Multiple Internal Hard Drives, Failing "C" Drive

I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C" drive
is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the equation
all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various drivers. I
know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove it, do I need
to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well as reinstall the
drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I will assume I will also
need to install the various programs (Office, QuickBooks) I use on the new
primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

On 11/5/2013 11:17 PM, Dell Christopher wrote:
I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C"
drive is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the
equation all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various
drivers. I know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove
it, do I need to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well
as reinstall the drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I
will assume I will also need to install the various programs (Office,
QuickBooks) I use on the new primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

Before Drive C, the System Drive (and primary drive), fails completely,
it might be best to take the opportunity to clone it and then replace
it. This is the simplest way without the hassles of re-installing all
of the drivers, applications, programs, etc., from their original discs.

GR

Ghostrider wrote:
On 11/5/2013 11:17 PM, Dell Christopher wrote:
I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C"
drive is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the
equation all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various
drivers. I know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove
it, do I need to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well
as reinstall the drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I
will assume I will also need to install the various programs (Office,
QuickBooks) I use on the new primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

Before Drive C, the System Drive (and primary drive), fails completely,
it might be best to take the opportunity to clone it and then replace
it. This is the simplest way without the hassles of re-installing all
of the drivers, applications, programs, etc., from their original discs.

GR
+1
Cloning is a much safer and less challenging route.

One additional point...if replacing the C: drive with a new drive and
cloning the o/s to that new drive, it may be necessary to reactivate
Windows via one of the available methods (online or phone).

@Dell Christopher
- if you reinstall Windows using the installation disk it will be
necessary to setup Windows (Win7 may provide drivers though it would be
appropriate to have all the necessary drivers available - especially the
basic necessities - chipset, network, wifi, video, SATA, sound ).
Additionally, all programs and any other 3rd party applications will
also need to be reinstalled.

--
...winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On Tue, 5 Nov 2013 23:17:59 -0800, "Dell Christopher" wrote:

I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C" drive
is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the equation
all together.

If it's a "clone" PC (I presume by that you mean an IBMulator) it must be
pretty near the end of its useful life, since IBM stopped making and selling
PCs a long time ago. If you fix the drive, something else is likely to die
pretty soon, like the motherboard.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various drivers. I
know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove it, do I need
to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well as reinstall the
drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I will assume I will also
need to install the various programs (Office, QuickBooks) I use on the new
primary drive, too.

If you can back up the drive before it fails altogether, you could restore it
to a new one, even on a new computer.





All input is appreciated. Thanks!

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Dell Christopher wrote:
I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C"
drive is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the
equation all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various
drivers. I know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove
it, do I need to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well
as reinstall the drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I
will assume I will also need to install the various programs (Office,
QuickBooks) I use on the new primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

Original Reuse a bay Clone C: drive Remove old drive,
to new one put drive 4 back in
-------- ----------- -------------- -------------------

C: C: C: --------+ Clone C:
Drive2 Drive2 Drive2 | Drive2
Drive3 Drive3 Drive3 | Drive3
Drive4 Brand new drive Clone C: -+ Drive4

You can clone with Macrium Reflect Free, when your new hard drive
has been installed in a bay for that purpose.

(CNET download link, lower right, watch out for toolbars...)
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

*******

You can install a new hard drive directly in place of the
original C:.

Original New drive

-------- -----------

C: New drive
Drive2 Drive2
Drive3 Drive3
Drive4 Drive4

But if you do that, you may lose any additional partitions
that are on the original drive. Cloning the drive first, may
import the missing partitions, before your proposed Windows 7
re-installation.

I reinstalled Windows 7 on my laptop. I used the license
key off the COA sticker, plus a copy of X17-24209 downloaded
from DigitalRiver. I used the driver CD made originally
when the laptop was new, to install a video driver and
one other driver, after the install was finished. That
removed a lot of the Acer "cruft" programs that originally
littered the drive. I used the "phone Microsoft automated
activation", to re-activate the OS.

