Transfer existing Hard Drive info to new Hard Drive

[Blazer5]

I have an HP Pavillion dv6500 laptop that originally was loaded with VISTA, but now is operating  with WINDOWS  7.   I do not have any INSTALL DISKS FOR vista or WINDOWS 7.  The laptop was originally owned by my daughter and she gave it to me after upgrading to a new laptop.  Last year I received notification via the laptop that I could upgrade to WINDOWS 10 for free.  After trying unsuccessfully numerous times to upgrade. I read the System Requirements for WINDOWS 10 and found that my laptop lacked the required free RAM, 16 GB.  I decided to replace  the original stock Hard Drive, 150 GB, with a new HD, 500 GB.

I am looking for the best way to transfer the data from the old HD to the new HD.  Please know that this is the first time that I have performed any type of work of this type on a PC device, so please be aware that I probably will ask questions or ask for clarification of your recommendations, so bare with me.

Thank you in advance!

[WAWood]

Blazer5

Let's correct a few things, first.

Win10 does not require 16GB of RAM; instead, it requires that much Disk Space.

Win10 requires only 1GB RAM (32-bit PC) or 2GB of RAM (64-bit PC).

As to transferring the data, there are two part to this -- the easy part and the hard part.

BOTH start the same way, by you purchasing a USB-to-Hard-Drive adapter and using that to connect the old drive to the PC.

But, you first need to determine if the old drive is IDE or SATA.  IDE drives have two rows of small pins on the back; SATA drive have two plastic connectors with contact strips on them.  IF it's an IDE drive, make sure that the Adapter you obtain handles IDE drives -- most new ones do NOT.

Then, after connecting the drive to the PC, you should get popups about opening a File Manager window for each of the partitions on the drive.  If the drive is still formatted the original way, the really large partition will have the OS and data files in it.

You should then be able to copy the data from this old drive to your PC simply by dragging and dropping in Windows Explorer.

That's the easy part ...

The hard part is that the files she saved under her user account will be protected, and while you MIGHT be able to copy them, you will NOT be able to open them -- this is by design.  This allows multiple folks, each with their own user ID, to use the same PC and not see each other's files.

To solve that, you will have to Take Ownership of her file folders on the old drive.  This is a tutorial from the Win7 forums about that:  http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html

Once you do that, you will then "own" the files and folders and can copy them to your drive and then use them.

Good Luck

[banhien]

Hi,

In your case, I think clone your existing HDD to new HDD is the way to go and it is much simpler. Please try the following steps

(a) Buy an external enclosure (using USB), you can reuse it. One of the following ones can do:

     http://www.msy.com.au/132-25-hdd-enclosure

(b) Put the NEW HDD to the enclosure,

(c) Download and install a clone software. I use paid software but you can try the following one (I've tested it):

       http://www.backup-utility.com/disk-clone-software.html

     then install it on your computer,

(d) Connect the NEW HDD (in the enclosure) to one USB port on your laptop,

(e) Run clone software, select source (old HDD) and target (new HDD) the clone.

(f) Swap old HDD and new HDD (put new HDD on the laptop).

(g) Reboot machine. Machine should run with new HDD.

Now C: will have 150GB and 350GB (500GB - 150GB) is free. You can merge to C: or make it as another drive.

Regards.

[Blazer5]

Hello Associate Dean.

I am very sorry my reply has taken so long.  I had an illness in he family that rquired my attention and ths is the first break where I could reply, even though I do not have the laptop with me.  When I attempted to perform the Windows 10 upgrade, there was no feedback on the display.  Knowing that Windows takes all long time to load and install, I let it  run for over an hour and sat next to the computer waiting for any type of notification.   There was nothing.  I decided to check the Windows 10 Systm Recommendations and that is where it stated that Windows 10 required 25GB of Disk Space, hence the reason for replacing my HD.  I only had 17GB of available space.

Re: Whether the Hard Drive is IDE or SATA?  A while back, I think I checked about a replacement knowing that sooner or later I would need to purchase a nw HD because most stock HDs are usually small.  I do not remember where I found it ( maybe HP Parts Surfer) that the stck HD was SATA and that is why I received a 500GB HD for Christmas

[Blazer5]

banhien,

I apologize for the tardiness of this reply, but thank you very much for you input on my issue.  An illness in my family requiring my attention, preventing me from replying sooner.  The links you provided also were very helpful.  I am reviewng both your recommendation along with another from WAWood to see which would be simpler for my tecnical ability.  

Thanks again,

Blazer 5

[Blazer5]

WAWood,

Re: you first need to determine if the old drive is IDE or SATA . 

Is there a software solution to verifying whether my existing Hard Drive is IDE or SATA without having to open up the laptop and  pulling out the Hard Drive? When I checked last year I thiink  I used a website that provided me thi information.  But in reviewing My Posts, I am unable to locate what that website (it might be an HP site) was.  I believe I provided the Serial Number for the laptop and the readout provided all h internal workings of the laptop.  I am not against pulling the old Drive, but if there is an easier way to retrieve the information, I would rather try that first. 

I would appreciate any assistance you can provide

I THINK I FOUND IT.  I looked at HP Parts Surfer and was able to locate  at a Hard  Drive replacement  and found the relacement Hard  Drive should be an SATA.  I found it using the Product Number and not the Serial Number