Windows 7 Installation SUPER SLOW on USB Flash Drive

My fiance's laptop (not this laptop)....her harddrive ran into an error. So long story short, I formatted it. Didn't really have much of a choice. I didn't want to use my laptop as a test device to repair the hard drive (replace my hard drive with her hard drive). And her laptop's cd drive apparently isn't working. I turned the hard drive into an external hard drive, scanned it with EaseUS recovery software, recovered the files, then formatted it.

Since her laptop can't recognize cds, I burned the files on the cd to an 8gb usb flash drive. I bought a Windows 7 cd from a store and burned the files from it. Configured the BIOS to boot from USB. The laptop booted but it's soooo slow. It will freeze on Windows Loading screen for 20-30 minutes, then it will go into a brighter screen that will say something like Now Starting..., it will be on that screen for almost the entire day, then it will actually go into the installation screen. Overall, it takes almost the entire day....maybe 2 days to go from one screen to the next if it requires loading something.

So the USB boot works, but it's super slow. I'm on the screen that tells me to load the drivers, but now I can't load them because the screen froze and I can't choose the folder I want. I originally selected the flash drive and it took 2 days for it to say that my flash drive needed to be formatted, and I clicked cancel. I clicked on the other folders but it didn't let me.

So I'm not sure what to do. The laptop is 4+ years old. Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit. 4gb ram with 250gb hard drive. Not sure what the processor bios is. It's an emachines D725 laptop. Bios is....Phoenix Secure something. All I know is that it does not have an Advanced menu tab. It doesn't have an option for Legacy USB boot or anything fancy like that. No floppy diskette stuff.

Any ideas?

andrew129260 said:

You could do a simple install of windows 7 on that drive from another pc, and plug it into the laptop. When windows 7 boots, it should be able to adjust accordingly. Again, only if you do the install and then shut it down. Don't go all the way to the end of the setup, just the part where it states its completing installation and reboots. When it reboots, hold in the power button until the pc turns off and plug the drive into the laptop.

I have done this a bunch of times and it works just fine. I believe when windows starts for the first time it then looks at the hardware side of things.

It hasn't even gotten to the end of the setup yet. I'm at the screen where it is Collecting Information and looking for drivers. Not on Step 2 where it is Installing Windows. But the screen is frozen.

I have no idea how to do a simple install.

If I use my current laptop, take out my internal hard drive, then put it the formatted hard drive, will my hard drive and files be effected if I install Windows 7 on to the hard drive through my laptop? I don't know if my hard drive, BIOS, or RAM will be effected if I take out my hard drive and put in another one.

ICit2lol said:

A couple of worrying things compwiz you say you bought a Windows version from a "a store" now that could mean anything from Microsoft to Ebay (bad idea) to your local comp store.


Second you say you copied the files to another disk why?? as I am thinking it may not have copied at all well. What I could suggest is to use this
Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 and use the activation code you bought. See pic for the version.

My other suggestion is mate to replace the optical drive in her machine it is so easy and definitely not expensive - usually around $20 to $25 for a decent one even.

Did I mention that I downloaded 3 different Windows 7 "installation disk" files so yea....pirated copy. I don't have the original dvd. I also downloaded the X17-59463.iso file that some reputable Windows 7 installation tutorials recommended. I burned the files using imgburn to 6 different blank DVD drives on MY laptop. I found out later that my fiance's laptop's cd-dvd drive isn't recognizing cd/dvds anymore. So, the answer to your question: what would you do if your drive doesn't work and you are on a super tight budget? For me, I did a USB flash drive bootup, which worked but is super slow. I burned the files from the dvd I bought at the store onto the usb flash drive. If it doesn't work, I can always format the flash drive and burn new files on to it. I'm guessing her laptop's BIOS also isn't the latest version either.

By the way, she's got a laptop....it's not that easy to replace parts for a laptop as compared to a desktop. I'll probably take her hard drive and put it into my laptop and do the installation on here since my laptop is in better condition. Then once it's done, I'll take the hard drive out and put mine back in.