If for some reason, you need to free up a primary partition
on the drive, there is a method for removing SYSTEM RESERVED.
An installation with a SYSTEM RESERVED, is compatible
with BitLocker full disk encryption (for protecting C. If
you're not using BitLocker in that way, then you don't
need a SYSTEM RESERVED and can get rid of it. This
recipe is of moderate difficulty, if you want to do it
safely. I did some of the steps slightly differently
than they did.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=409

*******

And before I do any of the above, I would be backing up
the C: drive to an external USB. If you screw up the
procedure somehow, that's how you put things back.
I did a backup before doing the terabyteunlimited recipe
for example. Just to be on the safe side.

Paul

In article , dellc99
@aim.com says...

I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C" drive
is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the equation
all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various drivers. I
know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove it, do I need
to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well as reinstall the
drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I will assume I will also
need to install the various programs (Office, QuickBooks) I use on the new
primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

Very often when disk failure is detected by someone who isn't an
'enthusiast' then the disk is past cloning. If it's really struggling
you'll only end up with a corrupt image on a new disk.

First, you should recover urgently any user files you want to keep. If
some seem to be missing or unreadable, run a disk check, and have it
scan for bad sectors as well. Then try again. I've found Spinrite is
very good at recovering data from bad sectors, but it's far from free.

If the disk is running reasonably well for now, though (after a disk
check), then cloning is the method of choice. Otherwise, you'll need a
new partition (new disk, if most convenient) and you'll need to install
Windows and all your applications afresh.

I've found the free Acronis Drive Monitor useful for keeping track of
the health of a disk. It's meant to be used in conjunction with their
True Image cloning/backup product, but you can disable monitoring of
backup activity. It gives a percentage score of disk health. In
practice anything under 100% means a disk is on the way out, but they
can soldier on sometimes down to 40%, although the likelihood of
corruption or loss is gettng severe by that point.
--

Phil, London

On 11/06/2013 04:56 AM, Paul wrote:

snip
You can clone with Macrium Reflect Free, when your new hard drive
has been installed in a bay for that purpose.

(CNET download link, lower right, watch out for toolbars...)
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

*******

You can install a new hard drive directly in place of the
original C:.

Original New drive

-------- -----------

C: New drive
Drive2 Drive2
Drive3 Drive3
Drive4 Drive4



snip


To eliminate any possible chance for errors, I'd disconnect the other
drives while you clone the original C: drive

On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:51:14 -0800, Ghostrider
wrote:

On 11/5/2013 11:17 PM, Dell Christopher wrote:
I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C"
drive is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the
equation all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various
drivers. I know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove
it, do I need to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well
as reinstall the drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I
will assume I will also need to install the various programs (Office,
QuickBooks) I use on the new primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

Before Drive C, the System Drive (and primary drive), fails completely,
it might be best to take the opportunity to clone it and then replace
it. This is the simplest way without the hassles of re-installing all
of the drivers, applications, programs, etc., from their original discs.



A very strong ditto!

philo wrote:
On 11/06/2013 04:56 AM, Paul wrote:

snip
You can clone with Macrium Reflect Free, when your new hard drive
has been installed in a bay for that purpose.

(CNET download link, lower right, watch out for toolbars...)
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

*******

You can install a new hard drive directly in place of the
original C:.

Original New drive

-------- -----------

C: New drive
Drive2 Drive2
Drive3 Drive3
Drive4 Drive4



snip


To eliminate any possible chance for errors, I'd disconnect the other
drives while you clone the original C: drive

I have a nagging suspicion, there are actually four partitions
on a single hard drive. I am relying on the OP's observation
skills, that this is not the case, and there really are
four hard drives present.

Removing hard drives from the picture, is an excellent safety
suggestion, and one I use while doing dangerous things
to the computer.

Paul

Thanks for the suggestions.

So, if I can clone the "C" drive to any other of the 3 internal hard drives,
can I just remove the "C" drive after cloning and then replace it with
whichever drive I restore the cloned image to?


"Dell Christopher" wrote in message
m...

I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C" drive
is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the equation
all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various drivers. I
know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove it, do I need
to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well as reinstall the
drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I will assume I will also
need to install the various programs (Office, QuickBooks) I use on the new
primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

On 06/11/2013 16:58, Dell Christopher wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions.

So, if I can clone the "C" drive to any other of the 3 internal hard
drives, can I just remove the "C" drive after cloning and then replace
it with whichever drive I restore the cloned image to?


