500GB SSD

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Oh no more variables .....i am guessing i can only use an SSD on.my aged Pavillion DV6 3250 sa.

I am not trying to squeeze every last drop of performance out of the laptop but just not make school boy errors.

In fact i do need some advice relating to reinstalling......
I have a genuine windows home professional installed. BUT trying to create install discs failed and HP said i only get one chance.

If i want install discs i have to pay.
Is there anyway to create install discs now.

OR can i copy the hard disc to an external so i can reinstall to the SSD.

I am not sure i can clone the drive and include the hidden/install partition etc.

Download a copy of windows. Track down all the drivers required to run the network cards etc and wipe the lot.
Install from disk without the HP bloat.
Toshiba have downloads of all drivers required for there range would assume hp does too.

Was there any specific software you required to save

 

[ukracer]

...... Windows 8 was a disaster - nobody is going to disagree with you on that.
Windows 10 really isn't that far away from Windows 7, and a lot of stuff is far easier (especially hardware drivers, wifi connections etc.). For the sake of £20...?

Money is not the point...i dont like it....it does not look or feel like win 7 but will use it if i can get the screen to look like win 7 with a start menu instead of this poo.

Download a copy of windows. Track down all the drivers required to run the network cards etc and wipe the lot.
Install from disk without the HP bloat.
Toshiba have downloads of all drivers required for there range would assume hp does too.

Was there any specific software you required to save

If all else fails that will be the way i go.

Not sure what i need to save yet but i do have one program i might loose as its registered to that laptop and licence can be transfered.

That one program Vinyl Master Pro is the most important....lol

 

[Hood]

Not sure about W10 but on the other halfs W8 laptop I used a shell to make it look just like W7.

 

[Hood]

This is the one I use on W8 and it works well, says it works with W10 as well.

http://www.classicshell.net/

 

[ukracer]

Not sure about W10 but on the other halfs W8 laptop I used a shell to make it look just like W7.

I tried on the server as it came with windows 10 but it still was not quite right. I could play with it a bit though.

 

[ukracer]

This is the one I use on W8 and it works well, says it works with W10 as well.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Cheers hood. Thats the one i used on my plex server. Machine.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Money is not the point...i dont like it....it does not look or feel like win 7 but will use it if i can get the screen to look like win 7 with a start menu instead of this poo.

If all else fails that will be the way i go.

Not sure what i need to save yet but i do have one program i might loose as its registered to that laptop and licence can be transfered.

That one program Vinyl Master Pro is the most important....lol

As your using the same laptop should be non issue.
Check your original email for the key and re input on reinstalling.
If in doubt talk to the software owners to clarify.

 

[skotl]

Money is not the point...i dont like it....it does not look or feel like win 7 but will use it if i can get the screen to look like win 7 with a start menu instead of this poo.

If all else fails that will be the way i go.

Not sure what i need to save yet but i do have one program i might loose as its registered to that laptop and licence can be transfered.

That one program Vinyl Master Pro is the most important....lol

My windows 10 desktop looks awfully like your Windows 7 desktop

 

[Hood]

Doesn't look anything like mine

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Havent tried ten. 8 was awful and rolled a brand new laptop back to 7.

 

[130]

Oh no more variables .....i am guessing i can only use an SSD on.my aged Pavillion DV6 3250 sa.

I am not trying to squeeze every last drop of performance out of the laptop but just not make school boy errors.

In fact i do need some advice relating to reinstalling......
I have a genuine windows home professional installed. BUT trying to create install discs failed and HP said i only get one chance.

If i want install discs i have to pay.
Is there anyway to create install discs now.

OR can i copy the hard disc to an external so i can reinstall to the SSD.

I am not sure i can clone the drive and include the hidden/install partition etc.

Hard disc swap should not need a reinstall. Ideally slave both (different channels into another chassis, partition new and just copy partition contents over.

