Hmu...

Do you have a external hard drive?

yes

use a program called ccleaner to format it and what exactly are you trying to copy to the new one?

I'm copying everything so I don't have to reinstall all of my programs

well windows wont let u copy the OS itself, but you can just copy and paste the stuff. it takes a long ass time but that may be wat u have to do. this is exactly why i like XP. much easier

You'd have to use norton ghost or something if you wanted to copy the OS too - even with XP.

that's what I used originally, but I still couldn't boot with the new drive

that could be because when u install the os it registers the hdd that u originally installed it to. as an example i tried copying my os to another hdd but it wouldnt read the os on another comp so the hdd i have in my comp now came from my old one and works just fine.

Did you change the boot sequence in the BIOS?
Did you do a full 1:1 copy of the drive (including the MBR)?

hmm it may have been the bios but it doesnt matter now lol i got 3 hard drives in my comp

The drive letter is something, which Windows itself should assign. Gimme a sec to boot up my notebook (I don't have 7 on my main rig - much less an English one).
Also there are only drive letters when there's a partition on the disk that Windows can read. If something went wrong during the copy process there's most likely not a readable partition on the drive.

Got it. Computer Management, Storage --> Disk Management.
You should see all recognised drives there, even the ones that don't have a drive letter assigned to them.

Sounds about on par with the "modern" Norton Ghost. I use R-Drive image myself these days to image/backup or copy.

You probably just need to assign a drive letter in disk management - I don't have my Windows 7 install handy so I don't know the exact steps to take to get to there in 7, but usually it's a right-click on "my computer" and then "manage" - or similar. it needs administrator privileges. The management console is then opened and has "disk management" in the left tree somewhere.

This opens an overview of your physical disks with the partitions on it. You can then manipulate the space on your drives by right-clicking the graphical representations of drive space, including formatting and everything. also, it has "change drive letter", which will allow you to assign a drive letter or change one.

I hope this information helps

The only method you really have is utilizing Norton Ghost to create a ISO of the drive. You then install the ISO onto the new harddrive.

Honestly... it's much better to start with a fresh format... or if all you're wanting is more space, you can have both harddrives in hte PC at once

If your new drive doesn't show up in 'My Computer', you'll have to do this to format the drive: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/.....disk-partition

If you want to copy your entire disk, you could try http://www.xxclone.com/ instead of Ghost

I'd still need to make it my new (C:) and then make it my boot drive, which I had problems with doing using ghost, but with all the trouble I've been going through with this I might as well start from scratch

if your computer can handle it I would say just use your new hard drive as a slave to your old one and just move all your files over that are not apps. just use your old one for what you have on it and when you install something need have it directed to your new hard drive. the program will be installed there but the dll files and such will be on the master hd.

There used to be an old program - I dunno if it'll run under Windows 7, since it was a command line program, way back when DOS was the operating system everyone used because there was nothing better. It was called xcopy. It would copy everything from one drive to another. Not sure if it'll work on drives as big as we use today, but if all else fails, maybe try that?

What you should do is boot up the computer with only the new drive in it. It should recognize that as the C:, then add the old drive, making sure that it is detected after the new one.