Hello.
I have an HP Compaq 6510b notebook that needs a new hard drive. The existing one isnt damaged, just nearly full. I dont know why, in all the years of computing Ive never had to do this. Possibly because previous PC's have become obsolete before the HD needed changing.
Now I'm pretty sure the Hard drive I want is a 2.5" SATA, and after watching youtube videos I'm fairly confident I can do the job, but {and this is the question I really should know the answer to after 20 years of computing} what I dont understand is, presumably when you fit a new HD it doesnt have an operating system on it, so do you need to buy a new one? I have an authentic version of Windows on it currently, but it didnt come with the disks, so presumably I cant use that?
This is probably very basic stuf,f so please forgive my ignorance.
Thanks in advance,
Col.
If your Replacing the old one with a new one.. Yes you will have to reinstall windows (or whatever OS you're running)
You COULD try copying files over to the new one but I don't see how you could unless you have another PC
If not I HIGHLY recommend getting an External Hard Drive! (it plugs into your USB port)
a few things to look into
1) There maybe a recovery partition on the harddrive and this will enable you to create factory recovery DVDs or CDs , with HP you are normally only allowed to make 1 set of DVDS - will need somewhere between 4 and 6 DVDs for the process if CDs then probably 20+
there is a HP recovery manager on the PC which will allow you to do this
2) Have alook and see how big the harddrive is and if its been partitioned into a number of drives - control panel> administrative tools > computer management > disk management - lets see a screen shot - see how below
3) What is it you have a lot of - Music, Video - etc - whats taken all the space - it maybe a lot cheaper to get an external 1TB harddrive and archive your data across to that
4) what windows version do you have - you may need the sata drivers to re-install the software
5) When you re-install the software - it will ONLY take you back to when you purchased the PC so make sure you have installation software for any programs you may have installed since
6) Make a note of all the hardware you have - you may also need to install all the drivers again after installing the software onto the new harddrive - use www.belarc.com or SIW http://www.gtopala.com/ and make sure you can get the drivers
post a screen shot
To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file.
To upload it to the forum, open the full reply window and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here ------------------------------------------------------------------------
No - as i tried to explain - you may have a recovery partition on the machine where you can create the software OS
also I posted links to where you could buy the recovery DVDs
Yes, It does have a recovery partition. Whether disks have already been made I dont know, as I didnt buy it from new.
The HD is 110GB. C Drive is 102.71GB Recovery is 7.52GB and OS Tools is 1.55GB
I'm using Vista, which I dont really mind.
To be honest, I really dont know what is taking up all the space. I only formatted/restored it about two months ago. I do have a bit of music for my iTunes, but only about 15 albums. I download a few films, but delete them when they've been watched. The only programmes Ive downloaded are VLC, iTunes, Convert X, uTorrent, CCleaner, Advanced System Care, Avira, and Bit Che, but I didnt save any of the setup files. I havent even got Office. So its a bit of a mystery.
I did try and take a screen shot but it didnt work for some reason.
How did you format it 2 months ago ? back to a full factory reset
doesnt sound like you should be using more than 50% of that space
right click on your user and select properties and see how large your user profile is
start >
computer>
local drive c:
user
your name
click on that
right click on your name
properties
how much used ?
you could try disk clean up
start>
programs>
accessories>
system tools>
disk cleanup>
Bloody hell, I think you've solved the mystery of the missing space! I looked at my user profile as you suggested, and inside were 5 files all with my name next to them. 3 had very little in, but one was full of films, mp3's, photos and audiobooks from before I formatted! I've just reclaimed over 30GB in one go! Feckin Windows just does whatever it wants!
Do you know how that has happened?
no idea , but when your formatted - you didnt format , but did a recovery which saved all your data and copied into a seperate user profile
This is windows way of re-installing windows and saving your data ..
if you really want to do a restore - choose the destructive kind - and delete the partitions and rebuild the drive - it should put the recovery partition back - for full details have a look at the links i posted
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Tech Support Guy
9.9M posts
859.7K members
Since 1998
A forum community dedicated to tech experts and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about articles, computer security, Mac, Microsoft, Linux, hardware, networking, gaming, reviews, accessories, and more!