Windows 10: upgrading hard disk

I bought refurbished laptop with win 10. It hasn't been activated yet, and the hard disk is a little smaller than I would like. So I would like to buy a larger hard disk. Have the original cloned to the new larger one, since I don't have any system disks, then activate win 10.

Will this work?

Or should I just activate it now, then clone it and do something to make sure it works on the new hard disk?


I know that activation means that some kind of hardware snapshot is taken; so does that apply to the hard disk or just the motherboard?


any advise on how to approach this?


Thanks.

-Fred

:)

 

External Hard disk contents are not visible.

Hi Pranoti,

For us to narrow down your concern with your external hard disk, we would like to know the following:

• Were there any changes made on your computer prior to the issue (e.g., updates, software installation)?
• To make sure that we have not missed on anything, what troubleshooting steps have you done so far?
• Do you hear any clicking sound when connecting your hard disk?

In the meantime, we suggest that you update all your device driver.

We look forward to your response.

 

disk management

What did you use to clone it with?

If the above suggestion doesn't work, I would do this -

Upgrade hard disk to a bigger one without reinstalling operating system and applications

Do the free trial of Easeus Disk Copy Pro 3.0 - just follow the steps in the link.

FWIW. *Think

 

Hard disk partition not showing up.

Hi Muhammad,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



This can happen if the Hard-disk drivers are not up-to date. I would suggest you to update the hard disk drivers first. To update the drivers, please follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Open Device manager.
   
2. Then Expand “Disk drives”.
   
3. Then Right click on the Hard-disk listed under this category.
   
4. Then click on Update drivers.
   
5. Alternatively you can also try to update the drivers from manufacturer’s website.
   

Once the hard-disk drivers are updated, you will need to allocate the last partition (it is not allocated according to the screenshot) and you will be able to view the partition.



Also note that sometimes the hard disk partitions/drives might be hidden in This PC or My Computer window due to a Registry key. If a DWORD with the name NoViewOnDrive or NoDrives is present under following key in Registry Editor:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

Delete the DWORD and your drives will become visible in My Computer window.



Hope this helps.