Computer hard drive swap question

[zman]

Thought maybe someone would know..Have a nice lap top that needs a new HD, so if I go out and purchase a 160GB HD for it how would I transfer all my programs onto the new drive. I have a rescue disk..not sure if the operating system is on it or is just a disc to repair with. Can I transfer my whole operating system onto a DVD then put it onto the new HD? I have 51 GB of used space so less then half the drive is data , any help would be appreciated.
Hopefully this wont be too difficult.
Thanks for your help.
Another question, my operating system was pre installed so I do not have the disc, If I wanted to start fresh with a clean reinstall is that possible?

 

[slabghost]

Best thing is to copy all your personal stuff and add on software on DVD. Then do a clean operating system install. Then add your personal stuff. I just did it on my wifes laptop.

 

[Steve83]

If you have a rescue (backup) disk that was set up properly, it should have everything you need on it. You might need to install the software that came with the rescue disk first to make it work. Also, some new hard drives come with software for transferring data from the old to the new drive. It's been a long time, so things have probably changed.

 

[zman]

Thanks guys, the info helps...about a clean install, I don't have a windows disc, It didn't come with the computer..Maybe the rescue disc has the operating system ..I`ll load it up and see.
Looks like it has application recovery(install applications shipped with your computer) and driver recovery...Hmm..I wonder if application recovery is a full windows operating system?
Maybe I can just buy a hard drive and pop in this disc and have it reinstall the whole shebang.

 

[Ansimp]

I would invest in something like this Jeff so that you can preload all your system onto the new drive before you start.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/190382842780

 

[slabghost]

It might. Do you have an operating system disk for the PC? Those will work usually.

 

[AApple]

The most obvious question would be "What's wrong with the drive on the laptop to start with?" If it is corrupted, or it doesn't work at all, getting any data from it is gunna be hard to do. If you're just wanting to get a drive with more space, then transferring shouldn't be too bad. It'll take a while tho...could be hours. :laptop:
I bought a SATA adapter to salvage data from some old hard drives that works pretty well, plus I can still use the old drives as external drives for storage if needed. Plug and play stuff. Iirc, the best way to do what you want is to first transfer all the data from the old drive to the new drive before installing it. Some Windows OS have data transfer programs included, so you would just follow the prompts for that.
A recovery disc will re-install ALL of the original programs that came on the original system, minus any added programs that you added. It will NOT have any personal files, such as pics, or documents, anti-virus programs, etc. that was added after the fact.
There is also a back-up program that will save everything on the hard drive to disc/DVD that you want it to back-up, but you have to tell it what to save.

I'm not a puter geek, so I ain't up on all of this...just goin from what I have had to do in the past....just recently, in fact. :rant:

 

[zman]

Thanks again, The drive keeps saying failure imminent/replace hard drive..freezes up on any web site that has heavy loading so searching through Google can be risky depending on the site, sites like this I don't even hear the hard drive, others it spools up and freezes...It`s an old drive, maybe 9-10 years and as a laptop has been in the trenches, good fast computer with wifi and DVD all I really need in a computer so worth saving if I can do it inexpensively.
The flash looks like a good idea Ansimp , so long as it can hold60 GB of data, didn't see a data capacity just transfer rate.
Maybe leaning to win7-8 on this job (fresh install) Vista has been good but I know it is antiquated and eventually will have no support.
Looks like Win 7 has the data transfer program , cant find anything on the Vista for that.
EDIT)...I take that back, looks like I have that in my tools..This may be easier then I thought.

 

[slabghost]

I like win7. I've heard a lot don't like win8. Check Amazon for a new drive. I think mine was around $60.

 

[mcgovern61]

Win 7 is great, Win 8 sucks!

How old is the computer? Win 7 has specific hardware requirements and most computers over 6 years old cannot run it. Does your current hard drive have another drive letter showing as a drive "D" but it is only a small amount of space? That is usually where the OEM software and restore islocated.

 

[zman]

mcgovern61 » Sun Oct 05, 2014 12:11 pm[/url]":2iwdw7bp]
Win 7 is great, Win 8 sucks!

