Reinstalling Win 10 for free on 85 year old friend's computer

[Caveman]

An old friend of mine has a 6 year old Lenovo Laptop that came with Win 7 (or 8) and he upgraded to Win 10 when it came out. Now, I need to give him an SSD and some more RAM and reload the OS. Is there a way to use his existing install to create a fresh install of Win 10?

 

[Ketchup]

The SSD probably comes with cloning software, or a download link to it. Just clone the hard drive to the SSD. You can do a fresh install, but you don't have to.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If his current installation is activated, just make a Win10 install USB using MCT, pull the HDD, and install the SSD, and either clone the HDD installation, or install the same edition of Win10 off of the USB and it should activate when you get online.

Edit: Came into this thread, expecting pictures of an 85-year old PC. I am disappoint.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Is there a way to use his existing install to create a fresh install of Win 10?

There is actually. But if the install is properly activated, you can just do a clean install. Activation will happen automatically when you connect to the internet. If you need install media, there is no reason not to use MS own Media Creation Tool. Just requires an empty flashdrive or you can make a burnable ISO.

The other way is cloning the existing install to the new SSD, then use the Windows reset feature. This will keep all user files and apps in place, but effectively reinstall Windows. It's slightly more convoluted, but can be worthwhile if you're not sure where everything is.

Whatever you do, I'd recommend make an image of the drive before doing else.

 

[balloonshark]

If you decide to do the clone here is a temporary deal for a 2.5" external drive enclosure for $7. Promo code NEFPBL74
https://flash.newegg.com/Product/N82E16816124108

They also make cables like this that would work. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812400542

 

[VirtualLarry]

They also make cables like this that would work. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812400542

I've used that particular one, and recommend it highly.

 

[Caveman]

Thanks for the info. I've got an Apricorn Drivewire: http://www.apricorn.com/media/uploads/DriveWire_Manual_rev7_14.pdf

I'm going to read up on the clone operation tonight and see if I can figure out how to make this happen... I think my biggest questions will be how to deal with all the partitions. My understanding is that the computer came with Win 8 and was updated to Win 10 a few years back... Trying to understand which partitions need to be cloned - all of them?

 

[Ketchup]

A true drive clone will make a true copy of all partitions.

 

[Caveman]

The current drive is a 500 GB HDD to be cloned to a 250 GB SSD. Is it correct to assume only the fractionally small "used" portions of the HDD will clone over, leaving the free space to be whatever balance of the 250GB remains? In other words, a cloned drive does not have to have the same capacity of the drive it's coming from, yes?

 

[corkyg]

As long as your cloneware allows proportional cloning, the drives do not haveto be the same size. I always clone from bootable cloneware media, never from within Windows, and I always use Proportional Cloning.

 

[Ketchup]

That is correct.

 

[Caveman]

"I always clone from bootable cloneware media, never from within Windows, and I always use Proportional Cloning."

Do you know of any freeware that is bootable? If not is this really a concern? I'd like to try this ASAP tonight...

 

[Ketchup]

EaseUS todo backup is what I always use:
https://www.easeus.com/backup-utility/copy-and-clone-hard-drive.html

 

[corkyg]

EaseUS as stated above and Macrium Reflect.