Windows 7: How to upgrade hard drive without losing data

hello,

I have an HP s5-1200z computer with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit. I have been reading and trying different things for the last three days trying to upgrade my hard drive. The computer came with a 500GB and I want to use my 1TB instead.

The first thing that I did was create a system image and a system repair disc. I then restarted my computer and booted from the system repair disc. I selected my keyboard setup and then received an error stating “This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of Windows”

So I spent many hours researching this problem that many people have seem to had, I have tried many methods to fix this with no success.
I can not figure out why I am getting this error message. Many post say that it is because 32 bit vs 64 bit. My computer is 64 bit and the repair disc that I made is 64 bit as well. With no luck on upgrading my hdd I decided to take a different approach.

I then cloned my 500GB to my 1TB using Easeus Partition Master Home Edition. Everything seems to be on the 1TB HDD it stated it was successful. I then removed the source hdd and installed the 1TB destination hdd, I turned the computer on and received an error "bootmgr is missing press ctrl+alt+delete to reboot." I also spent many more hours researching this problem, I can not find a solution. Many articles say boot from system repair disc and click repair your computer" when I try to do that I still continue to receive the error "This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of Windows"I have read that having more than one hdd connected at once can cause boot errors. But I do not believe this is the case because my computer can only hold one hdd.

I also downloaded the Windows Home Premium x64 from mydigitallife to try and repair my pc from there only to receive the same error.

I am not sure what to do in this situation, I would like to think that Windows 7 would make upgrading to a bigger hdd simple..



Thanks in advanced! Any help is appreciated!

Does the Windows 7 in the image have SP1? If not install it first, then take another image.

Download and burn to DVD or write to bootable flash stick the official Windows 7 installer with SP 1 from Steps 1 and 2 in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Boot the installer to run System Image Recovery.

If an image will not boot, the procedure is to unplug all other HD's and peripherals, set Windows 7 HD first to boot in BIOS setup, boot the installer Command Line (Shift + F10 at first screen) to Partition - Mark as Active the 100mb System Reserved (preferred) or Windows 7 partition, then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

Thank you. I will try this today, and report back.

Everything seems to be running fine. Thank you for your time and assistance. It is appreciated.

What was it that you did exactly which resolved the problem?

The image would not restore to the new hard drive I received an error stating. The system image was created on a computer using efi this computer is using bios.

So I put in my Windows 7 disc and restarted the computer to access command prompt and set the partition as active, I also checked to make sure other partitions were not marked active. (I have read this can cause boot errors) I then ran startup repair, and each time it stated it could find nothing wrong. (I rebooted after each startup repair)

Upon reboot my computer started like normal and allowed me to log into windows. (at this point I thought the problem was solved, I must be wrong.)

But, after rebooting again I seem to have another issue. When I first boot I receive the error that "windows could not start, recent hardware changes maybe the cause, insert repair disc"

If I hit "enter" to continue it boots into windows and lets me log in like normal. It seems everything is on my computer like the original hard drive. I have tried repair system startup to get rid of this error. I have tried cmd prompt bootrec.exe /fixboot, /fixmbr, and /rebuildbcd. (all state to complete successfully) But I still receive this error.