[SOLVED] Can I leave an old Windows 10 OS drive in my system?

[upsidedownjim]

I'm looking to replace an aging SSD Windows 10 boot drive with a new SSD drive. I'm planning on doing a clean install of Windows 10 to the new drive. Can I leave the old OS drive installed as a non-boot drive? Instead of making sure I've got every potential file I'd need from the old drive I thought it'd be easier if I just had access to the drive contents as needed while I set up the new OS drive.

I'm not looking to run programs from the old drive - just have access to files. Would the old Windows 10 OS files interfere with the the new OS files? My guess would be that since it isn't a boot drive Windows would just see it as a regular non-boot/OS drive and not be an issue?

I also have a backup of my OS drive on an external drive, so perhaps I could just rely on that and not worry about leaving the old SSD in the computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Unolocogringo]

Install your new drive. use the SATA cable port from your old SSD.
Unhook all old drives and install windows fresh on the new drive.
Once windows is fully installed shut down and reconnect the old drives with a new cable in another port.
This keeps your boot drive on SATA 0.

 

[Ralston18]

My method is to pull the old drive and, if and when necessary, just reconnect as an external drive to recover some potentially needed file.

I use an Apricot adapter to connect the old SSD via a USB port.

If you have other backups in place just use them and put the old SSD away somewhere.

At some point in time just peruse the old SSD drive and either leave it tucked away, copy off any desired files, or reformat and reuse.

Better to have too much data saved than too little....

 

[USAFRet]

During the install on the new drive, you MUST have the old one disconnected.

Is it OK to have a second drive with its old OS in the system?
I've seen many confusing issues when people do this.

 

[upsidedownjim]

Install your new drive. use the SATA cable port from your old SSD.
Unhook all old drives and install windows fresh on the new drive.
Once windows is fully installed shut down and reconnect the old drives with a new cable in another port.
This keeps your boot drive on SATA 0.

Thanks, I'll be sure to uninstall the old drive before installing the new one. Much appreciated!

 

[upsidedownjim]

My method is to pull the old drive and, if and when necessary, just reconnect as an external drive to recover some potentially needed file.

I use an Apricot adapter to connect the old SSD via a USB port.

If you have other backups in place just use them and put the old SSD away somewhere.

At some point in time just peruse the old SSD drive and either leave it tucked away, copy off any desired files, or reformat and reuse.

Better to have too much data saved than too little....

Thanks! I'll look into the Apricot or similar adapters. Cheers!

 

[upsidedownjim]

During the install on the new drive, you MUST have the old one disconnected.

Is it OK to have a second drive with its old OS in the system?
I've seen many confusing issues when people do this.

Sounds good - I'll leave the drive disconnected and only connect if I really need a file or I can't find it within my external backup. Thanks!

 

[rickypicky5]

I'm looking to replace an aging SSD Windows 10 boot drive with a new SSD drive. I'm planning on doing a clean install of Windows 10 to the new drive. Can I leave the old OS drive installed as a non-boot drive? Instead of making sure I've got every potential file I'd need from the old drive I thought it'd be easier if I just had access to the drive contents as needed while I set up the new OS drive.

I'm not looking to run programs from the old drive - just have access to files. Would the old Windows 10 OS files interfere with the the new OS files? My guess would be that since it isn't a boot drive Windows would just see it as a regular non-boot/OS drive and not be an issue?

I also have a backup of my OS drive on an external drive, so perhaps I could just rely on that and not worry about leaving the old SSD in the computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Yes it is absolutely fine to do what you want to do. I did exactly what you did recently and there was no issues. Make sure your 'new' OS disk is listed before your 'old' OS disk in your BIOS's boot sequence. You might want to change BIOS settings to not have the old drive in the boot sequence at all, but it isn't mandatory.