Question How to replace my old HDD with a new HDD?

[tomerhanan1]

Hi. I want to replace my old HDD with a new HDD (not SDD). How to do that? Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

1. Why NOT an SSD?
2. Cloning. We can walk you through the procedure if desired.
3. Please clean that dust out.

Give us some details on the system. Like...ALL the details.

 

[tomerhanan1]

1. Why NOT an SSD?
2. Cloning. We can walk you through the procedure if desired.
3. Please clean that dust out.

Give us some details on the system. Like...ALL the details.

1. I don't want the headache + HDD is good for my needs.

Here:

 

[USAFRet]

There is NO 'headache' with a SATA III SSD vs a SATA HDD.
Drop in replacement, and oh so much faster.

But...you can do it to another HDD no problem.

What size is the current HDD, and how full is it?

 

[tomerhanan1]

There is NO 'headache' with a SATA III SSD vs a SATA HDD.
Drop in replacement, and oh so much faster.

But...you can do it to another HDD no problem.

What size is the current HDD, and how full is it?

It's 500GB HDD, but actually it's 465GB.
378.7GB is used out of it right now.

 

[USAFRet]

It's 500GB HDD, but actually it's 465GB.
378.7GB is used out of it right now.

What drive will you change to, and why?

 

[tomerhanan1]

What drive will you change to, and why?

2TB, I need more space for movies and shows + it started to show signs of failures when trying to download files from uTorrent on it. It's only happens sometimes, but still

 

[USAFRet]

2TB, I need more space for movies and shows + it started to show signs of failures when trying to download files from uTorrent on it. It's only happens sometimes, but still

2 options:

Just add the new drive, and use that for storage

or

Clone from the existing 500GB to the new 2TB. Details below.

 

[USAFRet]

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Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new HDD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new HDD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the new HDD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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 all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
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