SOLVED replacing hard drive using recover disc

[corkerman]

My hard drive is in the process of crashing.I put in a new hard drive and loaded files from the recovery disc.Everything transfers to new disc but Windows will not install on new hard drive.Windows attempts to load and when setup starts loading services I get a pop up message ( Windows could not complete installation.to install Windows on this computer restart the installation ).I even tried cloning the old hard drive on the new one.same result when I try first boot after replacing with clone drive.Been stuck with this problem for a few days now any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TrainableMan]

I don't know, sorry, but have you seen/tried the ideas in THIS thread?

 

[corkerman]

thanks TrainableMan for the info.After I posted I decided to try to load XP onto the hard drive.It recognizes the mass storage device but is unable to complete installation.When I install the disc as a secondary storage drive it appears to be working fine.Unfortunately with my primary drive crashing I need this drive to replace my primary.

 

[TrainableMan]

Is your new drive huge? 2TB or more?

Did you have a W7 repair DVD?

If it is not 2TB or larger, clone the drive. then replace the original with the clone. Then pop in and boot up to the repair DVD which should fix the boot sector. Remove DVD and reboot. Does that work? Over 2TB I think could be sector issue. I mean you could this idea it but might be more to it.

 

[corkerman]

The disc is 1tb. Unfortunately I do not have a 7 repair disc.The computer was bought preloaded so all I have is a recovery disc.The recovery disc does load onto new disc and windows installs registry files then after first reboot I get error message.I formatted crashing disc and reloaded the recovery disc on it and windows loaded just fine on the bad disc.I'm not a computer pro this one has me stumped.

 

[TrainableMan]

It could take some time but you can download and burn a W7 SP1 DVD if you have a working machine and a blank DVD. It's a lot of work for something that "might work" so it's up to you but I don't know what else to try. W7 SP1 (choose 32 or 64-bit but be sure to get the version you have a key for: Home Prem, Pro, Ult). And you need software to burn it to the DVD that understands what an ISO is; if you don't have something then IMGBurn is excellent Freeware. See our Freeware DB for other program ideas/potential replacements as well.

When I can't get a clone to boot I pop in the W7 DVD but I don't know about your "Windows could not complete installation" error, that could mean there is an issue with your restore DVDs. If all else fails you could use the W7 SP1 to try a fresh install if it doesn't fix your issue.

The only issue with using the official Microsoft W7 SP1 DVD to install is that it will not include any special drivers or programs your manufacturer would have. Most of the programs, like trial-ware, you delete anyway but there are usually a few programs, for special keyboard keys or on-screen volume/brightness, etc. that are useful and you would have to get from the manufacturers website, find alternatives, or do without.

 

[corkerman]

Thanks TrainableMan for all the help.After trying everything I could think of I took your idea downloaded win 7 and used my key to activate. Everything worked fine.Windows loaded just fine without all the clutter that came with the computer when purchased.There was nothing vital that I had to have.

 

[TrainableMan]

I'm glad you got it working.

As I mentioned, the manufacturers website may a downloads/drivers section with any little utilities/tools you find are missing; it would also have the latest drivers. And our Freeware DB has some great programs and utilities too. I encourage you to check it out.