Initializing an SSD.

[Steenamaroo]

2] If you buy a new computer, can you re-initialize / re-partition the space which is there?
Thanks.

You can.
Your OS will have a disk management section where you can format, erase, create partitions.

There usually isn't a need to do that with a new computer as the computer is likely to come with a fresh install of whatever OS,
and, if you wanted to install a different OS, choosing a partition to install would be part of the setup process and you'd be offered the same disk management tools there.

 

[R D Smith]

Since time is money, what I have been doing for the last 2 or 3 computers, is mirroring the existing hard drive, and then putting that drive in the new computer. I don't have to reinstall anything and it saves time and hassle. The most I have to do is update or install drivers for new hardware. When I went from spinning HDs to SSD. I put the new SSD in as a second drive, mirrored the old drive, switch primary drives in the bios, and I'm done.

Same thing at my day job, I would get a new computer every year or so, and reinstalling software etc. would take a day if nothing screwed up. I mention to the IT person what I do on my personal computers and he thought it was a good idea. He mirrored the drive on my old computer to the network, then onto the new computer. He was done in an hour and most of that time was the copying on the network so he could go do something else while that happened.

 

[TalismanRich]

Since time is money, what I have been doing for the last 2 or 3 computers, is mirroring the existing hard drive, and then putting that drive in the new computer. I don't have to reinstall anything and it saves time and hassle. The most I have to do is update or install drivers for new hardware. When I went from spinning HDs to SSD. I put the new SSD in as a second drive, mirrored the old drive, switch primary drives in the bios, and I'm done.

Same thing at my day job, I would get a new computer every year or so, and reinstalling software etc. would take a day if nothing screwed up. I mention to the IT person what I do on my personal computers and he thought it was a good idea. He mirrored the drive on my old computer to the network, then onto the new computer. He was done in an hour and most of that time was the copying on the network so he could go do something else while that happened.

RD, I think that Win 10 and 11 link things like the CPU and motherboard information as part of the licensing. This was done to stop people from buying one copy of Windows and installing it on different computers (not like we ever did that ....). Does your license information carry through to your new computers? I seem to remember that MS allowed certain changes, like if you upgraded your CPU, that was one.

I also think that there is a way that you can pull your license information, make the changes and then reactivate with the new hardware.

 

[TalismanRich]

I found this about hardware changes.

How to Reactivate Windows 10 After a Hardware Change

Your PC had a catastrophic failure or you made extensive upgrades. Now you can't log into it. This guide shows you how to reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[Eleanor Fudd]

Is the computer in question a laptop?

No, it's DELL SFF:

 

[ecc83]

I suppose, if you are buying a new laptop you can usually specify the drive size you want? If you go for 1 or 2 TBs then I guess it is worth creating a separate partition for storage? But if you can ensure the machine will take a second SSD then you can save a few bob and have a 256G say "C" drive and install a biggy later?

Just a point

I found this about hardware changes.

How to Reactivate Windows 10 After a Hardware Change

Your PC had a catastrophic failure or you made extensive upgrades. Now you can't log into it. This guide shows you how to reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change.

www.howtogeek.com

Rich, do you know how to stop the blasted ads on that Geeks forum? I used it for years and yes, got the odd ad but once cleared things were fine. Now I cannot get rid at all.

Dave.

 

[TalismanRich]

Dave, I use Adaware and AdBlock+ in Firefox. It blocks lots of ads. Some sites will pop up windows saying you must disable to view things. You can whitelist for that view, or do as I do, just fire up Edge for that page, then back to Firefox.

I checked HowToGeek and the two programs together blocked a total of 14 instances.

 

[R D Smith]

RD, I think that Win 10 and 11 link things like the CPU and motherboard information as part of the licensing. This was done to stop people from buying one copy of Windows and installing it on different computers (not like we ever did that ....). Does your license information carry through to your new computers? I seem to remember that MS allowed certain changes, like if you upgraded your CPU, that was one.

I also think that there is a way that you can pull your license information, make the changes and then reactivate with the new hardware.

The most I have ever had to do is re-enter the license code from my original disc. My Win 10 license is based on my Win 7 pro license, and that didn't cause any problems either. I don't remember having to do it last time. But, keep in mind that I am not doing a operating system install, I'm just moving the SSD from the old box to the new one.