How old is the computer? Win 7 has specific hardware requirements and most computers over 6 years old cannot run it. Does your current hard drive have another drive letter showing as a drive "D" but it is only a small amount of space? That is usually where the OEM software and restore islocated.

Yea, I think a fresh copy of windows is the way to go, just whan you get used to a operating system its time for another.
It`s a Gateway 1.60Ghz 2 GB ram..I`m sure there is faster better but I don't need much for web browsing, watching videos. No gaming or downloading movies and such.
Yes I have the D drive like you said.

 

[mcgovern61]

Jeff, here is a tool from Microsoft that you can download and run to determine if your computer can run Win 7:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... aspx?id=20

This might be a useful article for how to move the recovery partition to a new drive:

https://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads ... are.61604/

 

[dan filipi]

I'm curious though about this error telling you the drive is failing.
What is generating this error?
Microsoft scandisk or some kind of popup app?

Is the app offering to 'fix' it or 'repair' anything like windows registry?
Most if not all of those 'free scans then pay to fix' are malware scams.

 

[zman]

dan filipi » Sun Oct 05, 2014 7:50 pm[/url]":3060z3kq]
I'm curious though about this error telling you the drive is failing.
What is generating this error?
Microsoft scandisk or some kind of popup app?

Is the app offering to 'fix' it or 'repair' anything like windows registry?
Most if not all of those 'free scans then pay to fix' are malware scams.

It comes up when I start my computer after shut down and before windows loads,It isn't windows text it is DOS, If I use the sleep function it never comes up but the freeze ups I think are part of it..it started freezing about the same time as the warning.
I think it might have happened when I slid my computer forward on the table while it was running..It has rubber feet and instead of sliding it vibrated forward..next day I get the warning so maybe related.

 

[Ansimp]

Jeff the transfer lead is so that you can hook up your computer to a new hard drive and then load all your old data onto it. Is your current harddrive really full, if so try and compress it using admin tools. I often worry that dos messages are motherboard related

 

[bperschnick]

The drive failure message is coming from the computer BIOS. Computers and hard drives are getting too smart it seems in the past few years.

Brad

 

[dan filipi]

bperschnick » Mon Oct 06, 2014 7:39 am[/url]":1gutrxm8]
The drive failure message is coming from the computer BIOS. Computers and hard drives are getting too smart it seems in the past few years.

Brad

True in some cases but BIOS could be mistaking a boot sector corruption or a host of other possibilities for a drive failure.
Could even be a virus.
Typical cryptic windows and DOS error message. They tell very little if anything to fix a problem.

 

[slabghost]

Too true. Never had any accurate warning before a drive failure. It always just failed.

 

[AApple]

+ 1 on the pre-failure notice....sure would be nice if it did tell ya, "Your hard drive will fail in 3 days"....at least you'd know! :help:
Windows Vista does have a file transfer program...I did it on my old boss' lap-top...took dang near all day, too. Just basically transferred everything from the old drive to the new one, then swapped the drives. Don't remember off-hand what kind of cable I used...it's been a few years. :headscratch:

 

[stanlw]

The imminent hard drive failure comes from the POST (power on self test). I runs from the Bios when the computer is booted up. Unfortunately it can fail within a couple of days, til when ever. The easiest way to get your operating system and everything else on your computer is to make an Image disk. To make the image go into All Programs / Maintenance / Backup and Restore. The select Create a system image. This will take any where from one to whole bunch of Blank DVD's or you can do it on an external hard drive. It will also ask you if you want to create a system repair disk, you need to do this because it will be your boot disk to re-install you image on the new hard drive. Once all of your disk are complete put in the new hard drive, put the system repair disk in the dvd drive and turn the laptop on. From the menu it brings up select the image restore feature and follow the on screen directions. You will need to put in the last disk of the image disk and and select the image on that disk. Just follow the on screen directions and it should make a duplicate of your old hard drive on the new one. No need to worry about drivers and all of you programs and files will be on the new hard drive. Be sure to number all of the image disks. They have to be in the correct order.