So how abouts would I do this (to do with copying a hdd)

How would I go about say copying all my dtuff from 1 hdd to a new one and then using the new one to boot windows on.

Bascally I am going to buy a new hdd, put it in on any drive letter, copy my current hdd (everything) to it, then I want to go into bios and named the new HDD my c drive and switch the old one to a diffrent drive letter. If I do this would windows boot fine? or is there some other stuff I'd need to do? bascally I want an exact copy of my current hdd onto the new one, then make it boot that new hdd as my c drive.

How do I go about doing this if just copying then changing driver letter in bios (you CAN do this right?) won't work correctly?

Siveria said:

How would I go about say copying all my dtuff from 1 hdd to a new one and then using the new one to boot windows on.

Bascally I am going to buy a new hdd, put it in on any drive letter, copy my current hdd (everything) to it, then I want to go into bios and named the new HDD my c drive and switch the old one to a diffrent drive letter. If I do this would windows boot fine? or is there some other stuff I'd need to do? bascally I want an exact copy of my current hdd onto the new one, then make it boot that new hdd as my c drive.

How do I go about doing this if just copying then changing driver letter in bios (you CAN do this right?) won't work correctly?

While a clean install of Win 7 to its own partition is generally the best route (I just got through doing that on my notebook), you can also clone your old HDD to the new one by using cloning software, such as the free version of Macrium Reflect. If you just copy the system files over to the new HDD, it won't boot.

ICit2lol said:

Yep Lady Fitz but I think for the cost of a new drive the OP can pick and choose what is needed without having to copy the lot. The old drive like I said can then be cleaned and used a fresh empty drive.

I know it means the updates and stuff but thats just my personal way that I would go FWIW. :)

I agree, a fresh install usually is much better but cloning is usually much simpler and is closer to what the OP was wanting to do. The main point, though, is that merely copying all files, including the system files, as the OP wanted to do would result in an unbootable disk.

Well, whatever cloning software you use, you just shut down the PC after the Copy Process is done. Unplug the Original Disk and Plug the replacement in it's place. If you do not, you will wind up with two Windows 7 Boot Entries, a Windows 7 and a Windows 7 (1). You can use Acronis or Paragon or even partition Manager Home Edition to copy the drive, just shut down the machine and switch out the original drive.

This process is how I've kept basically the same OS on my computer for 20 years. It started as Windows 98, now it's 8. I just keep upgrading the size of the drives and I copy the entire partition, then I update the OS when new OSes come out, but I've only had XP which I was able to move between Motherboard to Motherboard and use In-Place Install to repair it. I have not had to do it with Windows 7 yet, I havent been able to do it like that for 7.