I thought you guys would give me any recommendations of some ninja software I could use to install Windows 7 super fast on a USB flash drive.

ICit2lol said:

Well pirated is a not well liked topic in the forum compwiz and the link I sent all that is needed is the original activation code on the machines sticker so you need not to have even bought a fresh version so long as the ISO you download is the correct version for example Home or Professional etc A few have tried getting the Ultimate ISO and flipping it in a machine that had the Home version as it's original install, Hence they get upset when they start getting non genuine messages.

If the motherboard can be replaced then the original code can be used if you explain to Microsoft that the original board has died.

As for a super fast install ate I have never come across one yet so no matter whatever media you use it takes time. I for instance have not noticed any difference when installing onto a SSD as opposd to a spinner drive. Some specs on your girlfriends machine would be helpful to know the CPU speed amount of RAM etc
I am sorry to hear you are such a super tight budget mate but even out here where we pay premium prices as opposed to the US an optical drive can be had for very little and so easy to replace - again some info on the machine we can help you through replacing it.

I might just install Windows 7 on to the hard drive using my laptop since my laptop works and is updated. Her laptop isn't doing so well. It was working a few months ago and then one day one of the files became corrupted....her laptop is probably really old and probably didn't have any repairs done to it. She was bragging about her laptop being all super good and stuff cuz it had survived for so long but that's technology for ya....it can break down after so long without any notice.

I'll make sure I put the right version of Windows 7 on the hard drive. You can do a quick search for emachines D725 laptop and get a good idea on what the CPU speed is.

This is pretty accurate:


Model:
D725-4187
Graphics Processing Type:
Integrated/On-Board Graphics
Brand:
eMachines
Processor Type:
Dual Core Pentium T4500
Product Line:
D725
Processor Speed:
2.30 GHz
Operating System:
Windows 7
Screen Size:
14.1"

Video Card: Integrated
Processor Type: Pentium Dual Core
Processor Speed: 2.30 GHz
Installed Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive Capacity: 250 GB
Optical Drive: DVD RW
Webcam: Yes
Ports: 2 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 1 VGA (15-pin), 1 RJ-45 (LAN), 1 Headphone-out/microphone-in jacks
SD Card Reader: Yes
WiFi: Yes

There's no reason a normal flash stick would run slow if you downloaded intact the ISO for the licensed version which came with the laptop and wrote it to flash stick with the tool provided in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

It's hard to understand whether you did these simple things or not by all the twisting turns in your story. Why do you mention "pirated?" Did you originally download a torrented version of Win7? Do you have a COA sticker with the licensed version printed on it and a readable Product Key? That's all you need to get a perfect install using the tutorial just like thousands of others have. If you don't have the Key it's not going to work anyway.

gregrocker said:

There's no reason a normal flash stick would run slow if you downloaded intact the ISO for the licensed version which came with the laptop and wrote it to flash stick with the tool provided in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

It's hard to understand whether you did these simple things or not by all the twisting turns in your story. Why do you mention "pirated?" Did you originally download a torrented version of Win7? Do you have a COA sticker with the licensed version printed on it and a readable Product Key? That's all you need to get a perfect install using the tutorial just like thousands of others have. If you don't have the Key it's not going to work anyway.

I'll try the tool that was in your link.

Why do you mention "pirated?"

If I download a file from piratebay or any p2p torrent site or buy a cd from a 3rd party vendor shop, I consider it pirated. I have only one file that was actually downloaded from what I consider a trusted Windows 7 support site.

Did you originally download a torrented version of Win7?

Yes, because I don't have the original copy and I don't want to buy a replacement.

Do you have a COA sticker with the licensed version printed on it and a readable Product Key?

On the back/underneath the laptop, probably. I don't have the original cd.

If you don't have the Key it's not going to work anyway.

Correction: It's not going to work legally. But I'm not going to start a discussion on using a cracked version of Windows 7, which hundreds of people use successfully each and everyday. Microsoft doesn't really make it easy to reformat a computer when the original key or cd is lost.

If your tool doesn't work for me, I'll try doing it my way.