[SOLVED] Clean Install/Upgrade Windows 10

[gamersunite23]

Hey y'all, quick thing and it may have already been answered before but just wanted some info. Gonna go to 10 (yes, shoulda done it a while ago but here we are). I've been reading on doing a cleanup after a clean install and was wondering if that wouldn't be necessary if I went and upgraded instead? I will be formatting both my HDD (storage) and SSD (boot drive) in either case because I have nothing that I need to absolutely save. I've also read that I would need to have one drive connected due to cases where it installs on multiple drives. Is it better to do a "clean" upgrade where I just format everything and save a little time or just go with a totally clean install and do the cleanup later when I reconnect the storage drive (HDD) after installation? Sorry for any confusion, I'm a little overwhelmed after reading the process for cleaning the drives.

 

[clutchc]

Sounds like you've done your homework. For a total clean installation, it is not necessary (but a good idea) to disconnect the SATA cable from the HDD and install W10 to the SSD. Then plug back in and do what you want with the HDD; reformat is the usual next step.

Btw, just so you know... if you use the W10 free download to upgrade your legit Win 7 system, it is still free. Unless Microsoft changed something recently, the free upgrade still works. I just did another one not too long ago.

 

[gamersunite23]

Sounds like you've done your homework. For a total clean installation, it is not necessary (but a good idea) to disconnect the SATA cable from the HDD and install W10 to the SSD. Then plug back in and do what you want with the HDD; reformat is the usual next step.

Btw, just so you know... if you use the W10 free download to upgrade your legit Win 7 system, it is still free. Unless Microsoft changed something recently, the free upgrade still works. I just did another one not too long ago.

So I can just straight up reformat my HDD and not go through https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq...10-after-an-upgrade-or-clean-install.2458902/ this process? or should I still do that anyway just to be sure I don't somehow have any remnants of windows 7 or any nasties on that drive? Edit: I've decided to go with pro version instead of the free upgrade

 

[ohio_buckeye]

About 2-3 days ago I just worked on a system. Very simple. Insert Windows 10 installer, boot from it, when it asks for the key, give it your legit Windows 7 key. In the case of the system I worked on, it accepted the Windows 7 key, installed and activated when the system loaded.

 

[clutchc]

Sorry TLDR. If you are clean installing W10 to a SSD, your pgms on the HDD won't be available to you anyway. Personal data will be, but not pgms. So format it and start over.

 

[clutchc]

@ Ohio_Buckeye
I never even enter the W7 key. The install pgm must check automatically, because W10 was activated when it finally gets to the desktop

 

[gamersunite23]

So another question because I'm more than likely gonna do a totally clean install instead of an upgrade, how do I go about formatting my HDD after doing said install? Will all the old stuff from it pop up when reconnected and I boot up the PC or can I just go in and format it with little to no issues in disk management? Kinda confused on that part

 

[clutchc]

So another question because I'm more than likely gonna do a totally clean install instead of an upgrade, how do I go about formatting my HDD after doing said install? Will all the old stuff from it pop up when reconnected and I boot up the PC or can I just go in and format it with little to no issues in disk management? Kinda confused on that part

Seems you are over-thinking this a bit. When you reconnect the old HDD and boot the SSD to the Win 10 desktop (be sure the SSD is still the boot drive in BIOS), the HDD will still have all its old stuff on it. If you don't need any of it, just right-click on that drive, choose 'format' from the menu, and do it. When it is done, you'll have an empty HDD ready for you to do what you want with.

One note: if the old HDD had been previously partitioned into multiple partitions or had an earlier OS on it that left it partitioned, you may want to go to computer management/storage/disk management and remove the partitions before formatting if you want the full storage space available.