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XPS 8300, resurrect
I have a fairly old (~ 2011) XPS 8300 that I'm thinking of recovering.
It probably hasn't been used for at least 4 years & I switched it on, for the first time yesterday - I was amazed that it even started & I was expecting to have to replace the BIOS "Coin-Battery" before it would start - I'll probably replace it anyway!
It has Win7.1 loaded on it & it is an i7 CPU - it has a 1.8TB Samsung HDD. I know it has a fairly low grade Nvidia Card (I think its a GTX645 - but NOT certain) & I can't remember the amount of RAM (I think 6GB).
From memory, I couldn't remember if it was the 32 or 64 bit version of Windows! However, I did run an update on Firefox & it installed the latest 64-bit version! (Hence, Win7.1 must also be 64-bit).
I'm doing this as a "bit of an exercise" so it is not critical, but I'm hoping to get it to be a Basic Workhorse!
My thoughts are to:-
- To get another HDD (or possibly a SSD) & fully clone the new Drive.
- Swap out the Drives (making sure that, separately, BOTH still fully work).
- Upgrade to Win10 & establish new Drivers (if/when required) - obviously keeping one of the HDDs in reserved as a fallback if it goes wrong!
- If I'm wrong about the current Memory capacity, upgrade to either 8 or 16GB (if might do it as a brand new complete set, rather than mix/match).
- As a Workhorse, I'm NOT anticipating changing out the Graphics Card.
- Don't recall this having a history of Heating Problems, but I will check - if problematic, will consider updating Fans.
- Not proposing to change out the Case or any other dramatic/drastic modifications
Anyone have any particular comments/thoughts?
Would appreciate a recommendation for suitable software for Cloning the existing HDD to HDD/SSD!
Regards
wayneout423
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Posted May 22nd, 2020 06:00
I used macrium reflect free to do my clone. Worked slow but did the job.
Thanks for that, I can now confirm that I do have 64-bit Architecture!
Via Task Manager, I can see that I have 6GB RAM - hence I will leave it at that for the time being!
Although the HDD is 1.8TB, there is only about 200GB in use - since I already have a 500GB SSD, I'll try that. If everything is successful, I could always re-format the HDD to a clean & install that as a 2nd Drive!
Correction to my initial Post, have checked & my Graphics Card is a Nvidia GT545.
WIN7 COA for Home or Pro or Ultimate which is also "pro" can be used to activate OEM System builder WIN10 DVD.
You install with the "I don't have a key" option then use the WIN7 COA key to activate once online.
Does not matter what media you use home and pro are the same disk.
Not supported with 10 does not mean not working. All that is required is the OEM Drivers for Audio, Video, Chipset, etc.
You can use WIN7 WDDM drivers with 10 and it works fine.
If you have at least win7 you do not need to buy WIN10.
Older video cards that are at least Directx 9 capable work fine with Aero and win10.
You may need to install Legacy drivers for older ATI and Nvidia cards which is where the OEM drivers come in.
Vic384
6 Operator
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Posted May 22nd, 2020 05:00
Some SSDs and HDDs have cloning software that you can download for free. Samsung has Data Migration software for cloning. You can also use Macrium Reflect Free Edition.
The command 'wmic os get OSArchitecture' will tell you if you have 32-bit or 64-bit Windows.
Here is the manual and setup guide.
The maximum memory is 16GB (DDR3).