Switching hard drives has messed up my computer

shanehearne · Oct 5, 2013

Hi, i recently decided to buy a new hard drive to replace an older one. I had two 150gb hard drives but felt i needed to upgrade to a 2 terabyte hard drive. I installed and partitioned the new one. I than dragged and dropped all of my files except my OS onto the new hard drive and kept the OS on one of my older hard dries. After all of the files were moved, i first noticed that none of my desktop icons would open, saying that the file could not be found. Than i found that alot of my files were nowhere to be found. I than noticed that my computer is much slower when opening files or launching files. All my music and pictures are gone, or at least i cannot find them. To find a file on my hard drive i have to go into to the hard drive and search for the program because the search files and programs bar in the start menu cannot find the files It seems to me that my computer cannot find a link to the new hard drive. Please help, i built this computer only about 6 months ago and its been working perfectly until now

USAFRet · Oct 5, 2013

I than dragged and dropped all of my files except my OS onto the new hard drive and kept the OS on one of my older hard dries.

It doesn't work like that. Hopefully, this is fixable.

Please post a screenshot of your DiskManagement screen.
Change nothing else until we get to the actual fix here.

USAFRet · Oct 5, 2013

Also, a screenshot of what appears when you open Windows Explorer, and select Computer.

Saga Lout · Oct 6, 2013

Your system has no idea where you moved the files to so you need to re-target them in the Properties of each individual Shortcut, mainly Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos.

popatim · Oct 6, 2013

Actually he just needs to move them all back.

Once we get the system back to normal we can work on putting the new drive to effective use.

USAFRet · Oct 6, 2013

popatim :

Right. Assuming he just moves 'files' and not 'applications'.

"I than dragged and dropped all of my files except my OS onto the new hard drive"

Unknown what they actually mean by this.

shanehearne · Oct 14, 2013

USAFRet :

Hi thanks for replying, this is the screnn shot of my disk management http://www.flickr.com/photos/105365756@N07/10269630823/in/photostream/
This is the screen shot i took when i opened my computer http://www.flickr.com/photos/105365756@N07/10269454084/in/photostream/

shanehearne · Oct 14, 2013

USAFRet :

Ye i just dragged and dropped everything, files and applications alike.

shanehearne · Oct 14, 2013

popatim :

Thanks but the problem with this is that i threw away my old hard drive

Saga Lout · Oct 14, 2013

With data still on it? I suppose as you used drag and drop and not copy and paste you may not get an e-mail from Nigeria in six months time.

Seems we;re now back to my suggestion - re-target the shortcuts. Right click then Properties should get you to the right place.

USAFRet · Oct 14, 2013

shanehearne :

It doesn't work like that. You can't just drag and drop applications, and hope for it to work.

Shortcuts - they all point to where the thing used to be.
Applications - When an applications is installed, it creates dozens, or thousands, of Registry entries, AppData folders, etc. What its called, where it is...all that stuff.
Your current OS knows nothing about these applications, either in their new place, or where they used to be before you tossed out the drive. The values in Properties in the Start menu all point to somewhere else, that may not even exist anymore.

At this point, I'd suggest just a full reinstall, and reinstall all your applications. Save all your personal data, gather all your install disks, and go for it.
Trying to 'fix it' will take far longer than just doing it right the first time.

USAFRet · Oct 14, 2013

Saga Lout :

Drag n drop between drives defaults to the same function as copy/paste. So he may well be getting that email, granting him untold fortune.

shanehearne · Oct 14, 2013

Saga Lout :

No i deleted everything from the hard drive before i through it out, ok il try the 1st suggestion and see what happens. Thanks

shanehearne · Oct 14, 2013

USAFRet :

shanehearne :

It doesn't work like that. You can't just drag and drop applications, and hope for it to work.

Shortcuts - they all point to where the thing used to be.
Applications - When an applications is installed, it creates dozens, or thousands, of Registry entries, AppData folders, etc. What its called, where it is...all that stuff.
Your current OS knows nothing about these applications, either in their new place, or where they used to be before you tossed out the drive. The values in Properties in the Start menu all point to somewhere else, that may not even exist anymore.

At this point, I'd suggest just a full reinstall, and reinstall all your applications. Save all your personal data, gather all your install disks, and go for it.
Trying to 'fix it' will take far longer than just doing it right the first time.

Ok thanks il do that but should i reset my whole computer to factory defaults and just move my personal files to a USB or an external hard drive or should i just delete all of the files and applications except the personal ones?
and should i do anything in disk management concerning the new hard drive?

USAFRet · Oct 14, 2013

shanehearne :

Save all your personal stuff on a separate drive. USB stick, external drive, DropBox, wherever.
Then do the full reinstall. And only have ONE drive installed when you do that OS installation.

shanehearne · Oct 14, 2013

USAFRet :

shanehearne :

Save all your personal stuff on a separate drive. USB stick, external drive, DropBox, wherever.
Then do the full reinstall. And only have ONE drive installed when you do that OS installation.

By "full re installation" what do you mean, sorry im not the best at computers

USAFRet · Oct 14, 2013

shanehearne :

Not "Repair", not "Refresh", not "Restore", not "Upgrade, or update"
Put the disk in, boot from the DVD. Blow away any and all partitions. Install.

I know this sounds drastic, but it is almost certainly faster and easier than trying to 'fix' everything.

That's what I would do if a family member came to me with a PC at that current state.
Blow everything away, and start from scratch.

shanehearne · Oct 20, 2013

USAFRet :

shanehearne :

Not "Repair", not "Refresh", not "Restore", not "Upgrade, or update"
Put the disk in, boot from the DVD. Blow away any and all partitions. Install.

I know this sounds drastic, but it is almost certainly faster and easier than trying to 'fix' everything.

That's what I would do if a family member came to me with a PC at that current state.
Blow everything away, and start from scratch.

Ok thanks a million for the help

Switching hard drives has messed up my computer

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