copying XP OS from larger to smaller hard drive?

[HELIOS]

I have an 80gig and a 40gig hdd , i currently have all my Files and XP OS on my 80gig. the total used space is 30gig.

there is nothing on my 40gig hdd

how do i copy the entire contents of my 80gig to my 40gig.

When i mean copy i mean everything Operating system, program files , the lot like a disk image. (so i dont have to install everything again)

The only problem is that i can find loads of tools eg, norton ghost to copy drives from a smaller to a larger drive but not the other way round.

Im only using 30gigs out of 80 on my hdd so in theory it should all fit on my 40gig but when using disk image programs they copy the free space as well. (obviously my 80gig has more free space than my 40gig)

Does any body know of any program that can copy my 30gig worth of data to my 40gig hdd without copying the free space (that way it will fit).

I tried using Xcopy in dos but dos dosent support NTFS which is used on both my hdds

Thanks in Advance

HELIOS

[coathanger007]

What type of Hard disk do you have?
Can use Seagate Discwizard:
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/...s/discwiz.html
WesternDigital DataLifeguard tools:
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

[Big Booger]

I recommend Aloha Bob's PC Relocator Ultra Control

http://www.alohabob.com/PCRelocatorUltra.asp?sub=1



There are other solutions but that one seems to work well.

[Conan]

As long as you won't exceed the smaller drive's capacity you can "Ghost" your larger drive to the smaller drive.

[HELIOS]

ill try some of the tools posted above.

i have a hitachi deskstar 80 gig 7200RPM
and a maxtor diamondMax plus 8 7200RPM 40 gig

I tried the seagate tool before but when i try to copy a drive it only lets me copy from the 40 gig to the 80gig not the other way round.

I need to put the 80gig in another computer thats why i need to copy the stuff from the 80gig to the 40 gig.

[Conan]

It'll work with Drive Imaging programs. With disk drive tools from Seagate and Maxtor I doubt that they would work.

[Stripe]

Conan is correct. As long as you dont exceed the capacity of the smaller drive, Norton Ghost and other disk imaging applications will go from Larger to Smaller drives.

[HELIOS]

I ran WesternDigital DataLifeguard tools:
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

and it let me copy the hard drive over to the smaller one.

The program is a bit confusing because there is a disk copy wizard but thats not what you want it only copys the files and dosent set it up as a bootable device. There is another drive setup wizard that copies the drive and makes it bootable.

Neather of my drives are WesternDigital but it did the whole process fine.

I did however have to repair office 2003 and reinstall a game on the new hard drive for some reason because they would not run afterwards but apart from that i think its a brill tool to use. AND ITS FREE!!

[coathanger007]

Yup - I've been using this software since I got my first WD HDD a decade ago