Originally Posted by
cdtaylor_nats
Plug both drives in, copy the files, remove both drives and then plug in the new drive. The new drive will now have the drive letter assigned previously to the old drive
... only if you go into the drives control panel and set it to be so.
Otherwise, the machine will allocate it the first "vacant" drive letter.
If you're copying from a USB stick/Zip type device to a large HD, then my suggestion would be to plug them both in and use xcopy. That will pick up hidden and system files, and keep the settings on them. Drag-and-drop will, if you set it up right. Xcopy is, in my experience, a lot easier.
If the Zip is L, and the new HD is (say) M, then when they are both connected, open a command window and type
xcopy L:\*.* M:\*.* /C /D /E /G /H /K /X /Y
Then remove the L: drive, open Control Panel, Admininstrative Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management, find the new HD, right-click it, select "Change Drive Letter and Paths", and make it L.
Restart the PC, and check that your programmes on the new HD run as before.