Windows 10: Sluggish copying of Windows.old from C drive to External HDD

As I have upgraded to Windows 11 from 10, A "Windows. old" folder was created of 32GB. Consuming 32GB is quite devastating for me. So I opt for moving it to my "Seagate External HDD 1TB".But the process got stuck, after 99%See ss. The five seconds meant from 9:37 am till 3:34 pm and it's still going on. Please help.

:)

 

Replacing old hard drive, need way to copy Windows installation across

Hey Guys,
What would be the best way of copying/imaging the entire contents of an old system drive over to a replacement hard disk for the same machine? I need to copy the Windows installations and all other data to the new drive, and then format the old drive to use as a backup.

Any suggestions? *Smile

 

Access Denied trying to copy from external drive

Hello,

We realize the inconvenience you are experiencing with copying file from external drive on C drive. We will certainly help you.

It would be grateful if you can reply to this questions in order to assist you further:

• Have you tried copying the file in some other location on your system?
• What is the exact error message you receive?
• Which all troubleshooting steps have you already tried?

We suggest you to try copying the file in Safe mode and check if you are able to. Follow the steps from link below:

Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10

Let us know the results. We will be happy to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

How to install Windows 10 on external HDD

Hello, my name is Arif Ahmed, Windows Advisor.

I would be happy to help you.

Windows 10 cannot be installed in an external HDD. However, you may try cloning the existing hard drive to an external hard drive and change the boot order from BIOS.

Here are the steps to clone a hard drive to another external HDD.

Clone hard drive using xcopy program:

xcopy is a program designed to copy files and directories, including subdirectories. You can use xcopy command to copy files from one disk to another even if the two disks have different formats. Learn how to use xcopy to clone drive below:

1. Click “Start” and type “cmd”. Right click on cmd and select “Run as administrator”.

2. Type xcopy c:\ f:\ /s /e /h /i /c /y and press Enter to copy all the files and subdirectories (including any empty subdirectories, any system or hidden files) from drive C to drive F. You may change the drive letters according to your own needs.

(Here F drive is the external HDD drive letter)