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I need to install fresh windows 10 on my HDD already containing important data (and unfortunately it's all stored on one partition). What's more, all I can work with is pendrive with windows installation tool, as my ssd died and I'm nowhere near any other computer. I've been given advice to try to shrink current partition using diskpart/shrink and then create partition from newly form unallocated space, but I'm not sure if my data won't get corrupted in the process. Please advise best course of action.

@edit

The data on HDD does not contain any windows installation, so keeping 'old' installation is not possible.

Nik4st
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2 Answers2

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Welcome to SuperUser!

Like older versions of Windows, if you choose to do a 'custom installation' i.e. install Windows from fresh, choosing the same partition as the old Windows, you should get a prompt telling you that the old files will be kept in a folder called Windows.old, provided there's enough space for the old and new Windows on that partition. You can then browse it when setup is finished and recover whatever you need.

See this answer for more info about Windows.old.

It's certainly worth uninstalling as much stuff as possible before doing this, so there's less space wasted when it's moved to the new location. You should also make sure you aren't using NTFS encryption for any of your documents because the new user will have a new private key.

BoffinBrain
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If Windows is already running, you can effectively use Windows 10 Repair Install. Use the option to keep only Data to get a fresh install and keep your data. Works fine and I have done it numerous times

Go to the Media Creation Link:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Windows 10 is running, so click on the Download button (not Upgrade Button, select Save. Create a USB Windows Installation key and then run Setup on the USB Key. This will launch the Repair and proceed normally.