Can I install windows on a hard drive that already has files on it?

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HxRosa

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Apr 10, 2016
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I just purchased a 1 tb hard drive to move all of my files over from my 500 gb hard drive (how do I clone it, I tried to use wd software but didnt work). I use an ssd for windows so its just files and programs on the drive. Can I use that drive to download windows and have that drive used as the main drive for another pc without having to delete everything? I was planning on just buying a windows 10 key off g2a and putting it on a usb etc. Thanks
 
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Either one should do the job. There seems to be greater popularity among contributors to this "forum" (as best I can tell) with the Macrium program, but I've used both programs and don't have a major preference for one or the other.
Actually, my "day-to-day" d-c program is Casper, however, it's a commercial program costing $49.99 and most potential users will balk at paying for a program that they can obtain freely especially when they're solely interested in using the program on a "one-shot" basis. It's a very easy-to-use program that's quite effective and it's chief advantage is its speed. I use the program nearly exclusively as a comprehensive backup program for my systems because of its speed & ease of use. I backup my systems a few...
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how do I move all my files from one drive to another? Acronis didnt work for me i tried 3 times
 
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Let's back up and start from the beginning.

What OS do you have now?
Where did it come from?
What drives do you have?
Which drive is the OS on?
Which drive do you want the OS on?
 
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I have windows 10 (technically windows 8.1). I bought it from WINDOWS and I dont have the key or anything anymore, it was around a year and a half ago. I have a 500 gb hard drive that I am using now and want to move all its information to a terabyte hard drive and then use the 500 gb as the OS drive and files drive for a completely different computer. I really just need to clone the hard drive first, but I used acronis from WD and it didnt work (both are WD drives). Can I just cut and paste everything
 
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Well if you move your HDD to your "new" machine, you would just install Windows as normal. Insert your windows cd and boot with CD/DVD ROM. Many computers boot with DVD ROM as default, but your might have to press F12/F8 orso to open boot menu.

Do not format or delete any partitions when installing windows if you want to keep your files on that HDD.

If I understand correctly you have 3 drives, 1 SSD and 2 HDD's and running windows from your SSD? If both your HDD's are connected to your machine why not just copy/paste all your files to your new HDD? If not, there's quite a few programs that let your copy your files over, try googling "clone HDD".
 
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You have Win 10.
Upgraded from Win 8.1?
It is on a 500GB drive.
"and want to move all its information to a terabyte hard drive"...OK

So you want to clone the 500GB to the 1TB?
What failed and how, exactly?
 
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so I can just copy paste?
 
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Sorry for the confusion, I have an ssd with windows (8.1 upgraded to 10). then I have a 500gb drive I have videos, pictures, games, programs etc. then I just purchased a 1Tb drive. I want to move everything on the 500gb drive to the 1TB drive (no windows involved at all). then I want to use the 500gb drive and install a completely seperate windows key and use that as a OS drive for a completely different computer
 
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OK...and this is why the questions. Defining the actual need and procedures.

This is just a secondary drive?
Programs won't work, but vid/docs/music/pics are just fine.
Copy and paste as needed.

 
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how do I move everything from the 500gb to the 1tb? like will games and programs work if I just cut and paste all the files to the 1tb?
 
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That depends, if you installed the games/programs on that drive, you could still use them as before providing you use the same OS.
 
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But if I move the games from one hard drive to another will they still work
 
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As the situation now stands (if I have this correctly) you have a PC with a Win 8.1 installation using a SSD as your boot drive and a 500 GB HDD as a secondary disk. Your games and other data are contained on that 500 GB HDD while the SSD contains the OS and perhaps some other non-OS files. So that's basically your system as it currently exists. Do I have this right?

Now you've purchased a 1 TB HDD and you would like to use that disk as your secondary HDD in your current system in place of the 500 GB HDD, BUT containing all the data currently installed on the 500 GB HDD. That's right, isn't it?

Then you would like to install the 500 GB in a new PC (installed with the Win 10 OS which you purchased. BTW, we'll assume that the MS Windows OS product key you purchased from that online vendor you mentioned is a valid product key that can be legitimately used to activate the OS for licensing purposes).

All this is doable.

You'll install the 1 TB HDD in your current system and clone the contents of the 500 GB HDD to the larger drive. (I know you indicated the previous disk-cloning operation "didn't work" but there's no reason a d-c operation shouldn't "work". Use one of the "tried-and-true" programs like Macrium Reflect or Easeus Todo Backup.)

After a successful d-c operation and you're ensured that the 1 TB HDD contains all the data from the 500 GB HDD, then you can use the latter disk in the new system.
 
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ok thank you, so either macrium reflect or easeus todo? which one do you recommend
 
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Either one should do the job. There seems to be greater popularity among contributors to this "forum" (as best I can tell) with the Macrium program, but I've used both programs and don't have a major preference for one or the other.
Actually, my "day-to-day" d-c program is Casper, however, it's a commercial program costing $49.99 and most potential users will balk at paying for a program that they can obtain freely especially when they're solely interested in using the program on a "one-shot" basis. It's a very easy-to-use program that's quite effective and it's chief advantage is its speed. I use the program nearly exclusively as a comprehensive backup program for my systems because of its speed & ease of use. I backup my systems a few times per week and sometimes even daily.

In any event take your time when using whatever d-c program you select. Most of the problems (in my experience) encountered by users are a result of improper use of the program. So follow the instructions closely.

One other thing...
The program may create a partition on the destination drive (your 1 TB HDD) only to the extent of total amount of the cloned data. But it's a simple matter following the successful d-c operation to use Disk Management to extend the partition so as to utilize the entire available disk-space of the disk.
 
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