Replacement Dell HD has no room for clone of original HD

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Mwtwriteorwrong

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Jun 13, 2017
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I'm sorry to be unable to find the answer myself although I bet it's here somewhere. :(

Long, frustrating story:

--The HD was going in my Dell Inspiron according to their tests and my experience of crashes and freezes; they sent me a replacement. Neither them or I could make image/clone with their software and the Dell would not recognize my 3TB and 5TB externals . IDrive sent me an external 1TB drive that was recognized and I made the clone and put it on that.

--I replaced the HD and the Dell then automatically uploaded all my original software--Windows 7! I did not want that! I had been on Windows 10. I went to install the cloned image. I could not because the W7 was taking all that room and it had made more partitions on the new HD. It was too small for the clone--although the clone was the size that had been on the original HD. Ack.

--I called Dell and asked how to wipe the new HD and not have Windows 7 put on it at all again so I could install the cloned image. (I have the extra service plan...) They said it was not possible with Windows 7 on a new HD. I asked if they could merge partitions or something so I could have the room I used to have. They said it was very hard and that I should have cloned with their backup. I reminded them that they tried and I tried and no go but somehow it worked with IDrive. They suggested I forget the clone and reinstall all my software, etc. I said no; it would take forever if I could even find all the disks and I use this for work and school.

--Four days plus later--and I mean many hours at a time with me following their prompts, etc.,--it still was not working due to the original issue: not enough room now with the Windows 7 and partitions. We'd done the PE environment, made a boot disk supposedly on a flash drive, and done cmd prompts but the problem was the same: the new partitions and W7 I guess left me with too little room on new HD.

--I called IDrive. They tried to help but it came down to the Dell partitions and Windows 7 not giving me enough room to mount the clone. They said to tell Dell to make one large drive or at least a little bigger partiton to get my cloned image from the same size drive on the new HD.

--I told Dell and they said we would try creator. I said I didn't have more time then as I had spent six days on it by then and was and am behind at school and work. I am frustrated and confused. The old HD froze a lot but I could use it and didn't have to deal with Windows 7 and I had my other programs.

Please, can someone tell me what I can do about this mess?

Thank you very, very much.

 
Solution
Hello... You can remove/wipe the Windows 7 yourself... all you need to do is remove/delete the existing partitions and the Drive space will be free again. Any Bootable DOS drive/disk tool should be able to do that simple task... after that just create a partition on it if the Clone software requires it. B /

The DELL service plan will only provide OEM backup/replacement software of the original installed software... any upgrades you did, they are not liable for... good thing you create a Win 10 Clone before B )
Hello... You can remove/wipe the Windows 7 yourself... all you need to do is remove/delete the existing partitions and the Drive space will be free again. Any Bootable DOS drive/disk tool should be able to do that simple task... after that just create a partition on it if the Clone software requires it. B /

The DELL service plan will only provide OEM backup/replacement software of the original installed software... any upgrades you did, they are not liable for... good thing you create a Win 10 Clone before B )
 
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