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new hard drive
Can some please tell me how to put windows on a new hard drive?
Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
141 Posts
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7170
Can some please tell me how to put windows on a new hard drive?
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ejn63
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January 13th, 2015 06:00
It depends on:
1. Whether you have recovery media (if you don't, you'll need to contact Dell for that first),
2. The operating system version.
3. The system model and whether the media is on a flash drive or CD/DVD, and whether the system has a CD/DVD drive.
we'll need to know the answers to all three before we can assist.
VAVB05_Site_Rep
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January 13th, 2015 11:00
Hi Julie,
I would kindly add that installing a version of Microsoft Windows may not be your only goal, but setting the laptop up with a "Recovery Partition" the same way it was originally shipped from the factor *might* be very useful.
ENJ63 has started you off in the right direction, for sure.
The Recovery partition, for you and anyone else that might need the information, is a special "section" set aside on the hard drive with all the software necessary to install the laptop's original "from the factory" configuration. This partition is exactly like having an extra drawer in a filing cabinet that you never use and keep closed, but which would reset a "business office" back to Day One when everything had a purpose and was in its most handy place! Such as:
I often deal with laptop hardware owned and used in corporate settings where the original Dell configuration has been wiped out, including the Recovery partition, in favor of following the approved "Corporate model" for Operating Systems (O.S.es) and Applications (third-party programs). Businesses routinely use another method to "slick and reload" the computers in their settings, but in the end it all accomplishes the same thing.
I mention this only because IF you really love the laptop and see yourself keeping it until the "wheels fall off", then creating an "external image" of the computer AFTER it is reloaded might be a great idea for you also! There may be software from Dell that can create "Restore media" that does not rely on the hidden partition in order to recover the system, and you can even "Snapshot" (take an image of) the computer AFTER Windows is installed and any additional software is installed (such as Microsoft Office, Anti-virus, Firefox, etc.).
The advantage of this is if your system gets spyware, malware or other corruption say 6 months from now, you can simply wipe the whole thing out and begin again. This may sound intimidating, but it can be really useful too! The only proviso is the further you get away from the day the Snapshot was made, the more Updates and Security Patches will be needed to bring the system up to TODAY's full level of security and anti-virus compliance. So, a system image that is two years old is not as "valuable" as one made a month ago.
I hope this extra insight is of some use to you! Good luck.