 

[TalismanRich]

The most I have ever had to do is re-enter the license code from my original disc. My Win 10 license is based on my Win 7 pro license, and that didn't cause any problems either. I don't remember having to do it last time. But, keep in mind that I am not doing a operating system install, I'm just moving the SSD from the old box to the new one.

That might be a difference, as the digital license it tied to the hardware. Using the old activation number system must be different.

 

[ecc83]

That might be a difference, as the digital license it tied to the hardware. Using the old activation number system must be different.

A few observations? I found upgrading a W7 PC to W10 (way too old for 11) to be an almost impossible task but then found a service that "said" they could do it by taking over my PC and doing the install. Naturally I was VERY wary but since the PC had a virgin SSD fitted, i.e zero personal data on it, I decided to go ahead. For 17 quid why not? It went swimmingly! Took almost an hour and was both fascinating and scary watching the cursor whizz about but it is all sorted.

I have no idea how the guys got an activation code for ten but I have had no bother from Msft. If peeps don't have their OS key to hand you can find it out by running "Belarc Advisor"...must do that meself! There are probably other ways to find it?

Dave.

 

[R D Smith]

That might be a difference, as the digital license it tied to the hardware. Using the old activation number system must be different.

Could be Rich, when I upgraded my Dell laptop from a 500 G to 2 TB SSD, the Win 10 pro license from Dell does appear to be tied to the hardware (or it could be the drive itself). After mirroring the original 500 G drive and replacing it with the 2 TB, there was a process to have the computer recognize the new drive. After that, everything worked with no issues.

A few observations? I found upgrading a W7 PC to W10 (way too old for 11) to be an almost impossible task but then found a service that "said" they could do it by taking over my PC and doing the install. Naturally I was VERY wary but since the PC had a virgin SSD fitted, i.e zero personal data on it, I decided to go ahead. For 17 quid why not? It went swimmingly! Took almost an hour and was both fascinating and scary watching the cursor whizz about but it is all sorted.

I have no idea how the guys got an activation code for ten but I have had no bother from Msft. If peeps don't have their OS key to hand you can find it out by running "Belarc Advisor"...must do that meself! There are probably other ways to find it?

Dave.

I have not had any problems upgrading the operating system. But as I mentioned above, my original OS was installed from my original Win 7 Pro disc. When I upgraded that to Win 10 Pro, it went smoothly. I have always built my own computers, and I have multiple drives in my workstation computer. The main drive (C and 2 other drives. One for daily and incremental backups from software, and one that the C: drive was mirrored to weekly. Because of the redundancy, I never really worried, and I never had a drive failure. Now that I'm retired, I'll mirror the C: drive a couple times a year just to backup everything.

 

[TalismanRich]

I don't think hard drives themselves (or SSDs) are considered part of the hardware since they are more prone to failure than the CPU or motherboard. Likewise RAM is often swapped or upgraded. I've cloned hard drives, without issue. CPUs and most motherboards have identifiable embedded ID information.

 

[R D Smith]

I don't think hard drives themselves (or SSDs) are considered part of the hardware since they are more prone to failure than the CPU or motherboard. Likewise RAM is often swapped or upgraded. I've cloned hard drives, without issue. CPUs and most motherboards have identifiable embedded ID information.

Could be, but I think the Dell bios looks at the drive serial number, and if it doesn't match, it won't read it. There was a process I had to use to have it read the new drive. I don't remember the details but it is on Dell's support site.

 

[ecc83]

Could be Rich, when I upgraded my Dell laptop from a 500 G to 2 TB SSD, the Win 10 pro license from Dell does appear to be tied to the hardware (or it could be the drive itself). After mirroring the original 500 G drive and replacing it with the 2 TB, there was a process to have the computer recognize the new drive. After that, everything worked with no issues.


I have not had any problems upgrading the operating system. But as I mentioned above, my original OS was installed from my original Win 7 Pro disc. When I upgraded that to Win 10 Pro, it went smoothly. I have always built my own computers, and I have multiple drives in my workstation computer. The main drive (C and 2 other drives. One for daily and incremental backups from software, and one that the C: drive was mirrored to weekly. Because of the redundancy, I never really worried, and I never had a drive failure. Now that I'm retired, I'll mirror the C: drive a couple times a year just to backup everything.

The computer I upgraded I did build myself. Asus MOBO with an AMD 6core 3.5G with 10G of ram. I bought a 32 and 64 bit proper Ms disc set, over 100quid. My problem was I could never download a W10 ISO file. The guys that sorted it ran into the same problem but they fixed it!

Dave.