Backing Up Two Drives to One External Hard Drive

[YZero]

Alright i plan on upgrading to Windows 7 Pro but i have an SSD (Windows 7 Home Premium, programs i want to run fast on it) and a WD 1T HHD (Large files, games, applications, etc). I'm not too sure how to go about backing up both of them. I bought a 2TB Seagate External Hard Drive for it but am pretty clueless.

Pretty much i'm guessing after installing Windows 7 Pro both drives will be wiped but i want to back them up so i can restore them after moving to Windows 7 Pro. Also if that's not the case would it be wise to wipe both drives (for a clean setup) before upgrading anyway?

 

[CountMike]

Installing Windows on a new drive (in this case your new SSD) is not going to wipe anything out on old drive/s.
You can just disconnect old drives, Install SSD, install Windows on it and when you connect old drive/s they will be fully usable.
You,d have to reinstall programs of course but data on old drives is safe.
If you want to backup drives to other disk, you can do it with http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx as long as there's enough space on destination drive.

 

[YZero]

Will the information on my SSD be wiped then?

 

[kenrivers]

Yes, if you are doing a clean install on the SSD then the data on that drive will be wiped. As was mentioned by CountMike you should disconnect the HDD before installing the OS on the SSD. It would be a good idea to back up the HDD anyway as you should always have a backup or two of critical data.

 

[ArtPog]

Just out of curiosity...do you have a specific reason (or reasons) why you plan to "upgrade" from Win 7 Home Premium to Win 7 Pro?

 

[jsmithepa]

Will the information on my SSD be wiped then?

Haven't done an UPGRADE myself like forever, don't remember if it preserves your installed Apps/settings etc. Is the W7 Pro media specifically labeled as an UPGRADE?

If not UPGRADE and just plain W7 Pro install on new machine, that would be a fresh install and yes will wipe your C: and you will need to re-install all your Apps.

 

[YZero]

Just out of curiosity...do you have a specific reason (or reasons) why you plan to "upgrade" from Win 7 Home Premium to Win 7 Pro?

Upgraded my RAM to 32g but windows home premium only supported up to 16 :/