Replacing the OS hard drive?

[randombs]

Maybe because it will keep trying to read a bad sector before finally giving up and moving on.

Disk checking software sometimes has a setting to choose the number of retries when it hits a bad sector.

@DT: Great to hear they're still allowing free upgrades to Windows 10! Yeah, go for it. I like that, once you've activated Windows 10, you'll always have a Windows 10 digital license for that PC, so no more faffing with product keys!

[speedlolita]

Until you upgrade and replace your motherboard! I just don’t activate Windows, the watermark doesn’t bother me.

[eastyy]

Actually yesterday tried something, my older system was a 4690k with gigabyte motherboard so i had a spare SSD drive and installed a Hackintosh and it worked a lot more straightforward then my attempt a few years ago

[Dogg Thang]

I have my new hard drive now (it's bizarrely small - hope I got the right kind...) but won't attempt this until this evening. I'm nervous and excited. It's like going on a first date with someone. Only I know it will likely involve more swearing.

[speedlolita]

Sounds like you got a laptop hard drive? No reason it won’t work, performance tends to lack behind that of a desktop drive though. If you’re not loading large files frequently you probably won’t notice a difference.

[Dogg Thang]

Oh, you could be right. I haven't opened my computer up yet to see what size the old one is. They looked so similar in pics that I thought it was just the next model (my previous one isn't available any more). I'll find out later!

Realising I have no compressed air. Would have been a very good time to do a clean out while I have the computer open.

[DaytimeDreamer]

Bit late now, but never scan a drive you think is failing until you are sure you have all the data you need off it. A full scan normally destroys the drive

Never try to clone Windows either. Always new installation.

I usually clone the entire hard disk with a device like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-Docking-Station-Function-Tool-free/dp/B00LN0GX4I/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1542640350&sr=8-4&keywords=clone+hard+disk

Easy as pie to move the whole OS installation from a mechanical to an SSD.

[Dogg Thang]

Right, I'm going to try this. Anything I might have forgotten before I do it?

Edit: I haven't started yet because I just thought of something. I have two healthy drives here and one I'm replacing. But when I look in disk management or wherever, I can't find the exact IDs of which drive is which... so when I replace the OS drive and go to install Windows, how can I be sure I'm doing it on the correct drive?

[speedlolita]

Process of elimination comes to mind. Then you can reinstall Windows with just the target drive powered up.

[Dogg Thang]

Cool, thanks. It turns out that the inside of my computer is a thing of beauty. Over the years we’ve probably all opened up a lot of computers whether a tech person or not and I have never seen a computer inside as neat as this. Not a single stray cord and nothing getting in the way of anything else. The OS drive path was labelled clearly. I just had to unscrew where the drive was, pull out the tray and replace it and then reconnect - the connectors all stayed at the exact right place. Maybe this is how computers are these days but it’s a far cry from the messiness I have seen on other computers.

Looks like I’m off to a good start. Windows is installing.

[DaytimeDreamer]

Cool, thanks. It turns out that the inside of my computer is a thing of beauty. Over the years we’ve probably all opened up a lot of computers whether a tech person or not and I have never seen a computer inside as neat as this. Not a single stray cord and nothing getting in the way of anything else. The OS drive path was labelled clearly. I just had to unscrew where the drive was, pull out the tray and replace it and then reconnect - the connectors all stayed at the exact right place. Maybe this is how computers are these days but it’s a far cry from the messiness I have seen on other computers.

Looks like I’m off to a good start. Windows is installing.

Let us know how it goes. About to replace some mechanical boot drives with SSDs as well.

[Dogg Thang]

Well that was painless. Windows 10 installs remarkably quick. I've got all my drivers now up and running and just need to reinstall some software and I'm done. All other drives read present and correct and the only thing I'll now have to get used to are the intrusive Windows 10 notifications. This was much easier than I thought it would be. Also Windows 7 product keys still work for Windows 10.

[Dogg Thang]

My network is being hammered with Windows 10. A "setup.exe" file seems to be hogging my network, sending and receiving loads but I can't find out what this vaguely titled setup file is setting up or where it is. It's just labelled "setup" but I can't get Windows 10 to give me any more info. The only setup file I can find manually is an OpenOffice one but it doesn't appear to be running.

[randombs]

What happens if you right-click in Task Manager and choose to open the file location? Does anything show up?

[Dogg Thang]

The weird thing is that I can't find it in the task manager. It's like it doesn't exist there. But if I go into the resource manager, it's in there sending and receiving a huge amount of data (or at least, it was - seems to have stopped right now this second). Unfortunately right-clicking in the resource manager doesn't get me anything.