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Hard Drive Format
I have a Inspiron 660 with windows7. My hard drive is full and I would like to replace it ( I do not want to reformat the old one).My question is,how do I format a new hard drive then remove and replace my old one with the new one. Step by step instructions would be appreciated if someone can help.Thanks
osprey4
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May 16th, 2014 15:00
Hi Calel1,
I assume you want a larger drive but there's nothing wrong with your current drive. This makes the procedure fairly easy. Buy the new drive and an SATA data cable and install the drive according to your manual. Most drives now come with a utility to clone your old drive over to the new one, so you'd have an exact copy, but with more room.
An alternative is to just add the second drive for data, then move your personal files to that drive and retain the operating system on your old drive.
Philip_Yip
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May 17th, 2014 04:00
You may try backing up your old Windows installation using Acronis:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/backing-up-your-windows-installation-using-acronis/
You may then remove the old hard drive and replace it with the new one and backup the Acronis image.
Note you can also probably perform a direct clone if you have both drives installed but this may cause initial boot errors.