Windows 10: Currently have Windows 10 & am upgrading the hard drive. Easiest way?

Discus and support Currently have Windows 10 & am upgrading the hard drive. Easiest way? in Windows 10 Support to solve the problem; I bought this laptop a couple months ago and it had Windows 10 pre-installed on it. It has a 500gb hard drive and I needed more space so I purchased a... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Support' started by ZQ8 Blazer, Dec 13, 2015.

  1. Currently have Windows 10 & am upgrading the hard drive. Easiest way?


    I bought this laptop a couple months ago and it had Windows 10 pre-installed on it. It has a 500gb hard drive and I needed more space so I purchased a 1tb hard drive. I was wanting to just create a Windows 10 boot flash drive, install the new hard drive, install Windows 10, then connect the old hard drive to my hard drive usb enclosure and manually move over the files to the new hard drive. Is this possible to do without downloading Windows 10? Basically what I want is once I install the new hard drive and turn the laptop on I want Windows 10 to be just like it was when I purchased it without the pictures, videos, documents, etc that I have put on it. Thanks I really appreciate your help.

    :)
     
    ZQ8 Blazer, Dec 13, 2015
    #1

  2. ms office pro 2016

    How am I able to get MS Office reinstalled on a new computer with a current product key. Lost hard drive on previous PC.

    <Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Install & upgrade>
     
    JACK WEST 5412, Dec 13, 2015
    #2
  3. Windows 10

    I am currently running WiNDOWS 10 and want to upgrade to anniversary. I currently have Windows saved on an SSD but do not have enough space to download the upgrade so want to put it on the internal hard drive, how is best to tell it to write to my E drive
    instead of the SSD which is the C drive.

    Many thanls
     
    PeteWilliamsXXX, Dec 13, 2015
    #3
  4. NavyLCDR New Member

    Currently have Windows 10 & am upgrading the hard drive. Easiest way?

    NavyLCDR, Dec 13, 2015
    #4
  5. WHS
    whs Win User
  6. ZQ8 Blazer, Dec 13, 2015
    #6
  7. NavyLCDR New Member
    What you are doing is no different than if your hard drive failed and you had to install it to a new replacement hard drive. That's exactly why a recovery drive with the system files copied to it would be used. The alternative is to download a Windows 10 ISO file to make your install USB from - but you said you didn't want to download Windows 10 in your OP.

    A Macrium Reflect clone or image would also transfer everything you have saved (if you only have a C: drive with both Windows and your data files.)
     
    NavyLCDR, Dec 13, 2015
    #7
  8. Currently have Windows 10 & am upgrading the hard drive. Easiest way?

    Ok thank you for all your help. I'd just download Windows 10, but with my current internet speed it always get to 99% and then fails for some reason.
     
    ZQ8 Blazer, Dec 13, 2015
    #8
  9. WHS
    whs Win User
    Can you go to some internet cafe or a friend and download it to a USB stick.
     
  10. oh I can go to my parents house, but I was wanting to do this tonight.
     
    ZQ8 Blazer, Dec 13, 2015
    #10
  11. WHS
    whs Win User
    Yeah, but if the line cops out, you have to make an alternate plan.

    Re Macrium imaging - with Macrium you image partitions. So whatever is in the partition you image will be transported in the image.
     
  12. Ok I created the recovery drive, turned the laptop off, put the new drive in, and it said it was missing a partition. I turned put everything back the way it was, opened up Disk Management, and the new hard drive says:
    New Volume (G*Smile
    931.51 GB NTFS
    Healthy (Primary Version)

    What am I doing wrong?
     
    ZQ8 Blazer, Apr 4, 2018
    #12
Thema:

Currently have Windows 10 & am upgrading the hard drive. Easiest way?

Loading...
  1. Currently have Windows 10 & am upgrading the hard drive. Easiest way? - Similar Threads - Currently upgrading hard

  2. Easiest way to reinstall window?

    in Windows 10 Ask Insider
    Easiest way to reinstall window?: Over the past few months my PC has had some really weird issues. I don't think these are an effect of a virus, I have run full scans using Windows defender, Malwarebytes and Bitdefender and haven't found anything that could have caused these issues. Because of this I am...
  3. Easiest way to check the legitimacy of a flash drive?

    in Windows 10 Ask Insider
    Easiest way to check the legitimacy of a flash drive?: Hey all! Sorry for another help post to flood this sub, with r/techsupport down I came here. I recently got this nifty usb flash drive from a friend for secret Santa. Windows says ~250GB of storage, which I am very skeptical of, especially due to how cheap it is on Amazon....
  4. Easiest way to reinstall OEM OS on different drive than current OS?

    in Windows 10 Installation and Upgrade
    Easiest way to reinstall OEM OS on different drive than current OS?: I have a desktop with several drives. I am prepping to sell to someone else. My pc was sold with Win10 Home I believe. I currently have Win10 Ed. My current Win10 Ed OS is currently identified as disk 3 , has my C drive and other system partitions. That drive I will remove...
  5. Easiest way to install a fresh copy on a new drive?

    in Windows 10 Ask Insider
    Easiest way to install a fresh copy on a new drive?: So, my friend is selling me his old PC with a copy of Windows on it. It's obviously going to be a fresh install, however it's installed on an HDD. I've purchased an SSD to use as a boot drive, and I'll use the HDD for extra storage etc., you know the drill. I understand that...
  6. Easiest way to securely wipe laptop drive

    in AntiVirus, Firewalls and System Security
    Easiest way to securely wipe laptop drive: I have a friend who's not very pc savvy and she needs to wipe her hard drive in an old laptop before she gives it away. Can anyone recommend an easy way she can do this? Something like plug in this USB stick and execute the program on it. It's Win7 on her machine. PS:...
  7. What's the easiest way to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro?

    in Windows 10 Updates and Activation
    What's the easiest way to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro?: I have Windows 10 Home and I['ve just bought a Windows 10 Pro license key. What's the easiest way for me to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro without losing my files and settings etc? Thanks...
  8. Best/easiest way to upgrade a Win 10 Home to Pro

    in Windows 10 Installation and Upgrade
    Best/easiest way to upgrade a Win 10 Home to Pro: I have an unused Win 7 Pro (or whatever it was called back then) retail license, and I also have a Win 10 Pro VM that I really don't use. What is the easiest or best way to do an in-place upgrade of this Win 10 Home laptop? I don't want to do a fresh install, since that...
  9. What's The Easiest Way to upgrade Windows 'C' Drive??

    in Windows 10 Installation and Upgrade
    What's The Easiest Way to upgrade Windows 'C' Drive??: I have a measly 500Gb SSD 'C' Drive (Desktop PC), which has W10 on it and other general stuff. It's getting full. I just purchased a new 1Tb SSD. What's the easiest most painless way of swapping out the OS onto this new larger SSD?? I do have a backup of W10 current build on...
  10. Quickest/Easiest way to upgrade Windows 10 to the latest version

    in Windows 10 Updates and Activation
    Quickest/Easiest way to upgrade Windows 10 to the latest version: So, I used to do a lot of work with Windows 7 deployments. I'd use a VM to make a vanilla install and then use DISM to capture the updated WIM. The updated WIM would only be updated with whatever the latest security updates were to that point. Years ago, in Server 2000, you'd...