Windows Installation

[blocka]

Hi , i bought a computer from a store which had Windows 7 installed. I was not given an installation disc. I now have a problem with the hard drive . Prior to getting into windows , a message " hard drive failure is imminent" appears , so it looks like i need a new hard drive. My question is , what do i do to get a copy of the Windows installation from my existing hard drve before it fails so that i can install Windows 7 on my new hard drive ? Do i buy a new internal drive or a large external drive and completely copy the failng drive to that or are there just windows installation files to copy to a disc. Thanks need help

 

[MacGyvr]

You should have an option within Windows to make the recovery discs yourself. This is how most manufacturers provide their recovery media now. What brand is it?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hi , i bought a computer from a store which had Windows 7 installed. I was not given an installation disc. I now have a problem with the hard drive . Prior to getting into windows , a message " hard drive failure is imminent" appears , so it looks like i need a new hard drive. My question is , what do i do to get a copy of the Windows installation from my existing hard drve before it fails so that i can install Windows 7 on my new hard drive ? Do i buy a new internal drive or a large external drive and completely copy the failng drive to that or are there just windows installation files to copy to a disc. Thanks need help

The first thing I would do is immediately copy my personal files from that drive to another drive--or maybe a DVD or maybe a USB thumb drive. That takes the pressure of losing your personal stuff off.

Then go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site and download their disk utility package and run it on your failing drive to see if it confirms that you have a drive problem.

Then you need to make "recovery disks" from a recovery partition that you likely have on your hard drive. If you can do that, you don't need a Windows disk to reinstall Windows on a new hard drive.

It doesn't do you any good to manually copy Windows files to an external disk, but you should copy your personal files to an external or whatever you may have.

 

[blocka]

I dont think the drive is partitioned. What are the steps tp make recovery discs ? Is there a web site you can direct me to . The hard drive is a seagate.

 

[gregrocker]

What is the make of your computer? Most manufacturers have a Recovery Partition which generates the Recovery Disks using a program which should be listed in All Programs, e.g. Acer eRecovery, HP Recovery, etc. Your specs appear this is a builder's rig.

But first copy your files out, which is easiest by dragging the active User folders to external, DVD, over the network, or with each Windows Live ID you also get 25gb of free storage on Skydrive (google it and sign in/up).

If you have access to an external HD, save also a Win7 backup image so you can simply reimage your Win7 to the new HD in 20 minutes using saved image file with your booted Win7 DVD or Repair CD - the backup image utility will generate the Repair CD. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

Sometimes HD's are reparable by using the maker's diagnostics/repair CD extended scan. Find out your HD maker by looking on it physically, or googling the ID string listed under Disk drives in Device manager. HD Diagnostic Repair of HD should be followed by http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html

 

[whs]

type Recovery disc into Start search. Then it may appear.

What I would recommend, is to make an image of your C partition ( http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I ). Also make the recovery CD from Macrium (is explained in the video). Then you can just recover the image to your replacement disk (takes about 20 minutes) and you are back to the state you had when you took the image. A lot less painful than a reinstall.

But make the Recovery disc anyhow because you will loose your recovery partition when the drive goes south. If the PC is still under warrenty, have the manufacturer also send you a Windows7 installation disk with the replacement drive. Then you have an additional backup.