Installing a larger Windows drive

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SJB

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#253134 28-Jul-2019 10:42

I have a Win7 desktop machine that has a small C: drive.

I'm thinking of adding a 1TB SSD that becomes the boot drive. I know I can clone the current hard drive and change the BIOS to boot from the new drive but was wondering if there are any 'gotchas' I should be aware of because C: is now the new boot drive and my old drive C: will be assigned a new drive letter.

For example I use Visual Studio 2017 on this machine and have read that when it installs it always puts a large proportion of it's files on the boot drive regardless of where you want it to go. Once I do this change those files will no longer be on the boot drive. Will VS still work after the change?

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#2284782 28-Jul-2019 10:47

Nah there isn't anything that you should really watch out for, you can use the free version of a program called Macrium Reflect to clone the drive if your SSD doesn't come with it's own software.

So I would do it like this:

1. Connect new SSD to PC.

2. Install and run clone software and clone C to the new SSD.

3. Reboot PC once done and set your BIOS to boot off the new SSD (depending if you want to keep the existing C as another drive, if not pull it out and connect the new SSD to the same SATA cable as your current one)

4. Boot in to the new SSD.

5. If you want to keep your existing drive you can just format it and use it as another storage device.

sqishy

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#2284785 28-Jul-2019 10:57

I assume your current drive has just one C: drive and not partitioned to 2 drive letters? If so rethink your strategy her. Albeit you can still copy C:. Once you clone C: this becomes the new C: drive, keep any other drives as they are. One option if you are really worried and wanted to check is after the clone and shut down, remove the old drive then boot up with only new drive. After a while when everything checks put back in put n old drive and format to a new drive letter.

SJB

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#2284786 28-Jul-2019 11:02

Thanks for the suggestions. As you say I can always hang on to the old drive in case of problems.

Lias

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#2284801 28-Jul-2019 12:41

If you buy a Samsung SSD, just use Samsung Data Magician.

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JaseNZ

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#2284807 28-Jul-2019 13:04

Lias:

If you buy a Samsung SSD, just use Samsung Data Magician.

This here so simple and just works.

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timmmay

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#2284812 28-Jul-2019 13:50

Suggest you upgrade to Windows 10, should hopefully still be free. It's a better, more modern, more secure, more supported operating system.

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SJB

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#2284862 28-Jul-2019 16:19

I don't think the processor meets the h/w requirements for Win 10.

timmmay

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#2284882 28-Jul-2019 16:40

I assume anything that can run W7 can run W10.

lNomNoml

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#2284883 28-Jul-2019 16:42

SJB:

I don't think the processor meets the h/w requirements for Win 10.

It should, I've been able to put Windows 10 on a Intel Atom N270, if that can take it anything can. :D

xpd

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#2284896 28-Jul-2019 17:46

SJB:

I don't think the processor meets the h/w requirements for Win 10.

Are you running 30 year old tech ?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows/windows-10-specifications#primaryR2

Processor:

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or System on a Chip (SoC)

RAM:

1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit

XPD / Gavin

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SJB

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#2284901 28-Jul-2019 17:59

It's got a Xeon processor 3.4ghz 4gb ram so according to the Microsoft specs I'd need Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise.

Why would I bother when it's no longer free.

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lNomNoml

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#2284905 28-Jul-2019 18:07

SJB:

It's got a Xeon processor 3.4ghz 4gb ram so according to the Microsoft specs I'd need Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise.

Why would I bother when it's no longer free.

You can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free. You can download it from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

But anyway getting off topic, let us know how you get on installing the new SSD.

Sideface

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#2284908 28-Jul-2019 18:23

lNomNoml: You can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free. You can download it from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

As above.

I recently updated 10 PCs of various ages from Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Pro - no fee, no problems.

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MadEngineer

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#2284909 28-Jul-2019 18:26

Clone the whole disk, not just c

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Jogre

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#2285611 30-Jul-2019 11:14

Sideface:

lNomNoml:

You can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free. You can download it from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

As above.

I have recently updated 10 PCs of various ages from Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Pro - no fee, no problems.

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