Put gandalf windows pe iso to hard drive

- A Step-by-Step Guide to Migrating Your Operating System to an External Drive

Introduction

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Are you tired of constantly reinstalling programs and settings on a new hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD)? If yes, then this article is for you! In today's era where computer hardware upgrades are common due to performance or space constraints, learning how to transfer your operating system (OS) from one storage device to another can save you a significant amount of time and effort. This guide will walk you through the process of moving your Windows OS from an internal hard drive to an external drive using WinPE.

Prerequisites

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Before we begin:

1. Ensure that both your old and new drives are compatible with each other (e.g., IDE/ATA, SATA III).

2. Back up all important data on your current drive.

3. Have a blank USB flash drive or CD/DVD handy for creating the bootable WinPE media.

Step 1: Prepare Your Old Hard Drive

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To start this process:

1. Connect both your old and new hard drives to different SATA ports if possible (IDE/ATA cables can also be used).

2. Power on your computer.

3. If you're using a UEFI firmware, press the appropriate key during bootup to enter BIOS settings; otherwise, press F10 or Del keys repeatedly until the Advanced Bios Setup Utility appears.

Under 'Advanced' tab:

- Set 'First Boot Device' as either SATA 0 (if old drive is connected here) or other corresponding port where your new SSD/HDD is installed.

4. Save changes and exit BIOS/UEFI settings by pressing F10/F12 keys depending on your motherboard model.

Step 2: Create WinPE Media

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To create a bootable Windows PE media:

1. Download the appropriate version of Windows AIK or later (e.g., Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool) from Microsoft's official website.

2. Run the downloaded file and follow prompts to extract all necessary files onto an empty directory on your C drive.

Step 3: Add Drivers to WinPE

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1. Open the extracted folder where you ran the Media Creation Tool earlier.

2. Double-click on 'Boot/ISOs' or similar depending upon which version of Windows PE you're using (e.g., Boot\Files for x86/x64).

Inside this directory, locate “sources” and then navigate into it.

3. Right click within the sources folder > New > Folder

4. Name your new folder something like 'drivers'.

Now copy all .inf/.sys files from C:\Windows\DriverStore or wherever they were stored on your original hard drive (e.g., Users/username/AppData Local/WimBloat/Audio etc.) into this newly created “drivers” directory within the WinPE media.

Step 4: Boot to Windows PE

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1. Insert a blank USB flash drive or CD/DVD with UEFI firmware support if needed.

2. Reboot your computer while holding down Shift+F10 for Win7/8/8.1, or Shift+F10 alone in newer versions (Win10 and later).

3. Follow on-screen instructions to boot from the media you've just created.

Step 5: Transfer Your OS

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Once booted into Windows PE:

1. Open Computer > Disk Management.

2. Right-click your current drive letter under 'Disk' section at left panel, then select 'Offline'.

3. Repeat this process for all partitions on that disk until only the System (C:) partition remains online.

Now you can proceed with migrating data from one hard drive to another using built-in tools like EaseUS Todo Backup or third-party software such as Acronis True Image:

a) Connect both source and target drives via SATA ports.

b) In Disk Management, right-click your destination SSD/HDD > Initialize Online (if prompted).

c) Right-click the unallocated space on your new drive where you want to install Windows OS > New Simple Volume.

Follow prompts until finished; then expand the newly created partition by double clicking it in Computer window and assigning a letter as needed (e.g., G:).

Step 6: Copy Files Over

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Now that both source and target drives are accessible:

1. Open File Explorer.

2. Navigate to your current OS drive (typically C:) > Users/yourUsername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temp or wherever you extracted the WinPE media earlier.

Select all files/folders within this directory, then right-click & choose 'Copy'.

3. Now navigate back up one level until you see a folder called “sources” - it should contain several subfolders including “boot”, “Boot”, etc.

4. Inside here find your newly created Win directories (e.g., Boot\Win10-18362\_x64) and paste the copied files/folders from step 2 into them.

Step 7: Reboot and Enjoy

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1. Once all copying is complete, safely disconnect your external hard drive/SSD.

2. Power down your computer again by pressing the power button for several seconds until it completely shuts off.

3. Plug back in your new SSD/HDD as primary boot device (or change UEFI firmware settings accordingly).

4. Press F10 or Del key to enter BIOS setup once booted up normally again; set 'First Boot Device' back to SATA 0/1 depending on where you've installed Windows OS.

5. Save changes & exit.

Your computer should now automatically reboot into the newly installed operating system!

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Congratulations! You have successfully transferred your entire operating system, including all applications and settings, from one hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD) to another using WinPE as a recovery media. This process can be particularly useful when dealing with failed or failing storage devices that require immediate replacement without losing precious data.

Remember always backup important files regularly before attempting any major hardware changes like this article describes!

Put gandalf windows pe iso to hard drive