My C: Drive is Failing

Shrapnelsaber · Aug 16, 2014

Recently, my first hard drive that came with my computer [C:] that is running Windows 7 seems to be failing and makes clicking noises when I boot or load files causing the boot times to be very long. So far these boot times have ranged from 10-20 minutes and cause my computer to blue screen or restart at random all while booting.

I have a second hard drive [E:] which most of my games are installed on and also have a third hard drive which I haven't used and have yet to install.

So I would like to know how I could install Windows 7 onto my second or third hard drive without removing any of the files from my current hard drives [C:, E:] if possible.

volcanoscout · Aug 16, 2014

Best thing to do would be to do a clean OS install on the third drive, then transfer the files over. Basically remove your current drives, install the 3rd one, boot with your install media (CD or USB), and install Windows. Then re-install your former C: in the E: bay and copy your files over.

The easiest thing to do is swap the 3rd drive with E:, then save a recovery image from C: to the 3rd drive, then remove C: and replace with 3rd and do a recovery install using the image. Then put your E: back in it's original bay.

byza · Aug 16, 2014

The easiest way would be to clone your C: drive onto your unused HDD. I use Acronis, but it will wipe anything that is already on the destination drive so you need an empty drive.

volcanoscout · Aug 16, 2014

byza :

As far as physical steps, they'd require the same drive swaps. I've never used cloning before - is there a major advantage to going that route as opposed to just using a recovery image?

byza · Aug 16, 2014

Using a recovery image requires an extra step e.g. create image of drive A on drive B then recover image to drive C. With cloning you just clone drive A straight to drive C. The advantage is the simplicity, the disadvantage is that any accumulated crud that is on drive A ends up on drive C (although you can select what you want to clone), where as a clean install gets rid of all that. I use recovery images for backups, but when I need to do a straight drive swap cloning is easier. You shouldn't need to move drives around, just clone then pull out the old drive, you can change the drive designation (C:, D: ) through the control panel.

volcanoscout · Aug 16, 2014

byza :

Using a recovery image requires an extra step e.g. create image of drive A on drive B then recover image to drive C. With cloning you just clone drive A straight to drive C. The advantage is the simplicity, the disadvantage is that any accumulated crud that is on drive A ends up on drive C (although you can select what you want to clone), where as a clean install gets rid of all that. I use recovery images for backups, but when I need to do a straight drive swap cloning is easier. You shouldn't need to move drives around, just clone then pull out the old drive, you can change the drive designation (C:, D: ) through the control panel.

Thanks - I'll have to try it out.

Shrapnelsaber · Aug 16, 2014

Thanks for your guys input. I think i'll do a clean install on my third hard drive because the last time I tried making a system image of my C: drive an I/O Error occured.

volcanoscout · Aug 17, 2014

No sweat. If you have a lot of programs that require activation keys, Belarc Advisor is a great program for capturing all of them, as well as listing all the other important system info and a list of installed programs. It can make your re-installation smoother and easier.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

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