old hard drive, replace without reinstalling windows?

[lenberman]

My neighbor has an old Windows 7 (6 or 7 years old) computer that is booting slow. I cleaned up all the malware and ran chkdsk but it continues to run slow. I suspect a failing hard drive. He doesn't want to loose a lot of old apps that he has no re-installation media so can I clone his HD to a new one and will that solve his issues of slow boot?

 

[AddRAM]

Are you gonna clone to a hard drive or an ssd ?

He might as well get an ssd, the Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB is inexpensive and works great.

SSD 850 EVO 2.5" SATA III 250GB | Samsung Solid State Drives

You can use Crystal Disk to check the hard drive.

CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World

 

[jc836]

Yes, you can Clone the drive to a new one. As to the slowness-there are several things to look at. You removed malware, etc. Did you also use the Tutorials to get rid of any bloatware too? Then there is the question of fragmentation, which will slow a machine. Finally (for now) make sure to install a new drive that has a lot more capacity. I never have a drive that is more than 50% (but that is me).
Lastly-when you say slow that could also indicate an older CPU and lower total memory. This is usually not fixable without a hardware upgrade.

 

[lenberman]

Thanks, he currently is using a 160GB drive and the replacement will be 1T. All the slowing has happened in the last 2 months. Can a CPU just slow down? I did a bloatware removal, increased ram from 1GB to 4, ran Malwarebytes, and Windows Defender offline along with Housecall. I suggested a new computer but he doesn't want to loose his installed programs that he has no installation media for.

 

[AddRAM]

I doubt it`s the cpu, but what does he have ?

Tell him to defrag the hard drive 3 or 4 times, until defrag runs real quick.

And run Disk Cleanup a few times.

Does your friend know his way around a PC, does he stay on top of these things ?

If it`s a drive going bad that`s one thing, but if the OS is all fouled up, and you clone it, you`ll more then likely still have problems.

 

[lenberman]

Don't now specifics but its the original Intel processor. Boot time is 6 minutes, use to be only 2 minutes approximately. Applications take considerably longer to startup.

 

[lenberman]

I did multiple defrags and ran disk cleanup.

 

[AddRAM]

Well then if he already has the drive or ordered the drive, it can`t hurt to try

If he still has the problems after that, he`s gonna have to make a choice.

 

[gregrocker]

Test the hard drive to know its exact condition following Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

Then proceed with the other steps to go ove r the install most thoroughly.

You can also possibly improve performance by Cleaning Up Factory Bloatware

But to have the best possible install consider a Clean Reinstall Windows 7