The hard drive is an intrinsic part of the computer and has a limited life span. Hard drives not only form the basis of our computing but, the use of computers comes down to manipulating data, and the hard drive is, of course, where we store all our data; family albums, music, work documents, email, and the list goes on. However, the hard drive being the few mechanical device present in modern computing systems is, unfortunately, destined to die eventually.
If you are among those unlucky folks, this post will guide you on how to replace the hard drive of your laptop And reinstall the operating system.
When using a desktop or a laptop, you will have to change your hard disk at some point either your original drive has failed or you are just looking for extra storage it’s important to learn to recognize the warning signs of an imminent hard drive failure since you might not have the budget for an extensive backup system, so you can rescue all that data before it’s lost—sometimes forever, not retrievable at any cost. Hence, to determine if your hard disk is bound to failure, one should look for these signs:
- The emergence of corrupted files on your hard drive
- Un usual noises emanating from your hard drive
- Computer slowing down without any visible problem
- Computer overheating
- Frequent computer crashes and freezes
- Overall sluggish performance
However, these symptoms are taken into consideration when administrating a hard drive failure, but it must be kept in mind that hard drive failure can sometimes occur without any warning. So, it is necessary to always have a backup plan to save the data regularly and do not wait until the last minute when the software system sounds the alarm. You don’t know how important the data is until it is too late!
If you determine that you will eventually experience a hard disk failure, it is advisory to have a backup plan before the hard disk failure, which could result in loss of important data
Back up your Data
The foremost step you can prevail is to back up your data beforehand on your second drive. You could also use an online backup solution like OneDrive or Google Drive. If you’re using Microsoft Office, consider upgrading to a Microsoft 365 subscription, which gives you the latest version of Office and 1TB of OneDrive storage.
Choosing A New Hard Drive
Choosing a new hard drive might be the most important step as many factors contribute to the overall working of the hard drive
The factors include
- Storage capacity of the hard drive
- Rotational speed
- Interface type
- Cache space
Moreover, it is highly recommended by professionals to purchase the newer SSD drives instead of the older HDD because the newer hard drives generally perform better and faster.
Install The New Drive
After safely backing up your essential data into a new hard disk. The next step is to reinstall the essential information into the new hard drive
This step might require a little bit of handy work but can be done in a matter of minutes. To perform this step, turn your laptop downside. It should be kept in mind that all laptops differ in designs and orientation, but most laptops have an enclosure for the hard drive placed behind the panel which is secured with a set of screws.
Carefully remove the screws and you will observe the hard disk enclosed in the metal cage. Carefully remove the old hard disk and place the new hard disk in the metal cage, make sure that the new hard disk is correctly oriented onto the metal cage
Reinstalling The Operating System
After putting the hard drive in – the next step is to re-install the operating system which might be the hardest step if not done correctly.
Reinstallation Works Best If
The manufacturer supplied a restore disk with the computer. That disk returns a PC to its original factory-delivered state. If you don’t have a restore disk, you have to perform an ordinary installation from the original Windows discs.
Your computer can start, and you can get to the operating system.
You can make backup copies of all your data.
These facts should be taken into consideration as they can make your reinstallation process go swiftly with ease
Step 1: Plug your desktop or laptop and power it on
Step 2: Click on the option of start-up menu access on the option to access boot menu to change the boot order so that your laptop or desktop boots from the CD and then the hard drive
Step 3: Follow the prompt to format and install the operating system on your new hard drive. You can be able to use the default settings to not complicate things more
Step 4: The final step of this process is to restart your computer but eventually you will be asked to restart your computer. The computer may restart on its several times until its finished
Once the computer has restarted, you will be able to log into your new operating system now, you are ready to use your new hard drive
Reinstall Your Programs and Files
You are just one step away from having a newly installed hard drive working desktop. You can start by re-installing the programs and applications you want on your laptop. Or just restore the programs on your desktop.
Enjoy The New Drive
Carefully follow all the steps, and once you are done – your new hard drive will be good to go. Make sure to check up on your hard drive once in a while to ensure it does not get corrupted.