"Dell Christopher" wrote in message
m...

I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C" drive
is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the equation
all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various drivers. I
know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove it, do I need
to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well as reinstall the
drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I will assume I will also
need to install the various programs (Office, QuickBooks) I use on the new
primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

I a word, yes.
In several words, assuming one of the other drives has no data on
it that you need to keep, you would clone the existing C: drive to
the 'spare' drive, remove the old C: drive and set the BIOS to
boot from the 'spare' drive (which would now be the C: drive.)
Do you know how to change the boot order in the BIOS?
HTH
--
Rob

Yes, I believe I can find the BIOS setting.

Would I need to also change the jumper pegs on the replacement hard drive or
is that a thing of the past?


"Rob" wrote in message ...

On 06/11/2013 16:58, Dell Christopher wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions.

So, if I can clone the "C" drive to any other of the 3 internal hard
drives, can I just remove the "C" drive after cloning and then replace
it with whichever drive I restore the cloned image to?


"Dell Christopher" wrote in message
m...

I've got a clone PC with 3 additional internal hard drives. The "C" drive
is showing signs of failure and I want to just remove it from the equation
all together.

I have the Windows 7 disc, as well as the disc with the various drivers.
I
know Windows 7 is installed on the "C" drive so, if I remove it, do I need
to reinstall Windows 7 on one of the other drives as well as reinstall the
drivers (i.e. audio, video, network card, etc.)? I will assume I will
also
need to install the various programs (Office, QuickBooks) I use on the new
primary drive, too.

All input is appreciated. Thanks!

I a word, yes.
In several words, assuming one of the other drives has no data on
it that you need to keep, you would clone the existing C: drive to
the 'spare' drive, remove the old C: drive and set the BIOS to
boot from the 'spare' drive (which would now be the C: drive.)
Do you know how to change the boot order in the BIOS?
HTH
--
Rob

Dell Christopher wrote:
Yes, I believe I can find the BIOS setting.

Would I need to also change the jumper pegs on the replacement hard
drive or is that a thing of the past?


From a hardware perspective, SATA doesn't have Master and Slave,
so there is no jumper that performs that function.

For bookkeeping purposes, certain parts of the system
still think of the drives as being masters and slaves,
but they're playing "let's pretend" when doing so.

*******

IDE drives (using the ribbon cable), they have
jumper selections for features like Master/Slave/Cable_Select.
And for ribbon cable drives, you have to know what
those are for and how to apply the jumpers.

SATA drives do on occasion, need the usage of 2mm jumper plugs.
A major reason, is "slowing down" the cable speed, when
connecting a hard drive to a VIA chipset. That only affects
a small fraction of all motherboards out there.

Paul

On 11/6/2013 8:58 AM, Dell Christopher wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions.

So, if I can clone the "C" drive to any other of the 3 internal hard
drives, can I just remove the "C" drive after cloning and then replace
it with whichever drive I restore the cloned image to?

snipped

Just for clarity: 3 internal hard drives means 3
separate, hard drives, viz., D, E and F? Yes or
No? That is, Drive C is its own hard drive.

(Or HD1=C, HD2=D, HD3=E and HD4=F. If not, then
does HD1=C,D,E and F.)

If HD1=C alone, then clone just Drive C and leave
the others alone. Cloning Drive C to any one of the
other physical drives destroys the contents of that
drive.

If no (or HD1=C,D,E,F), clone the entire physical
drive consisting of internal, logical drives C, D,
E and F.

GR

On Wed, 6 Nov 2013 09:39:18 -0800, Dell Christopher wrote:

Yes, I believe I can find the BIOS setting.

Would I need to also change the jumper pegs on the replacement hard drive or
is that a thing of the past?

That is a thing of the past - by now, a fairly remote past.

1. It is unlikely that you will be able to find a new drive that is
compatible with your current computer (I might be unduly pessimistic,
but I haven't noticed any IDE drives around for a while).

2. You might not even be able to find a SATA controller card that is
compatible with your current motherboard.

And as Paul said, you won't have to, or be able to, change jumpers on a
new drive.

If I am indeed unduly pessimistic, others will surely correct me :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)