I have two laptops A and B. 'A' is a Dell CPi D300XT with 6Gb drive
(partitioned 2/2/2), W98, 125RAM - very poor external condition (from
heavy mobile use) and suspect motherboard (problems with booting up)
and screen problems. 'B' is similar Dell model, 30Gb drive (no
partitions), W98, 125RAM, good condition. Both machines networked and
access to the Net via broadband.

'A''s useful life is over. Using A's hard-drive in B works fine (after
a bit of tweaking, finding obscure .dll files and changing screen res.

However, wanting to take advantage of B's almost empty 30Gb
hard-drive, I really want all data and progs. on A's hard-drive (6Gb
and full to limit on its C partition) transfered to B's hard-drive
(plenty of space). Normally I would transfer data, and re-load
programs, but problem is that A has several dozen progs. and shareware
downloaded from the 'net which I would prefer to preserve and use (no,
I didn't keep these downloaded progs. neatly stored unzipped
anticipating this situation).

Have Drive Image (7 and 2002), and Norton Ghost available, and plenty
of storage on the network for temporary parking of data/images etc. -
could obtain Partition Magic (?)>

Can anyone suggest the logical path that I should follow to end up
with Laptop B, with 30Gb hard-drive and all Laptop A's data and
programs (hopefully) functioning in Laptop B? I could then dispense
with Laptop A (or donate to a museum).

Thanks.

DriveLink: Hard Drive Mirroring Made Simple

Every notebook user faces the same question when upgrading their
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It could take literally hours to re-install the operating system and
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preferences, networking, printer and Internet settings. Finally there
is the most daunting challenging of all: how to transfer megabytes (or
gigabytes) of personal files located in directories throughout the
system. The hassle and potential for error is enough to keep most
users from upgrading their notebook storage.


Fortunately SimpleTech offers a better way:
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The DriveLink Hard Drive Mirroring Kit includes a DriveLink PC Card
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Quickly and easily move the contents of your original drive to your
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DriveLink: Hard Drive Mirroring 4 Step Process

STEP 1: The DriveLink Hard Drive Mirroring kit connects to the host
notebook via a Type II PC Card slot, common on nearly every notebook
made since the late 1980s. The PC Card slot offers a high speed
connection data rate up to 1.2 MB per seconds. After connecting, power
on and boot up the notebook with the Twindisk hard drive mirroring
software diskette in the floppy disk.

 
 
 

STEP 2: Twindisk will automatically recognize both hard drives and
will prompt you to begin the data mirroring process. Twindisk
transfers everything on the old hard drive to the new SimpleTech hard
drive, including operating system, applications, preferences, files,
and directories. This mirroring process can take as little as 30
minutes for 1GB of data.

 
 
 

STEP 3: After mirroring is complete disconnect DriveLink. Follow the
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STEP 4: Reboot the computer and the process is complete!

mattclayb
This is really very useful - many thanks. The only thing which isn't
clear to me is whether I can use my existing 30Gb hard-drive with the
Mirroring kit, or if I have to use one of SimpleTech's Dell compatible
hard-drives.

Having visited their website it still isn't clear. If one looks at
products / hard-drives, the potential customer is given a list of Dell
(in my case) hard-drive products but they look like RAM rather than
hard-drives.

This must be due to my ignorance, so will ask them.

Thanks again for your help.

Faced with this problem myself a number of times, although I didn't
have two laptops - just the one laptop, one desktop and a larger
replacement hard drive - I believe any mirroring solution will only
work if the two drives are identical in size and manufactured by the
same company (due to sector/cylinder/platter sizes & numbers).
Obviously not the case in your instance. The only way to accomplish
what you want is the dreaded route of reinstallation of everything on
your new hard disk manually.

Topbanana
I think you are correct, although mattclayb's info above, and the
SimpleTech website imply that this isn't a restriction. Their website
doesn't appear to link through to further info on their hard-drives
and I am awaiting an answer from them - will report back.

....and I'm slightly discouraged by email bouncing from their 'sales' email address.

It would be nice if you had a 10GB Partition setup on Laptop 'B' so
you could dual-boot with all your data and applications from
Laptop'A'.

I have been faced with this situation many a time. Until I finally
figured that you have to call a third-party into play. It is close to
impossible to transfer all files from a hard drive that is already
booted-up. This is where Desktop 'A' comes in.

Once you get the necessary IDE connectors hook-up both Laptop HDD's to
Desltop 'A' and they should appear when you startup.

Copy all content from Laptop 'A' into the new 10GB partition on Laptop 'B'.

Once done, you will have to make a second windows install on Laptop
'B', NOT a reinstallation. register the second OS in the boot records.

Don't mind my being jotty - I an just giving you a rough Idea on what
you could do. If you like it, well and good.

Observer-GA

Do you want to keep any programs from the 30Gb hard drive. There is a
very simple solution if the answer is no.

FIRST BACKUP THE CONTENTS OF COMPA

On PC A
Copy the folders with the programs. Some will be in Program Files
others may be on root of C:\ D:\ or e:\
Copy c:\windows. This should include all sub folders. 
Click on start then run.
In the run window type regedit /e \\network drive\compa.reg click on OK
regedit is the registry editor program /e = create backup or copy. 

Once you have this information you can now fix your issue. copy the
folders to computer B. Backup your registry click on start, then run.
In the open window type regedit /e c:\compb.reg click on OK.
Then double click on the compa.reg registry file on the network drive.
This will update the registry.

Now you ask what if the program was on the d:\ or the e:\ drive. Try
to run the programs if they don't work. Click on Start then run.
regedit and click on OK.

Search for d: and e: these are most likely going to point to the
programs location. You can also look under hkey_local_machine and
hkey_current_user software for specific programs and see if there is
programming looking for the e:\ drive.

For example. If I was using Shareware 1 by Wizziwig. I would open
regedit and click on the plus next to HKEY_Current_user and then
software. I would look for Wizziwig or Shareware. Under those should
be lots of keys. Look at the values for keys that may read
e:\progs\wizziwig\shareware\link.exe /skjh.
I would change this value to c:\progs\wizziwig\shareware\link.exe /skjh

This should fix the issue.

Now you may be thinking. What about registry keys I don't need? You
can run a program called Spybot. Just run a search for it or look at
www.dowloads.com.

This will scan your PC for unused or duplicate values. 

This should fix your issue.