Have you joined the DF discord server. https://discord.com/invite/YajVGQxDaw
There are tools that can read the activation code from your existing installation and then you can easily reinstall.
I would take Evilsatan up on his offer as tbh a fresh installation is ALWAYS best and comes with speed improvements just for doing that. I always regret cloning an OS for someone.
Teajunkie (13th March 2018)
I will take him up on his offer if I knew what it was
just need to know what I have to do.
Have you joined the DF discord server. https://discord.com/invite/YajVGQxDaw
Windows10 is a digital certificate so you just install clean and it activates itself, easiest of the lot and you can download the installation media direct from Microsoft:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/soft...d/windows10ISO
Use the tool to create a USB boot media or ISO to burn to a DVD (think it needs to be a dual layer so USB is better), disconnect the HDD, connect the SSD, boot to the install media and install the same version you have now (its important to install home version if that's what you are on already for it to activate).
Teajunkie (13th March 2018)
Just get whatever version of Windows 10 downloaded that is on your PC now and install it. MS have the downloads on their website with a tool to make USB etc
Then Mr Satan can help you sort your legit key or I am happy to help in "alternative" ways.
Get whatever keys out of your legit Windows first if possible.
Teajunkie (13th March 2018)
Thanks lads will give this a bash tomorrow.
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Ok good news.
Ssd installed using link for windows thanks evil
activated itself so bonus and hassle free.
now I connected the original drive up to a usb hdd caddy to copy across the files from my documents and folders.
as it turns out the drives formatted in gpt so I can’t actually access the files now.
So so if there’s an easy way to copy my stuff please help as I’m using a easeus recovery tool to get the data but it’s going to take 10 hours just to search the drive and god knows if it’s even going to find what I need?
Have you joined the DF discord server. https://discord.com/invite/YajVGQxDaw
you may be able to boot from the HDD whilst in the caddy and then copy to the SSD if it's available or copy to a USB stick to transfer to the SSD. Unless you have a NAS etc?
As above is the easiest way. Boot from your old HDD & copy to the SSD. GPT is a massive pain in the arse.
When I got a new SSD I backed up my c drive onto another drive I had on my system
then I made a boot usb by using Acronis True Image. onto a spare usb stick
I then turned off the pc, removed the old drive, put in the SSD, booted from the new usb bootdisk and set Acronis to restore the drive, it complained a bit saying it was too big etc etc but I just told it to get on with it
remember when you backup your original drive to copy also all them lil extra partitions windows creates for no bloody reason. it should then reboot from the SSD, if you get a INT or whatever fault then you haven't copied all the partition boot info when you did the original backup, also make sure you use sector copy as you want a like for like dump onto you new SSD
this is also a good read
https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to...ws-10-3663261/
How to clone a hard drive using software
The cheapest way to copy the contents of a hard drive to another is to use software.
There are a couple of free options, but you’ll quickly discover that many ‘free’ cloners are limited in some way and won’t do what you need unless you pay for the full version.
If you want the most flexibility and an interface that’s easy to use, you’ll probably want to spend some money.
It’s worth knowing that you can buy some SSDs as ‘upgrade kits’ which come with more than just the bare drive. Some include a USB-to-SATA cable and software so you can clone your laptop’s disk to the SSD without having to take the old disk out and find a PC that will let you attach both drives.
But if you do need to find yourself some cloning software, here are some free options to investigate:
Free hard drive cloning software
Paid-for hard drive cloning software
Paragon is one of the best-known names in cloning software and has two packages which cater for different scenarios.
One is Drive Copy 15 Professional. It costs a very reasonable £26.99 (US$39.95) and supports Windows 10.
It does everything you would expect, including cloning to a smaller-capacity disk by excluding files if there's not enough space. It even supports cloning to virtual machines so you can work with older apps which aren’t supported in Windows 10.
Teajunkie (16th March 2018)
Personally, I'd have installed fresh rather than cloning. The speed Windows installs to the new SSD is minutes and transfering anything require from the HDD over would be blisteringly quick anyway.
I think, cloning it is giving you more headaches than it's worth.
Can you not just initialise the disk in Disk Manager? I forget it's been so long, but surely Windows can read a drive that MBR or GPT after its online?
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Teajunkie (16th March 2018)
I did do a fresh install.
i can’t initialise the disk as storage manager only sees the disk but doesn’t allow any changes not even a format!
i will try booting to it from usb but I’m not holding out hope.
Theres not not much I need to copy, it’s only around 500mb and I was going to copy that from the drive then format it
ill let you know how it goes.
Have you joined the DF discord server. https://discord.com/invite/YajVGQxDaw
Mickey (15th March 2018)
If it wont let you format just open a command prompt as admin, then use diskpart to remove partitions etc job done
diskpart
then type help for commands as I forget exact commands
basically get it to list the disks attached (it numbers them)
then select disk 'x'
then remove partitions
create new if you want or you can just do that in windows disk manager
Teajunkie (16th March 2018)
I’d be careful adjusting any partitions before you’ve grabbed your data. At worst you should be able to put your HDD back in the machine, boot it up and copy your data to a USB stick then put the SSD back in.
Teajunkie (16th March 2018)
Paragon is the way and if you look in those dodgy places you can find one of those lifetime trial additions ;-)
Also make sure you do the "winsat disk" command if you are cloning so windows knows it is now installed on a SSD rather than a HDD so it manages the disk better.
Teajunkie (16th March 2018)
It doesn’t boot fro usb and reading other sites the only way to read it is to connect it back into the machine and grab the data.
so I guess that’s what I’m going to have to do later today.
What a pain in the arse this has been.
Well im going to grab what I want and format the drive to ntfs and stick it in the server.
its only a 2tb drive but I can move some of those old tv series onto it and make room for some new stuff.
Have you joined the DF discord server. https://discord.com/invite/YajVGQxDaw
Look on the bright side, the time lost pissing about will soon me recovered in savings in the future!!
Occasionally these routine jobs throw some spanner’s in the works, It’s about how you adapt to them and that’s what DF is for
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