SOLVED Fresh install on replacement SSD - help please

[Henchard]

Hi, old guy here has a basic knowledge of things but no geek! Ihave also looked through as much info as I can but if someone could offer any further advice (or links) that would be great.

I have well specd desktop PC that is about 3 years old. Recently I had a major issue running Photosop that locked everything up. Nothing would work including CTRl ALT DEL. Eventually I had to do a hard reset and Windows would not run afterwards

I made a Windows 10 installation USB and tried some CHKDSK repairs etc and using DISKPART I could see my drives and volumes

Drives are

C: 4TB Sata
D: 4TB Sata
E: 480GB SSD with OS only
F: 960GB SSD

The Windows OS is on it's own SSD (Drive E) and I tried reformatting this, with a view to reinstalling there, but it said there was an I/O error.

I then used the CMD prompt to copy a few critical files (like passwords) off the old PC in case of things going really bad!

I'm assuming this SSD is corrupted.

I've now removed that from the computer and am awaiting delivery of a replacement. The replacement drive is identical (make and size)

Questions:

When I have installed the new SSD and want to reinstall Windows 10

1. Should I use DISKPART first to format and give the drive it's original drive letter E

or 2. Can I just let the Windows installation take care of this? Is there somewhere in the process to define the installation drive as E:

2. I'm not sure if I have the Windows activation code anywhere Is it correct that this should be in the motherboard and that it should be recognised as a legitimate windows installation?

Can anyone offer some advice as the best way to proceed please? I may have other questions but reckon that there may be people here with much more experience than me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Henchard]

Hi, old guy here has a basic knowledge of things but no geek! Ihave also looked through as much info as I can but if someone could offer any further advice (or links) that would be great.

I have well specd desktop PC that is about 3 years old. Recently I had a major issue running Photosop that locked everything up. Nothing would work including CTRl ALT DEL. Eventually I had to do a hard reset and Windows would not run afterwards

I made a Windows 10 installation USB and tried some CHKDSK repairs etc and using DISKPART I could see my drives and volumes

Drives are

C: 4TB Sata
D: 4TB Sata
E: 480GB SSD with OS only
F: 960GB SSD

The Windows OS is on it's own SSD (Drive E) and I tried reformatting this, with a view to reinstalling there, but it said there was an I/O error.

I then used the CMD prompt to copy a few critical files (like passwords) off the old PC in case of things going really bad!

I'm assuming this SSD is corrupted.

I've now removed that from the computer and am awaiting delivery of a replacement. The replacement drive is identical (make and size)

Questions:

When I have installed the new SSD and want to reinstall Windows 10

1. Should I use DISKPART first to format and give the drive it's original drive letter E

or 2. Can I just let the Windows installation take care of this? Is there somewhere in the process to define the installation drive as E:

2. I'm not sure if I have the Windows activation code anywhere Is it correct that this should be in the motherboard and that it should be recognised as a legitimate windows installation?

Can anyone offer some advice as the best way to proceed please? I may have other questions but reckon that there may be people here with much more experience than me.

Thanks in advance.

Subsequent to posting and having spoken to the computer builders who made it. They say the the OS would definitely have been installed on C: drive. So DISKPART is not reporting the drives as rhey were seen in Windows. They suggest disconnecting all the drives except the new SSD before installing Windows. Then connect the other drives back afterwords once Windows is back up and running on C:

I'll now give this a whirl when the drive arrives and will mark this as solved once things are sorted. If anyone has any other thoughts in the meantime please do add them.