Or make a PXE boot CD, boot onto your network and dump the disc to NAS if you have one (disc on router maybe) then take out the drive, fit SSD and bring it back, maybe diskpart or similar

If the SSD needs drivers, make sure they are added to Windows before as easier.

 

[skotl]

Hard disc swap should not need a reinstall. Ideally slave both (different channels into another chassis, partition new and just copy partition contents over.

Or make a PXE boot CD, boot onto your network and dump the disc to NAS if you have one (disc on router maybe) then take out the drive, fit SSD and bring it back, maybe diskpart or similar

If the SSD needs drivers, make sure they are added to Windows before as easier.

With the best will intended, this is fair if you have all of the hardware / systems / expertise to hand. If it's a person with a single computer (laptop or whatever), and maybe not a ton of computer experience, then these steps will be very difficult to follow.

 

[130]

These steps are not comprehensive. Their are many Linux tools you can get if not using MS tools and burn to CD / DVD
The procedures are well documented in a press by press guide on many sites and you can often do it slowly with the SSD in an external USB caddy.
It also leaves the upgrader with their old HD in an antistatic bag so they have a complete roll back and NOTHING missing.

The above is like saying don't learn to drive if you don't know the highway code because you have not read it yet.

Re the HP recovery discs, their are often ways to run these with a bit of digging too even if you missed the alleged one chance.

 

[Farside]

I dont have windows 10. Surely microsoft cant force me run something i dont want to buy.

I dont have too much of a problem with windows 10 just its looks totally different and i hate the look. Surely some has created a way to make it feel like windows 7.

classicshell is your thing here - makes w10 look like w7 or XP and a host of other tweaks.
It opens the door to doing as much personalisation as you want.
http://www.classicshell.net/

 

[130]

classicshell is your thing here - makes w10 look like w7 or XP and a host of other tweaks.
It opens the door to doing as much personalisation as you want.
http://www.classicshell.net/

I don't like the interface
No one really liked XP Over 2k back in the day

You can't hold back the tide
Suck it up or the next one will be 3x the shock

Bright side is even though I dislike the "toy style" settings the real stuff is still there like 7 / XP mostly under control panel / admin tools / compmgmgt.msc and all the other useful stuff

 

[Kayos]

I used to go to the nth degree with fractionally faster ssd’s and memory, endlessly going through graphics card specs and bios settings as I thought it made a difference. The old desktop was an 8 core 4ghz with 32gb of fast ram and striped ssd’s

These days I have an i5 laptop with a Samsung and a Kingston ssd, 16gb of ram and a usb3 external drive and I can’t tell the difference to the old pc using lightroom, only thing that is slower is rendering videos after I’ve edited them but as my YouTube channel has 2 videos it’s not really an issue

 

[Hood]

I think you said you had TrueImage, if it is a fairly recent version you should be able to clone your drive easily, it can even be done without rebooting your computer in the latest versions
As it is a laptop you have then maybe getting a USB to SATA adapter would be an easy route to get both drives hooked up for cloning.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

There's something to be said for a proper fresh install. Get rid of all the junk get it reinstalled with everything required.
That's the moment to clone the drive.

 

[Hood]

Definitely but that is as long as software installed afterwards can easily be reinstalled. I have a few programmes that are a nightmare to re-register to update the licence so for me it is best just to clone. I have 2 ssd's in my computer (amongst other drives) but one is just a clone of the main one and is left unplugged, I update it every now and then. If my main SSD dies then it is, or should be , just a case of plugging it in and I am up and running again in seconds.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Definitely but that is as long as software installed afterwards can easily be reinstalled. I have a few programmes that are a nightmare to re-register to update the licence so for me it is best just to clone. I have 2 ssd's in my computer (amongst other drives) but one is just a clone of the main one and is left unplugged, I update it every now and then. If my main SSD dies then it is, or should be , just a case of plugging it in and I am up and running again in seconds.

Can relate. Not looking forward to the task of reinstalling all my various music softwares. Will take me a weekend tracking down keys and serials.