Replacing internal hard drive/disc with new one

Hi,

I have a quick question and I'd love some input on it if possible.

After I format my current hard drive which is running win7, I want to remove it and add a new SATA hard drive, do I just remove the existing, add the new, put the windows installation disc in the tray and boot up?

I don't have a copy of the current windows 7, but I bought a new one so I'll add that.

Is there more to it that I'm missing?

Thanks!

Pretty much that is all there is to it.

I would wait to format my old drive until I had success with the new one.

Tip: when clean installing windows, be sure to have only the target drive and optical disk connected - no other hard disks.

Good tutorial here:
Clean Install Windows 7
Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

TVeblen said:

Pretty much that is all there is to it.

I would wait to format my old drive until I had success with the new one.

Tip: when clean installing windows, be sure to have only the target drive and optical disk connected - no other hard disks.

Good tutorial here:
Clean Install Windows 7
Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

OK great, thanks for your reply.

So I should add the new hard drive to my PC, move wires from old to new. Boot up with win7 disc in, install on new hard drive. When that's successful, move wires to old, then format and remove?

Boozad said:

What's actually wrong with the old hard drive? And you don't need a copy of your existing Windows (as in a disk), as long as you have the product key you can download the relevant ISO and create your own bootable media. You could then keep the new copy you bought as a spare or return it for a refund. It's pointless losing a perfectly good license for Windows 7 which is exactly what you'll be doing.

Just want to replace the hard drive. Not big enough either. I bought the new windows 7 just over 2 years ago, I don't have the current license key.

My plan was to format current hard drive, replace with new one, put in windows disc and boot up and install. The above poster said it was better to install new hard drive before I format current one. Is that how I should do it, switch the wires from old to new then back to old?

And do I need to download drivers or anything like that for the new hard drive? Or just install windows and I'm good to go?

Apologies for the newb questions

The above poster suggests waiting to format your old hard drive because things do go wrong sometimes despite all the best precautions. If you got a defective hard drive and had to return it you could recover quickly by just reinstalling the old hard drive and having a Windows installation to use while you wait.

To clarify what Boozad is saying: If the Windows installation you have on your old hard is legitimate (activated) then you have a paid-for License Key. This may be an OEM (manufacturer) License Key for a pre-installed version of Windows that came with your computer, but as long as it is the same computer, that key is still good to install the same version of Windows again (and again).

Boozad said:

You can get your license key from your current install before you wipe the drive, just download Speccy, install and run it and check the Operating System tab on the left. That will show you your current license key.



You can re-use that key on your machine, it would be the best thing to do especially if it is the same version of Windows that you've bought.

How big is your current hard drive and what is the speed of it? Again, Speccy will give you this information (click on the Storage tab). I'm just thinking you could format your current drive, install Windows on it and keep it as a dedicated OS drive then add your new drive as a storage drive.

Thanks for the reply. I'll do that, my previous copy came with the computer I bought. But as for hard drives, I want to replace the current one. I go to format my current hard drive, and there's a C and D drive. They have equal capacity but 1 is 100% capacity left and the C drive is 28%. Do I have to format them seperately?

TVeblen said:

The above poster suggests waiting to format your old hard drive because things do go wrong sometimes despite all the best precautions. If you got a defective hard drive and had to return it you could recover quickly by just reinstalling the old hard drive and having a Windows installation to use while you wait.

To clarify what Boozad is saying: If the Windows installation you have on your old hard is legitimate (activated) then you have a paid-for License Key. This may be an OEM (manufacturer) License Key for a pre-installed version of Windows that came with your computer, but as long as it is the same computer, that key is still good to install the same version of Windows again (and again).

Thanks for the reply. Yes, my license key is legitimate and came with the computer. I'll just paste what I said to boozad:

"I go to format my current hard drive, and there's a C and D drive. They have equal capacity but 1 is 100% capacity left and the C drive is 28%. Do I have to format them seperately?"

First time doing this so a bit confused.

It depends.

You can delete one or both partitions which will leave you with Unallocated Space (blank space). You can then create and format partitions of any size you want from the Unallocated Space, or use all of it for one big partition.

Or, if you want to use the partitions that are there the size they are, then yes, you would format each partition separately.

TVeblen said:

It depends.

You can delete one or both partitions which will leave you with Unallocated Space (blank space). You can then create and format partitions of any size you want from the Unallocated Space, or use all of it for one big partition.

Or, if you want to use the partitions that are there the size they are, then yes, you would format each partition separately.

I just want to delete everything off the drive, then I'm going to replace the drive.

Having an issue right now. I right click the C drive, and format is greyed out I can't click it. It's available for the D drive though.