Copy win7 system files to new formatted harddisk

I recommend that you perform a image backup of your 200gig C drive and then store the image on an external drive. After creating the bootable restore cdrom, you can then replace the 200 gig with a larger one and booting the cdrom, you can restore to a larger drive. Then if you don't want the programs you had installed, you can uninstall them.

Other than that, I do not think that your method on your new hard disk will work, too many interconnected files and entries in your registry which will really barf..

Rich

d4d4ng said:

Hi Rich,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply. Appreciate it.
I think you are right. I forgot all the entries in registry put by installed software.
But if I create a recovery disk by windows 7, can I restore it to a new formatted harddisk so I don't have to uninstall programs that I don't need anymore. Just reinstall program that I need now.

Best regards.

One thing about the recovery disk. It will put your complete system on a new
hard disk. Just like the other one but larger.

I have recommended Acronis backup as it seems to be pretty reliable and fast.
I do this each saturday morning to a small Esata 2.5" drive(s) I have 4 of them that I rotate.
there isn't any way to selectivly backup just the system files and not programs, Again the registry gets into the game.

Best to image the system and uninstall what you don't want, they create another image that you can restore to your new hard disk.

There ain't no easy way

Rich

Here is an excellent Tutorial

Imaging with free Macrium

d4d4ng said:

Hi Rich,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply. Appreciate it.
I think you are right. I forgot all the entries in registry put by installed software.
But if I create a recovery disk by windows 7, can I restore it to a new formatted harddisk so I don't have to uninstall programs that I don't need anymore. Just reinstall program that I need now.

Best regards.

Hello d4d4ng, welcome to Seven Forums!


If the disk out-lined in this tutorial at the link below is the one you are referring to, it is not an installer, it will only do startup error repairs, it can't be used to install Windows.

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

There are other factors in what is taking up the space on your HDD. Restore points and temporary internet files are 2 of those and they can take up a hell of a lot of space.

Step 1

Try cleaning out all but the most recent and see how much space it can free up. Locate 'Disk Cleanup' and right-click then 'Run as Administrator' then in the 'More Options' tab, look at the second option.



Step 2

Open Control Panel and click 'Network and Internet' then 'Internet Options' and set the following options.



Now every time IE closes down it'll delete most o your temporary internet file.


OS

Recommended prior to image creation and restoration of to new drive;

Check present to see if "dirty" by running "chkdsk /r/f" check disk utility with repair swirches added,

run the "sfc /scannow" command at the Start>Run command line for verification of system file integrity using the system file checker,

backup anything you want and deletion of unneeded files and empty temp folders on source drive to reduce size of the actual image,

and lastly hope the restored image works properly before disconnecting the original 200gb source drive.

The alternative option would be simply having the new drive added in as a main storage device for backup purposes where if large enough store a full system image made of the present main drive. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

If your 200GB disc is nearly full, there must be a lot of user data. Maybe you can offload that to an external disc and then install a Data Partition. Once you have all your user data folders established, you can copy the data back to where it belongs. Maybe you even want to keep some of the infrequently used files on the external disc. Movies and Music (both are big) play just as well from an external disc.

Now you can deal with the remaining OS partition. Delete everything you do not need. Uninstall programs with Revo Uninstaller (use the "Advanced option"), cleanup your temporary files with CCleaner and delete your hibernation file (if you do not use hibernation) with the cmd command powercfg.exe -h off. Now you should have more breathing room.