[aKay47]

A little while ago, I had a problem with malware, Donna, one of your awesome geeks. helped me and we also discovered that my hard drive was having issues.  I have a HP Pavilion, and now when i boot up it tells me that I need to back up my data immediately because my drive is going to fail.  I have purchased a new drive, but i am not sure what to do.  Someone please help me get this data saved and my new drive installed before I lose everything. My computer already says that windows is no longer registered.  I think I am going down for the count soon

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Connect your External drive to your laptop via USB.

https://support.micr...k-up-your-files

Select the Start​  button, select Settings  > Update & security  > Backup > Add a drive, and then choose an external drive or network location for your backups.

The post includes a photo of what you need to be clicking too. But just in case.

https://imgur.com/a/GzRHO

[vblue]

Connect your External drive to your laptop via USB.

https://support.micr...k-up-your-files

Select the Start​  button, select Settings  > Update & security  > Backup > Add a drive, and then choose an external drive or network location for your backups.

The post includes a photo of what you need to be clicking too. But just in case.

https://imgur.com/a/GzRHO

[Kemasa]

Often the manufacturer has a utility that you create a CD and boot from the CD which then copies all of the data from the old disk to the new disk. You do have to attach the new disk to the machine though.

[dmccoy]

Backup Files
See the following link for more details
https://www.easeus.c...to-windows.html

Macrium Reflect free
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

[aKay47]

Ibought a new hard drive for the computer and I was told by one of your GEEKs (Donna) that someone could walk me through swapping out the old drive for the new one. and copying all the information straight over to the new one?   I would like all the drivers, and computer informaiton like serial number etc. to be transferred.  Maybe I am asking too much? Anyway, I only have the hard drive that I bought to replace this one.  Do I need to get another one to clone my failing disk?

[dmccoy]

What type and brand of drive did you purchase? I am happy to help.
Also have you already backed up your files using one of the programs I mentioned or are they still on the disk? Do you want to clone the whole drive, programs and everything or just your data files. You will get best results from performing a clean install on the new drive and only copying the files you need. Just let me know how you want to proceed?

Edited by dmccoy, 18 February 2018 - 08:07 PM.

[aKay47]

following the suggestion of DonnaB I purchased a western digital black drive  model #wd7500BPKX  mY COMPUTER IS AN HP PAVILION G7  i can not do the regular system restore trick. as I purcjhased this computer with windows 8 and now I am running win 10... and thank you for the assistance!!

[dmccoy]

I assume you upgraded to the free version of Windows 10 home? When you install Windows 10 it embeds a digital key on your computer that allows you to reinstall it anytime as long as no major hardware is changed. Please answer the following questions so I know how you want to proceed.


Have you already backed up your files using one of the programs I mentioned or are they still on the disk?
Do you want to clone the whole drive, programs and everything or just your data files?
Do you want to perform a clean install on the new drive and only copying the files you need?

[Kemasa]

Acronis True Image WD Edition Software

https://support.wdc....oads.aspx?p=119

 

You need to connect both drives and run the above program. It will copy the data from the old drive to the new drive (make sure you know which is which).

[aKay47]

@dm Mccoy,,,,, #1 everything is still on the disk.  #2 yes I upgraded using the free upgrade (actually to be honest I said no I didn't want to upgrade, and they upgraded me anyway.)

 

#3 I would like to clone the drive if you think that would be a good idea.  I am already having some issues with things getting a little wonky with the operating system as I  first contacted you all due to a virus that killed my antivirus.  DonnaB helped  me with that one..(she is great) but we were having issues getting all the virus off the drive and that is when we discovered that my drive was decompensating.  I would like to keep my programs and all the other "stuiff" I have piled up on my drive.  but if i make a clone, and there are some issues with files being corrupt and/or missing can we then reinstall windows without losing my stuff?

. 

 

@Kemasa.re: Acronis  does this program need to be booted up separately like from a usb ?  Or will it run from the windows I am using now.. OR do i need to remove my internal drive, put it on a shuttle and attach the new and the old drive to a computer and copy them that way? I was just wondering if It would copy the drive correctly if it is in use

[dmccoy]

Best Answer

Okay, we can start with the clone, but as you mentioned you were having issues getting all the virus off the drive so you may still have issues. See the following link for the steps on cloning your drive. If Windows will still run, then you can use the steps under Cloning from Windows and if not follow Cloning from Acronis Bootable Media. Let me know if you have any questions.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/56634

 

[Kemasa]

It is typically booted from a CD. Not sure if they have a version which boots from a USB device. You need to have both drives attached so that it can copy one to the other. It would be a problem if it was booted from the drive, which is why it boots from the CD.

[aKay47]

Got it handled. Thank you all for your guidance.  I put the new drive into my computer, loaded the source into a usb shuttle,   I booted off a usb into Acronis.  There were some issues as the program could not read data on my soure  drive in a few places, however I removed and replaced the drive into my computer.. ran chkdsk fixed the errors  switched the drives again and retried the process, Success!!! Thanks so much!!

[dmccoy]

You’re welcome. Good to hear you got it worked out.