Can you make a back up of Windows ?

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TheRevo

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Dec 1, 2013
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hey, i have just built a new PC, and i have rinsed my budget dry, and i do not have enough to get a new hard drive :(

i currently have a hd pavillion with a 7200rpm drive at 500GB and i was going to use this drive,. but the problem i have is that the Windows for my current HP Pavilion is on this drive and i do not want to have to completely wipe it and lose Windows on my current pc as i would still like it to be functional.

Is their any way i could back up my entire C: Drive on to a cloud system or some sort of online memory back up so that i can use my current drive on my new build and then eventually get a cheap HDD to re download the Windows files for my old pc?

I know i could wait and get a new HDD but im really impatient would like to get it working straight away, im pretty sure that i can't do this but i just wanted to see if it could be done
 
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USAFRet


Probably.
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Not really. Your "entire C drive" is likely a couple hundred GB at least. Online storage of that amount will cost.

What you should be concerned with is:
1. Your personal data
2. Windows licenses

For #1, all you need do is to find and copy your personal stuff somewhere. Which will certainly be far smaller than the entire C drive.
With Windows 7, you can download the official ISO and reinstall using the original license key.

For #2, I'm assuming you have a valid Windows key for this new PC?
 
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TheRevo

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i purchased a new copy of Windows 7 for my new pc. when i got my current pc last year Windows was already installed on it, do you know how i could find the License key for the Windows i am using on this pc?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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It should be on a sticker on the case. Or Belarc advisor might be able to extract it.
 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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You can sysprep your old drive before installing it to a new PC to avoid boot BSODs. To do this, go to C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\sysprep.exe, check 'generalize', select 'OOBE' on drop down menu, and 'Shut down'.

When your new PC boots off of your old HDD, you'll get the 'out of box experience' screen, asking you to create new user account. Just call it anything and after that's done, you can log off and switch to your main user account.

Once you're logged in with your main account, you can safely proceed with deleting the newly made account in Control Panel > User Accounts applet

Edit: to clarify what sysprep does, it basicly gets rid of all platform specific data such as drivers and configuration files.
 
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TheRevo

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If i did this would it alow me to continue using my current copy of Windows that is installed on my PC?
 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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Yes, but you would need to load the MB drivers.



 
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