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    Replacing the OS hard drive?

    Windows is giving me warnings that the hard drive where my OS is has some pretty major errors (it's being vague about it) and that it's probably going to die. I'm currently backing everything up. But how does one replace a hard drive that has the OS on it? Another storage hard drive doesn't seem like much of a challenge but given this is where the computer boots from, how is that done? I haven't got one by the way - it's possible Windows is being a bit premature but I'm taking precautions and preparing for the event.

    I realise this is a rookie question but I've never needed to replace a main hard drive before.

    #2
    essentially you put the new HDD in along with a disc, either DVD or USB that has windows install media on it.

    Then windows boots up and takes you through reinstalling.

    It's not too troublesome, you may need to be able to recover your windows serial number beforehand if you don't have a note of it

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      #3
      I tend to just go for a clean install of Windows. However, you could also just clone/migrate your install over to a new drive. If you’re not so confident about reinstalling Windows I’d recommend the latter.

      Samsung have an excellent migration tool if you were looking at an SSD replacement although of course alternative software exists.

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        #4
        If you get an SSD (which I would recommend) you usually get the cloning software included which copies your OS to the new drive it should then be a case of just swapping over.

        I did this with the last laptop, admittedly I upgraded once the machine arrived new, the only mistake I made was swapping my original 1tb HDD into the spare slot and my new SSD where the HDD was, the machine still kept booting off the HDD. All I did was remove the HDD leaving only the SSD in place and it worked, Windows tagged the SSD as the OS drive so after inserting the HDD back it still remained locked on the SSD.

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          #5
          Originally posted by speedlolita View Post
          I tend to just go for a clean install of Windows. However, you could also just clone/migrate your install over to a new drive. If you’re not so confident about reinstalling Windows I’d recommend the latter.

          Samsung have an excellent migration tool if you were looking at an SSD replacement although of course alternative software exists.
          Yep, my tale above was with a Samsung, really good cloning software.

          Comment


            #6
            Thanks guys. I'll need to look at what my Windows options are. I'm still on Windows 7 and not sure where my details are - hoping I have them somewhere. Pretty sure this is a SSD though so it could be that there is some built in option that could help. I'll probably need to go digging because I'm not sure exactly what setup I have here.

            i wouldn't mind a fresh install - wouldn't be a big deal.

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              #7
              All my attempts to backup the drive are failing before they seem to really begin. Getting a vague message.

              Edit: Yeah, the backups and system images are failing. No idea why. The internet had me try a few things but no joy yet. I have my essential files all backed up but in terms of restoring Windows or getting it back as it was, this seems to make things very tricky unless I can solve it.
              Last edited by Dogg Thang; 15-11-2018, 12:37.

              Comment


                #8
                If Windows is giving errors and now backups aren’t working, perhaps the hard drive is failing?

                Have you run a disk scan for bad sectors? You’ll lose whatever data was in those sectors(well, you sort of lost it already) but backups will ignore those bits.

                Sometimes the troublesome areas aren’t where your important system files are so you don’t notice any trouble but the backup will of course include all files and then get stuck.

                Might be a good time for a clean start. As for the Windows 7 key, there are programs that can show your installed key. They often get flagged by antivirus software(because of the methods used to find the key) but if you’re doing a clean install, it can’t hurt to get the key and then get the hell out of there before you join a botnet

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                  #9
                  Minitool Partition Wizard Free has an OS migration feature on it too: https://www.partitionwizard.com/free...n-manager.html - but that's probably not going to help having just seen that you're having problems reading the disc.

                  If you've already backed up the important stuff, I'd just bite the bullet and do a fresh install, there shouldn't be any problems re-using the key - clean installs always boot faster anyway
                  Last edited by MartyG; 15-11-2018, 14:04.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by randombs View Post
                    If Windows is giving errors and now backups aren’t working, perhaps the hard drive is failing?
                    Read the whole thread

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Having scoured the internet, the backup problem seems to be hugely common regardless of a failing drive. I'm getting a really popular error message but it seems to be one that is potentially solved by one of about a million things. I have tried a lot of them but no joy so what I'm doing now is just being certain I have every important file manually copied from the machine. So copying a bunch of stuff now that will take a few hours. Also trying to see if I have the Windows info nearby because it's possible I do.

                      Weirdly, I scanned the drive again and Windows reports no errors. That seems odd, right?

                      Once I am absolutely certain I have all my important files manually copied, I'll risk a restart and see if I get the same error messages. And I'll prepare for the worst whether I do or don't. And yeah, I think as Marty and others have advised, I'll just go for the fresh install if I know I can do that.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Things have escalated!

                        I restarted and now have a screen from American Megatrends that says SMART detected HDD/SDD failure 3. Please back up your data and replace your hard disk drive. Warning your drive might crash at any moment... which tells me it hasn’t yet? But the only option it gives me from here is to press F1 to run setup.

                        That takes me to an ASUS UEFI BIOS ultility page. I have no idea what I’m doing here. If I select Save and Exit it just kicks me back to the previous screen. Not sure if there is a way of getting back to my computer from here.

                        I checked through my stuff and I have everything that came with the computer in one place. There is no boot disk. Instead a piece of paper says that it is in a hidden recovery partition should to recover Windows. But won’t that be on the dead drive if it’s dead? Wouldn’t that be a core reason you’d want to restore Windows? Anyway, is there a way to activate this? I do seem to have the product key on the back of the system, which is good.

                        Anyone know what I should do?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Product key will allow installation and activation of Windows.
                          Drive is essentially dead at this point.
                          Yes, recovery partition is on the dead drive and you're right, it's a stupid system.

                          So... did you get all the data off the drive before it died?

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                            #14
                            Yes, I got everything important off it. Anything else will be programmes I can redownload and reinstall. So I’m in the market for a new drive. I’ll find out what I had and just see if I can match it. Guessing it’s not a major operation to replace? I just need to make sure I replace the correct drive! Still not sure how I get Windows running from it if it comes with nothing on it and I don’t have a windows disk.

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                              #15
                              Should be able to download a USB install disk from Microsoft's site. Or, and I'm gonna be that guy, if there aren't any Windows specific apps that don't have acceptable Linux alternatives (or can run under Wine - Wine being a way that you can run a great many Windows apps in Linux) then you could install Linux.

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