD's, you boot with them (rather than DOS or Windows) and directly copy your old hard drive to a new one.

Going from SCSI to IDE

If your current primary drive is SCSI and you want to add an IDE drive, there is an additional step. This is due to not being able to have a SCSI drive be primary when an IDE drive is installed.

1. Install both hard drives in the computer.
2. Install Windows9x onto the IDE drive.
3. Use either of the above methods for copying the SCSI to the IDE drive
4. You should now be able to boot from the IDE drive and have your SCSI for applications or data.

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