Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

Question about upgrading storage HDD in a system with an SSD boot driv


Best Answer Chucklebun , 13 December 2017 - 09:10 AM

Good morning and thanks for the expert response. Based upon your post I think I will likely go with a 2 TB drive. Her computer is several years old and the extra terabyte should give her enough he... Go to the full post »


  • Please log in to reply

#1
Chucklebun

Chucklebun

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 94 posts

Hi guys,

 

My fiancee is running out of room on her gaming PC's 1 terabyte storage hard drive. I thought that a 3-5 TB HDD would be a nice holiday present for her, I was just wondering if it's a hassle to transfer the data. Every guide I found on the web is pretty much focused on upgrading a drive which contains both OS and storage - but her OS is installed on an SSD, while pretty much everything else is located on the 1 TB HDD. Is it as simple as copy and paste, or is there a wizard or....?

System info:
Windows Home 7 Premium 64 bit

256 GB SSD Boot Drive

1 TB Storage HDD
16 GB RAM

 

More info is avail if you need more info to answer this question, I would just need to boot her machine up.

 

Thanks for reading, and any help, words of advice, links to a guide etc.


  • 0

Advertisements


#2
RKinner

RKinner

    Malware Expert

  • Expert
  • 24,598 posts
  • MVP

If you are going to get a drive larger than 2 TB you will have to either break it up into smaller partitions or use GPT rather than MBR. 

https://support.micr...arger-than-2-tb

 

On a desktop you can usually steal the cables from the DVD (if it's new enough to be SATA) to temporarily attach the new drive or if you have an extra SATA cable most desktops support 4 SATA connections and most power supplies have extras.  (You may need to go into the BIOS setup to turn on previously unused SATA ports.)  Of course you want to shutdown the PC before changing any cables.  Leave it plugged up so that it has a ground.

 

Depending on what files you have on the old drive some of them may be hidden so they may not copy.  To see hidden files:

Control Panel, (View By:  Large Icons)  Folder Options, View.

Uncheck Hide Extensions for Known File Types
Uncheck Hide Protected System Files
Check Show Hidden Files,Folders and Drives.
OK

 

You may also run into files where you don't have permission to copy them.  Shouldn't be many on a data only drive but you can take ownership of the whole drive and give yourself full control:

 

See the second answer on:

https://answers.micr...bc2f22a3?auth=1

 

I expect you can use:

http://www.runtime.org/shadow-copy.htm

 

to copy and not worry about hidden and locked files

 

Also stay away from Seagate drives.  They are not reliable.  Best are Western Digital Blacks.


  • 0

#3
Chucklebun

Chucklebun

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 94 posts
✓  Best Answer

Good morning and thanks for the expert response.

Based upon your post I think I will likely go with a 2 TB drive. Her computer is several years old and the extra terabyte should give her enough headroom for now, especially if we can leave the 1 TB drive in place for photos and videos etc (which is not necessarily going to be possible as the computer is a very small form-factor Alienware unit).

Also, thanks for the tip about which HDD to pick...


Edited by Chucklebun, 13 December 2017 - 09:11 AM.

  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP