Removing Primary HD

i think im going to have to reinstall vista due to some issues and i was wondering at the moment i have it on a 120GB HD how do i go about restalling it but on a different HD?

as i want to get another 320GB western digital HD and place it on there

also i want to get a Q6600, will i need anything else for it to work?
any guides anywhere showing how to install it?

 

just set the boot to CD first and replace the hard drive. then install using the DVD, then install all the drivers after windows installs

 

what do yo umean about the HD? do i have to take out the HD or soemthing?

 

After you install the HDD, select the new HDD and not the old of to install vista on. When you install vista it gives you a choice to select advanced drive options, select that and choose the 320GB drive and not the 120GB drive.

 

oh great thanx.

im downloading all the drivers that im going to need.
im going to wait til i have the new HD, RAM and processor before i reinstall vista

anyone know where theres a guide on how to instal lthe processor?

 

heres a list of what im getting, what do you think?

Q6600
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=160291769237&Category=96868&_trksid=p3907.m29

2GB ram x 2
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2GB-DDR2-5300-667Mhz-PC2-SODIMM-RAM-LAPTOP-MEMORY-D_W0QQitemZ160172225179QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160172225179&_trkparms=72%3A1301|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

they dont have any 320GB hds, so ill have to keep looking
so im looking about £250 for everything

 

i was wondering would anything bad happen if i reinstall Vista on a new 320GB HD can i remove it and place it in the primary position will that be okay?

 

Are your drives independent, or RAIDed?

 

independent

 

Then I don't see how there would be any problem with installing _Vista on the new drive. Can you be any more specific about your concerns?

 

Provided you have the installation disks, just install the new hard drive, make sure the CD/DVD drive is set as the first boot device to check in the BIOS, and then stick the _Vista installation CDs in there, boot up, and install on the new hard drive.

Just to make sure _Vista doesn't get too tempted by the old drive - take it out for the time being while you do the installation of _Vista, then format it and stick it back in as the secondary or tertiary drive.

 

right i know how to do the BIOS stuff

but i dont quite understand what you mean by:

"Just to make sure _Vista doesn't get too tempted by the old drive - take it out for the time being while you do the installation of _Vista, then format it and stick it back in as the secondary or tertiary drive."

i wont be using the current 120GB HD as soon as i get my new 320GB HD.

 

well i have 2 drives insatlled at the moment. a 120GB (has vista installed) and a 320GB. i want to buy another 320GB HD and use that for vista and apps.

will i be able to take out the 320GB HD thats in the second bay
put new HD in
install vista on new HD
remove 120GB HD and 320GB HD
place 320GB HD (that has vista installed) in primary bay
place other 320GB HD in secondary bay

it seems like a lot to do, what do you think anything easier?

 

Add both 320GBs to the laptop, and install Vista on the primary HDD.

 

yeah but at the moment the 120Gb is in the primary bay, does that matter?

 

When you do it this way, you will have to use the Vista DVD again to fix the mbr and bootloader, since the bootloader was installed on the 120 GB, but this isn't a big problem at all. Another issue is that your new Vista won't be C:\, I believe it will stay as D:\, correct me if I'm wrong about this.

Why not install the new 320 HDD in the primary bay first, then install Vista?

 

well with the 120GB in it first will that matter?
if not then i will do it that way.

how do i add the 3rd Hard drive?

 

It won't matter, you just have to fix the bootloader with the Vista DVD. The drive letter thing is not really a real issue, it's just that some people prefer the primary OS as C:\. Even if it stays as D:\, it will still work normally.

What do you mean by add the 3rd HDD?

 

so i how do i fix the bootloader thing?
well i have two HD's installed but i believe the 9262 can use 3 how do i add it?

 

It would be much simpler if you took all the hdds out, formatted the one that currently has _Vista on it, and then installed the new hdds in the order you want them to be in. Then, start a whole new installation of _Vista from the CD/DVDs and install it onto the hard drive of your choosing. Since you want a 320GB drive in the primary position, put the new 320GB drive there.

With a clean installation in this manner, you shouldn't have to tinker with anything.

 

Ok, buy the 320GB HDD.
Then replace the 120GB HDD in the first bay, with the 320GB HDD in the 2nd bay. Then install the "newly bought" 320GB HDD in the 2nd bay.

Open the ODD, insert the Vista DVD, boot from it and install it on the 320GB HDD that is in the primary bay. Once the OS is installed on the HDD in the primary bay, there will be no bootloader stuff you would see as when dual-booting. The 2nd drive can be used as a dump drive. (You can partition the new 320GB drive in the secondary bay if it is raw)
[You can also clone the 120GB HDD onto the 320GB drive installed in the primary bay]

Whenever you would want to add the 3rd HDD, just pop it in, and boot. Check in the BIOS, if it is detected, and make a partition on the new drive if it is RAW.

If you want to RAID the drives, then its a slightly different scenario.

 

but i have an upgrade version of vista so it has to have a OS already installed, i guess i could take out my current 320GB HD, W drive, i odnt know why i picked that install vista on the new HD in that position, reformat the 120GB and install my current 320GB in that position and move the 120GB into the third bay?

where can i get instruction son how to install the third HD?

 

When the new 320 GB is in the primary bay with Vista installed:

1. Boot with the Vista DVD.

2. Select "Repair your computer".

3. Select the Vista installation, then select "Startup Repair".

I just checked the NP9262 spec, yes it can support up to 3 SATA HDDs.

Download the manual here:

http://64.208.175.44/pages/notebooks/download.cfm?ProductType=9262

The step-by-step HDD add/remove guide is on page 6-4.

 

that wouldnt work as i dont have the repair option

 

Clone the 120GB drive on to the 320GB drive that will be in the first bay. Then you have vista on the 320GB drive that is in the primary bay.
Then wipe out the 120GB drive, and use the HDDs in the 2nd (new 320GB) and 3rd (old 120GB) bay as dump drives.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3385292&postcount=7
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3787273&postcount=2

 

Best solution, I just read about the upgrade DVD.

 

after looking at the posts, can it still work if the HD is inside the laptop isstead of connected vai USB enclosure?

what will this actually do, will i still be able to play my games or will i have to reinstall them and my apps? and will i have to reinstall the drivers or anything?

 

Cloning means, you have the exact 120GB or ~111GB onto the new/old 320GB drive + the extra space.

You won't need to reinstall anything, just boot with the new cloned HDD.

Regarding the USB enclosure thing, I am not sure. I've never cloned a drive.
But, yes if the HDDs are detectable, you won't need to connect any of the drives externally.
I guess John Ratsey's soln/guide is for notebooks with a single HDD bay.
(You can PM John and clarify)

 

Agreed. If you're going to be using an upgrade CD/DVD (which needs a pre-existing installation to sit on top of), then cloning the existing installation onto the new drive first, swapping the drives out, and then using the upgrade CD/DVD is the best option.

To do this, use something like Acronis True Image 11 Home to clone the current installation on the 120GB hdd onto the new 320GB hdd while the 320GB hdd is inside an external enclosure and attached to the system via USB. Once the cloning is done, swap out the 120GB for the 320GB, set your partitions up as you'd like them, and then use the upgrade CD/DVD to upgrade the installation that's now sitting on the 320GB drive.

 

i just have pm'ed him
i think this might not be a good idea as i have ALOT of DCOM errors and it has been reccomended that i reinstall.

i guess i could do the clone thing and then do a reinstall on to the HD that has visat on it already, as from what i gather it wouldnt work installing it on the second bay and then changing the HD to the primary bay.

i guess it doesnt have to be in the primary bay for it to work? and i could just reinstall into the second bay and then replace the HD in the primary bay with my second 320GB drive?

does it have to be a USB enclosure?

 

Unless you have the ability to do a fresh installation on a virgin hdd (i.e., you have original, not upgrade-only CD/DVDs), you're going to have to live with using your current installation as the base from which to build on. That being said, I would first try to repair that installation as much as possible, including going back to the earliest restore point you still have saved, or using the repair partition (if you still have it), and do that on the current 120GB drive. Then, once you've got it back to original as much as possible, clone the 120GB drive onto the 320GB drive, swap drives, and do the upgrade installation onto the 320GB drive.

No, it doesn't have to be a USB enclosure - any enclosure that your system can read and write to as a drive will suffice (essentially, as long as your cloning app can see it and write to it, you'll be good).

 

Then that takes care of the problem, doesn't it? By the by, isn't this discussion exactly the same as the discussion we're having over on your other thread about removing the primary hdd? It'd be simpler if you asked the mods to merge the two threads.

 

i havent touched the repair partition, how do i use it?

 

yeah its kinda mergeed into the same thing, sorry
ill ask someone to merge them

 

right i would like to thank everyone who has helped me.

ive decided to do the following:

Buy Q6600 and 320GB HD
install the Q6600
remove current 320Gb hard drive
Place new 320GB in its palce
make a clone of 120GB onto the new HD
move the 320GB that now has Vista on it to the primary bay
place the old 320GB hard drive back into its orginal location
reinstall vista on the 320GB hard drive

 

Yay! Design by committee! Just kidding ArmageddonAsh

 

im hoping to buy the stuff from novatech today