Hard Drive is close to meeting his maker!

[Schxeler]

My computer is becoming very slow and I'm pretty sure its my hard drive. Can I buy a new one and install it in with my current one and just transfer the files?

 

[jaslion]

My computer is becoming very slow and I'm pretty sure its my hard drive. Can I buy a new one and install it in with my current one and just transfer the files?

As long as it is a desktop yes. Don't forget that you'll need a sata cable to connect them. Also by copying do you also mean to copy windows? Btw it could also be that you need to defragment your hdd if you have never done this before as that will speed you up quite a bit. There are also hdd health checking tools that can see if your hdd is dying or not: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

 

[USAFRet]

My computer is becoming very slow and I'm pretty sure its my hard drive. Can I buy a new one and install it in with my current one and just transfer the files?

Is this the C drive?
If so, to 'transfer' you must do a cloning operation with a proper tool, rather than 'just transfer'.

Assuming, of course, the existing drive is fully readable.

 

[Schxeler]

My computer is becoming very slow and I'm pretty sure its my hard drive. Can I buy a new one and install it in with my current one and just transfer the files?

Is this the C drive?
If so, to 'transfer' you must do a cloning operation with a proper tool, rather than 'just transfer'.

Assuming, of course, the existing drive is fully readable.

Yes, it's a C drive. How do you clone ?

 

[Schxeler]

My computer is becoming very slow and I'm pretty sure its my hard drive. Can I buy a new one and install it in with my current one and just transfer the files?

As long as it is a desktop yes. Don't forget that you'll need a sata cable to connect them. Also by copying do you also mean to copy windows? Btw it could also be that you need to defragment your hdd if you have never done this before as that will speed you up quite a bit. There are also hdd health checking tools that can see if your hdd is dying or not: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

I've never done this before obviously, can you just move the files over to a different hard drive while they are both connected?
Yes it is on a desktop, I'm pretty sure I have another sata cable

 

[jaslion]

My computer is becoming very slow and I'm pretty sure its my hard drive. Can I buy a new one and install it in with my current one and just transfer the files?

As long as it is a desktop yes. Don't forget that you'll need a sata cable to connect them. Also by copying do you also mean to copy windows? Btw it could also be that you need to defragment your hdd if you have never done this before as that will speed you up quite a bit. There are also hdd health checking tools that can see if your hdd is dying or not: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

I've never done this before obviously, can you just move the files over to a different hard drive while they are both connected?
Yes it is on a desktop, I'm pretty sure I have another sata cable

Easeus todo backup is a free tool that has a cloning option. You just plug the 2 drives in select the source drive and then the drive that it needs to clone too. Just make sure you buy a similar or high capacity drive than what you currently have. This procces can take a while. After it is done unplug the old hdd and boot the pc if it works 😀 otherwise try again. If you bought a drive with the same capacity then you don't need to do this but if you bought something lager you'll need to extend the partition with the built in windows hdd tool to have the full capacity available.

 

[USAFRet]

My computer is becoming very slow and I'm pretty sure its my hard drive. Can I buy a new one and install it in with my current one and just transfer the files?

Is this the C drive?
If so, to 'transfer' you must do a cloning operation with a proper tool, rather than 'just transfer'.

Assuming, of course, the existing drive is fully readable.

Yes, it's a C drive. How do you clone ?

This is my series of tested, proven steps.
(talks about an SSD, but will work with an HDD as well)
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[mjslakeridge]

You are assuming the hard drive is dying, just because your computer is running slower. It may well be dying, but it also might be a virus, or just need defragmenting as mentioned above. If it is a virus and you clone it over to a new drive, you will be infecting the new drive as well. Run malwarebytes or some other anti-malware software before cloning to rule out malware.