Replacing internal hard drive/disc with new one

[nofttss]

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!

 

[TVeblen]

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:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

 

[nofttss]

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:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

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]

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.

 

[nofttss]

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

 

[Boozad]

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.

 

[TVeblen]

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).

 

[nofttss]

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.

View attachment 319356

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?

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.

 

[TVeblen]

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.

 

[nofttss]

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.

 

[strollin]

You cannot format the drive you booted from. You will need to get the new drive running and boot from it, then you will be able to delete the partitions from the old drive and format it.

If your system is running fine with your old drive and all that you want to do is upgrade to a new, larger drive there is no need to re-install Windows. You can "clone" the original drive to the new drive and keep everything in tact. If you re-install Windows you will also need to re-install all of your programs and you will need to backup/backup restore all of your data. Cloning eliminates all of that additional work.

You could use the free tool, Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download, to do the cloning.

 

[nofttss]

You cannot format the drive you booted from. You will need to get the new drive running and boot from it, then you will be able to delete the partitions from the old drive and format it.

If your system is running fine with your old drive and all that you want to do is upgrade to a new, larger drive there is no need to re-install Windows. You can "clone" the original drive to the new drive and keep everything in tact. If you re-install Windows you will also need to re-install all of your programs and you will need to backup/backup restore all of your data. Cloning eliminates all of that additional work.

You could use the free tool, Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download, to do the cloning.

I want to remove everything off my current drive and replace it with a new drive. The problem I'm having is not being able to right click the C drive to format it, and that theres 2 drives the C and D which have equal capacity which I want to format, but not sure how to format them both together.

 

[Boozad]

You can't format the C: drive as that's what Windows is installed onto and it can't format itself. As mentioned, you'll have to install Windows on your new drive, then attach the old drive and format it that way.

 

[nofttss]

You can't format the C: drive as that's what Windows is installed onto and it can't format itself. As mentioned, you'll have to install Windows on your new drive, then attach the old drive and format it that way.

Ah yes this makes sense, thanks.

Ok, last question- and I appreciate the help so far- what I'm going to do is open up my PC, add the new hard drive and attach wires from old to new, install windows, then switch wires back to old hard drive and format the C and D drives, then remove and dispose of old HD. Have I got that right?

 

[Boozad]

No. You're good up to this point:

what I'm going to do is open up my PC, add the new hard drive and attach wires from old to new, install windows

What you can't do is this:

then switch wires back to old hard drive and format the C and D drives, then remove and dispose of old HD. Have I got that right?

If you switch the wires back you'll be booting from your old drive again. You'll need to add the old drive as well as your new drive, you'd have to boot from the new with the old one attached as a secondary drive to be able to format it.

 

[nofttss]

No. You're good up to this point:

what I'm going to do is open up my PC, add the new hard drive and attach wires from old to new, install windows

What you can't do is this:

then switch wires back to old hard drive and format the C and D drives, then remove and dispose of old HD. Have I got that right?

If you switch the wires back you'll be booting from your old drive again. You'll need to add the old drive as well as your new drive, you'd have to boot from the new with the old one attached as a secondary drive to be able to format it.

This makes sense too.

I haven't opened up my PC yet, are there wires for an additional hard drive in there?

And how do I choose which one to boot from when I turn on the PC (assuming both are attached)?

 

[Boozad]

There should be a power cable from your PSU for the drive, you may have to add an extra SATA data cable to connect the second drive. As long as you plug the existing cables into your current HDD and install Windows that should be established as the primary boot drive, your old drive should then show up in My Computer and you'll be able to format.

 

[strollin]

Since you don't seem to be interested at all in my suggestion to clone your existing drive and are determined to install Win 7 fresh on the new drive, I recommend that you remove the old drive from your system, install Windows, all your programs, Windows updates, etc... Once that is all up and running, then worry about putting the old drive back in the system and formatting it so that you can restore your data to that drive.