[SOLVED] Creating partition on additional drive for other OS

[Spiderbait375]

I have 3 HDDs on my computer, my main OS is Windows 10, I want to partition a part of one of my other two drives and install windows 7 on it for if something goes wrong with one of my drives so i can be able to access my stuff easily, can I do it ? Will there be any performance issues

 

[USAFRet]

"access my stuff easily "

Applications in the Win 10 OS won't work.
Personal files located in the user Libraries won't be easily accessible. Those are permission locked to the Win 10 user.
A Win 7 install will need its own license key ($$$).
Win 7 falls off all support from MS in a couple of weeks. I would not run a Win 7 on my hardware exposed tot he internet.

Backups are the way to safeguard your data. Not a whole other OS.

 

[Spiderbait375]

"access my stuff easily "

Applications in the Win 10 OS won't work.
Personal files located in the user Libraries won't be easily accessible. Those are permission locked to the Win 10 user.
A Win 7 install will need its own license key ($$$).
Win 7 falls off all support from MS in a couple of weeks. I would not run a Win 7 on my hardware exposed tot he internet.

Backups are the way to safeguard your data. Not a whole other OS.

What if I install another copy of win 10 instead of win 7 then?

 

[Spiderbait375]

What if I install another copy of win 10 instead of win 7 then?

It is just for if my main OS drive goes so I can still boot in my computer and get my files off before the drive is completely unusable without the hassle of installing windows again

 

[USAFRet]

What if I install another copy of win 10 instead of win 7 then?

No, that doesn't do any good either.
In fact, that is more troublesome. 2x identical bootable OS's can lead to major confusion.

What are you trying to protect against? An easy, viable solution can probably be determined.

 

[Spiderbait375]

No, that doesn't do any good either.
In fact, that is more troublesome. 2x identical bootable OS's can lead to major confusion.

What are you trying to protect against? An easy, viable solution can probably be determined.

Ah ok thanks I think I'll just back up my data rather

 

[USAFRet]

It is just for if my main OS drive goes so I can still boot in my computer and get my files off before the drive is completely unusable without the hassle of installing windows again

I've seen drives die pretty much instantly. No opportunity to get things off before it dies.

A good backup routine on other hardware is what is needed.
Read here, and slim it down to your needs and budget:

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[MEMESEY]

Uh, data stored on one drive will only be on one drive. If that drive dies, you won't be able to access anything using the secondary one.

Do you just want to have a local backup drive? In which case I can recommend partitioning your secondary drive into a mirror. Having a second OS on it would be mostly pointless.

The best system I've found is to have a separate storage device dedicated to only the OS and dependant applications. So I've got a 240gb Nvme with the OS (drive C), and then another drive that has stuff I use on it.

A drive is like a box. If you break that box, it's gone, along with everything inside it. So I wouldn't recommend having your OS on the same drive as other stuff. Having Win7 on another drive won't let you access anything on another of the drives if it dies.

You can make a virtual machine if you want a second OS that has access to everything, but your problem will remain.







So basically, having a mirrored drive is the best you can do, but you'll cleave your available storage space in half.