Quote:
Originally Posted by Omahan
Hard drives are pretty cheap right now. I recently bought a 3 gig HD for less than $100 (I think about 75).
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A whole 3 gig?
The problem with a new drive is getting your data and programs on to it, especially in a laptop.
Reinstalling your computer and all the programs is one way to do it. Then you end up with a clean install. However, you need to figure out a way to save all your old data, figure out what to save, find all the install media, activation codes, etc.
There are some disk cloning programs that will copy the programs and data to a new disk and, hopefully, it will boot and work off the new disk. Some disk drives come with a cloning program when you buy them. These programs have varying degrees of success. One of the best is Acronis True Image. Some disks come with this, or you can buy the program online. You may even be able to get a free trial version that will work long enough to clone the disk and replace it.
On a laptop, another problem is to get both the old disk and the new disk attached at the same time. You may need to get an external USB enclosure. Then you have to find out if that enclosure will work with your cloning software. Then you have to figure out how to remove and replace your old hard disk. Newer laptops tend to make this a little easier, but it's not easy or well documented on some of them.
What ever happens, be sure you have a copy of the windows restore disk for your computer. Sometimes the computer comes with a copy of this disk, sometimes you have to make it yourself. Be sure you know where this is, you'll need it if your computer ever crashes severely enough that you have to reload it.