1st Time installing Windows 7 on SSD, need help.

[Tenkay23]

I am a competent tech guy. I built my own PC in 2009 for the first time. I am finally upgrading my PC with an SSD drive. My question/concern is this:

I have a 120Gb OCZ Vertex 3 SSD drive I bought for $110 today I want to install windows 7 on it and some games and maybe itunes on it.

I currently use a Western Digital 750GB HDD as my main drive.

I want to use my SSD for my OS, games, Microsoft Office and Gimp, and use my HDD just for data like pictures and documents and videos etc.

I'm worried that after I install Windows 7 on the SSD and try to remove windows 7 from the HDD, I will lose all my data. Is it possible to remove just Windows 7 from the HDD after I install it on the SSD?

I know I will have to install all new drivers and firmware again on the SSD.

EDIT: I have made a complete windows backup on an external 500mb HDD using Windows backup. I use Windows 7 Ultimate.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Install windows 7 with only the SSD attached.

 

[Crayolamark]

Glad you have made a back-up of the original HDD. Safety first..

All you need to do is unplug the power to your original HDD with Win7 (actually unplug all other HDDs before install), install the new SSD, set bios settings to point to the new ssd as primary boot drive, enable AHCI in bios, install Win7.

Once you do this, you can copy whatever you need/want from the HDD or keep it as-is (a data drive/back-up Win7). If you need to boot back up in the original config (i.e. old HDD config), just go into the bios and set the primary boot to the old Win7 HDD, and you will boot back using your original install of Win7 and HDD. Happy day

 

[Tenkay23]

Glad you have made a back-up of the original HDD. Safety first..

All you need to do is unplug the power to your original HDD with Win7 (actually unplug all other HDDs before install), install the new SSD, set bios settings to point to the new ssd as primary boot drive, enable AHCI in bios, install Win7.

Once you do this, you can copy whatever you need/want from the HDD or keep it as-is (a data drive/back-up Win7). If you need to boot back up in the original config (i.e. old HDD config), just go into the bios and set the primary boot to the old Win7 HDD, and you will boot back using your original install of Win7 and HDD. Happy day

So if I do those steps, and I leave windows 7 on the HDD just in case, their won't be any problems at all? I will still have access to data on the HDD but it won't boot windows on the HDD because I set the BIOS to boot from the SSD?

 

[Crayolamark]

So if I do those steps, and I leave windows 7 on the HDD just in case, their won't be any problems at all? I will still have access to data on the HDD but it won't boot windows on the HDD because I set the BIOS to boot from the SSD?

Right. The drive that boots up first loads the OS.

 

[Tenkay23]

Best answer selected by Tenkay23.

 

[Guest]

Try set ur SSD to AHCI ... its somewhere in the bios (oups someone already said it... but just dont forget it)

here is why