Windows 10: A Question from my son regarding HDD failure

Good evening to all.
I do hope that its okay to aske for help as its regarding my son's desktop.

About a month ago he installed windows 10 all went okay,This is how he has the desktop setup.
He has two internal HDD the main one is the C drive and on that he has his operating system and programs etc,Now on the second drive he has all his documents/pictures/music.& video's.The issue now is that the C drive is starting to play up a little.
So this is what he has asked me for help from this forum.The second drive is a 2TB and the C is only 120GB,What he is thinking of doing is to make a partition on the 2TB drive and put the operating system on that drive as it has plenty of room.
What he really wants is some info on the best way to get this job done,He has done some looking on google and come up with some info regarding cloning the existing C drive and then once he has made a partition on the second 2TB drive he than can have the C drive all on one HDD.
He has also been looking for a suitable program on how to partition the 2TB drive to accommodate the operating system that he will clone from the old C drive.
Also would like to know if he then does all that and then connect the 2TB drive to the motherboard where the existing C drive is connected will the pc recognise that TB drive as the new C drive,And also have access to the documents through the method of from the start key and select documents will the documents be available.And pictures etc.

Sorry if it's a long story,But it took him about an hour to explain to me what he wanted to achieve.*Confused
I do hope that some one can put him on the correct path here Please.
Many Thanks.

PS.Forgot to say that he has a full backup of all the contents of the 2TB Drive Documents etc.Thank You

:)

 

Win 10 kills HDDs?

Hi

Which update was installed just prior to the HDD failure?

Let us know.

Regards

 

HDD failure - Help installing a new HDD from System Repair disc

Hi Matt,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community and being a part of Windows 10.

I understand the inconvenience you are facing in installing Windows 10 operating system on your new hard drive using System repair disc. We will help you with this issue.

I would like to inform that repair disc as the name says when your system won't boot, you can use it to repair the operating system and not to install the operating system.

For more information refer to: Recovery options in Windows 10

I suggest you to download the fresh copy of Windows 10, create an installation media, try to install and check if it helps.

Note: If you try to install the operating system on the new hard drive and try to access it on your system you may face activation issues because of the hardware changes.

For more information refer: Activation in Windows 10

Section: Activating Windows 10 after a hardware configuration change

Reference: Get help with activation errors

Hope it helps. Get back to us for further assistance on this issue. We will be happy to help you.

 

I am thinking that the C:\ drive is an SSD--Correct?

As far as Partitioning SW this application works great for me.


Mini Tool


Well he could make a partition and use another free application called Macrium Reflect to Image Drive C;\ and then copy it to the 2TB partition created.

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition 6.1.887

But if the 120gB drive is an SSD he will be losing performance by doing this.

 

He can use a partition tool like MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition to create a new partition on the 2TB disk. This should be at the start of the disk, to get drive letter C, so the rest of the data have to be moved and this will take a long time. Then he can clone the partition of the small disk on the large. He must also create and clone the small system partition before it.

Since he has a backup of the 2TB disk, the easier way is to clone the small disk on the 2TB, then create another partition on the remaining space and copy back the data from the backup. He can use Macrium Reflect and other tools to do that. I'm using Acronis True Image. If one of the disks is Western Digital, they have a free version of that on their site but cannot be used if there is not at least one WD disk installed in the system. The full drive-independent version of Acronis is not free, unfortunately, but there are other free tools to clone a disk or partition.

 

Yes I posted one in the post above yours and the Free Version of Macrium works great.

 

Tell your son not to be so parsimonius.

He could replace the 120GB SSD for as little as 30GBP (Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, and More - Newegg.com, UK site).

This isn't intended to be deadly serious, but what the heck.

 

The order of the partitions on the hard drive has no bearing on what drive letters get assigned. Use MiniTool Partition Wizard to shrink the existing partition on the 2TB disk, then use Macrium Reflect Free to clone the entire 120GB drove to the resulting free space.

 

I don't know for Windows 10, but earlier Windows version always assign C the first partition. Better not risk it.

 

Many thanks to all.
I will pass all the info on to him later when he comes home from work.

Many Thanks.

 

No, they didn't. Since at least Windows95, Windows in the vast majority of situations assigns C: drive to the partition it is installed to, not necessarily the first partition on the hard drive. Once the OS starts, drive letters are assigned based upon GUIDs, not partition location.

 

This is about Windows 10 and not an earlier version. What I posted will work, what NavyLCDR posted will work. In the final analysis his son will get the information he needs.

 

Gary and the Commander are both right!

In many hard drive setup, the manufacturer's diagnostic partition is the first partition before you create Windows and recovery partitions.

In a home system, we simply format the hard drive and put Windows partition first!

 

Well I have returned with good news.

My son phoned me earlier today to thank you all for the valuable info provided,And his computer is up and running windows 10.
Thank You all very much for everything,From my son and myself.*Smile