New hard drive install and transfering files

silverdale

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My hard drives constantly giving me errors so it's time to install a new one. I'm on the old Windows 7 and I thought I'd give windows 10 a go. I'm wondering, which is the best way to transfer stuff over from 7 to 10 to a new hard drive ?.
I do have a hot swap Sharkoon HDD docking so I can get them later but which is a good program to search then drag them over. It's mainly .PDF's pictures, notepad files
 
I'd probably do it over a network but from a backup image.

Best to have some more backups :). Spinning rust drives are cheap enough now that you could have one specially for backups and run OS and programs from a SSD.
 
If you are using a tower then just put in your new drive as the boot and install windows10. You can disconnect the old drive and reconnect it as a secondary drive on the system. Then just copy the files as you choose. I would suggest looking at the drive before you dis guard it and either repair it or just format it again. Paragon Hard Disk manager is a good choice but whatever you like. Windows 7 doesn't automatically defrag like windows 10 so your drive might not be as poorly as you think. It might also be rubbish but maybe its worth a look. If its a laptop and you have two bays you can do the same thing. Just some options you might consider.
My thoughts
 
Thanks, It's a tower, the hard drive keeps giving random errors followed by the dreaded click freeze every now and then. I'm going to replace it before it dies for good and I lose everything
 
Well that is the most simple way to do it. I would just connect the new drive, Change the boot order so that you can boot from USB if you are installing from there, (Usually F10 on most towers). just check before you start. Change to DVD drive if its that. You can do it in the bios but this way when the computer reboots it will go back to booting from the hard drive and not the USB. Not a problem but just a little point to make things more simple otherwise windows will reboot from the USB and start to get itself ready to install windows all over again.
My thoughts on back-ups are mixed. I have hundreds of gigs of back-ups but i never use them. The only time i do i have one back-up that i make when my machine is all clean and set-up exactly as i want. Office, photo's etc, all the programs i use. There is not really that much on most machines that you pathetically need. So a clean install is sometimes very good. Just my thoughts though. If you want to do back-up then acroanis is the best. it restores very quickly but if you install these type of programs they will back up so often you end up with huge files. My choice is to always back-up from a self booting USB that way you make one file when you need to.
Again only my thoughts but i hope you find something helpful in there.
 
When a drive starts to do that its possible it has a grove. Or a serious fault. If you decide to do away with it all together you might find it interesting to open it up. I think the question now is, One.... Your piece of mind Two....., Your trust in this drive. and finally the importance of the information that is on it.
Offset that against the cost of a new drive and you will have the answer to your problem.
That said if you decide to continue then I would try to repair it using the a fore mentioned program. remove all damaged sectors, Format it then repeat everything again in the repair. Then try it.
But your quandary is that you still need somewhere to store your information. So you still need to consider the above questions as to your choice in buying a new drive. If you do decide to replace it then make sure you buy one that is big enough for tomorrow and not just for today.
My thoughts
 
There not overpriced new hard drives so I just get another. The thing is, can I be ars*ed doing it ?
 
Then the secret to your Reluctance so to speak is to make it interesting. Decide on a drive, maybe partition it. Decide exactly what you need to save. Things like your shortcuts in your web browser are things people sometimes forget. Programs that store things in their own folders, Maybe you might want to make a complete backup or even migrate your old drive directly onto a new drive so you have exactly the same things installed. So many options if you have not done it before.
This can be a challenge that you might enjoy or at the very least get that satisfaction of knowing that you have achieved your goal. Think about it not as a chore but Something that will make your digital life both here and at home much more enjoyable.
Again just my thoughts but for a little effort you will gain a lot.
 
Hi all,
You could make an image of the actual drive for later installation (many free soft will help you, just google it and choose the one you want!).
Then severals solutions:
With Same hardware except disk (new):
  1. Install your image and then go for windows 10 =>No changes at all / Restore will take place on the really new HDD
  2. Install Windows from scratch and then download a virtual computer soft. Once done, you can install your image of your previous OS. Then it will work as a another computer, just share folders you need, copy them and off. Or you can choose to keep it using a real Widows10 and a virtual Win7.
Some ideas and so many things to do :)
Bye!
 
Well I finally got round to it after months and months of putting it off. I used Acronis true image and booted it from a CD. I was getting blue screen quite a lot and errors on the drive so I tried to copy it but Acronis kept failing. I had a new HD plugged into a USB caddie as the destination so I error checked both new and old hard drives (long haul) then tried Acronis from boot and voila it worked.
I had an issue with the audio drivers and a few cracks but it seems stable enough and I still have all the files on the old hard drive if any are corrupt on the new hard drive.
What made me get my finger out was the click freeze click freeze which we all know what follows on from that.
 
Well done!! (Wide smiles) I think the very first thing you will notice is not the inprovement in the performance of the machine, But that feeling of accomplishment that you get from doing something for the first time.
 
Just as an after thought. Once you have your machine set up exactly as you like make a back up of it. Then you are able to put your machine back into a state that you are completely happy with in less than ten minutes. plus it will show you how easy this operation is once you have done it before.
My thoughts
 
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