Replacing a hard drive in my Dell lap top

Hi Lpuff,

The normal procedure is:

1. Start your laptop and use Windows Backup to back up your files.

2. Shut down the laptop, and swap in the new hard drive.

3. Reinstall Windows, drivers and your applications (see my link below).

4. Use Windows Backup to restore your files.

I'm good with replacing hard drive. Then what next? I have the system restore discs and a full back up of my files. It's using the system restore disc to set up new hard drive that confuses me.

Thanks for fast response.

We need to know what system model you have, and what operating system and version before we can point you to the correct instructions.

Thanks for fast response.  It's a Dell lap top model Studio 1747. It came installed with Windows 7 Pro. I got it in 2010.

A little history on how this occurred in case it might help.  I had to do a factory restore to hard drive back in December because of an issue.  Dell technicians on line talked me through this.  All worked well for a few days then all of a sudden I lost all ability to connect to the internet, either by wireless or direct cable connection.  It just kept saying my network adapters were missing.

I contacted Dell again and they had me run a diagnostic on it.  The error code came up for the hard drive as: 2000-0146.  Dell told me I needed a new hard drive. I wanted to send it in for repair but technician told me they didn't have a hard drive for it and told me to take it someplace else.

When I went on line and logged in under my service tag, it showed that they had a 750 GB 7200 rpm sata HD that would work, so I ordered it and have it now.  The original hard drive was a 500 GB

I have the system restore discs that I created when I bought the computer. We used them back in December to restore the old hard drive back to factory settings. I've also done a back up, using windows back up of what is currently on my system.  It is on an external hard drive.

For me. changing out the drives is relatively easy but after that I am lost. I looked on line for guidance on how to set up new drive and restore it back to what I had but I cannot find anything that resembles my circumstances.   I can follow instructions pretty easily but I'm not computer savvy enough to do this myself.

Any assistance you can provide would be helpful.  It's either that or pay someone like the Geek squad $150.00.

Thanks for your time.

Laird Poff

With the first of the backup DVDs in the drive, press F12 a few times at powerup and boot to the DVD drive (remember to "press any key" when indicated).  Follow the prompts - that will restore the system back to the way it came from Dell.

Once that's done, run all Windows critical and important updates on the system.

Depending on what and how you backed up, you can then restore either your data files or the Windows backup image (it will only be a complete system image if you chose that when you made the backup). If it's not a complete image, you can still restore your data files, but will need to manually reinstall any applications you added after you received the system.

Likely they don't work. You made them with Dell DataSafe Local Backup which did not allow reinstallation on a new hard drive. There are also issues with DVD media created in Dell DataSafe Local Backup and Dell Backup and Recovery. From my experience on the forums most people who used DVD media ended up with corrupt Recovery Media.

Since you have the 0146/0142 error you are unlikely to be able to make a Factory Backup (Bootable USB Flash Drive) using Dell Backup and Recovery which fixes the limitations with Dell DataSafe Local Backup. Still you can try to follow the instructions here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery/

This system is likely out of warranty and Microsoft have broke the Digital Distribution to Windows 7 so it locks out Dell OEM licenses. You could install Windows 10 Technical Preview and then see if Microsoft allow you to get your free upgrade to Windows 10 when the RTM is released:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/

For me. changing out the drives is relatively easy but after that I am lost. I looked on line for guidance on how to set up new drive and restore it back to what I had but I cannot find anything that resembles my circumstances.   I can follow instructions pretty easily but I'm not computer savvy enough to do this myself.

Newegg has Acronis TrueImage on sale, and that will duplicate the contents of the old hard drive onto the new one, so that nothing needs to be reinstalled and no data is lost (provided that the old hard drive is not defective).

Reading all this info is confusing lol. I Neva backed up nothing, I just took old hard drive out and put new one in,  plz help??

Reading all this info is confusing lol. I Neva backed up nothing, I just took old hard drive out and put new one in,  plz help??

Model of Dell and version of Windows?

Actually have the same problem as deeobz15, I have a Dell inspiron I5 3521 with widows 8.0 pre installed. My hard drive failed recently, and I foolishly did not make any backups beforehand. Please help, the feeling of not having my laptop is infuriating.

Actually have the same problem as deeobz15, I have a Dell inspiron I5 3521 with widows 8.0 pre installed. My hard drive failed recently, and I foolishly did not make any backups beforehand. Please help, the feeling of not having my laptop is infuriating.

Answered in your other post HERE:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/disk-drives/f/3534/p/19650951/20816558#20816558

Bev.