Formatting HDD, Switching to SSD?

[xNightCaster]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

 

[USAFRet]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

 

[Major_Trouble]

Woah not so fast with the formatting. Although USAFRet is spot on with the sequence I would do some prep work beforehand. My guess is you are using Steam. You might want to take the time to back up those games first so you can have a speedy install on you new drive. Also I wouldn't rush to format my old drive. There may be stuff on it I forgot to save across. Give it a week or so depending on your usage so you're happy you have all you need from your old drive before formatting.

You should also consider moving your browser caches and Widows virtual memory to the HDD when you have finally formatted it. Small frequent writes to your SSD like those in browser caches have a larger impact on the life cycle of SSDs.

 

[xNightCaster]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

 

[USAFRet]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

Just 'formatting' the drive misses the original System Reserved partition. Although small, you want that gone as well.
And yes....verify you have EVERYTHING off that drive before you do that.

 

[xNightCaster]

Woah not so fast with the formatting. Although USAF is spot on with the sequence I would do some prep work beforehand. My guess is you are using Steam. You might want to take the time to back those games up first so you can have a speedy install on you new drive. Also I wouldn't rush to format my old drive. There may be stuft on it I forgot to save across. Give it a week or so depending on your usage so you're happy you have all you need from your old drive before formatting.

You should also consider moving your browser caches and Widows virtual memory to the HDD when you have finally formatted it. Small frequent writes to your SSD like those in browser caches have a larger impact on the life cycle of SSDs.

Oh of course i'm going to go throughout my HDD to see what I need to save before formatting, this is just information that I could use ahead of time when I actually decide to format / install my SSD...

 

[xNightCaster]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

Just 'formatting' the drive misses the original System Reserved partition. Although small, you want that gone as well.
And yes....verify you have EVERYTHING off that drive before you do that.

Does it matter which process i do first (Format / Delete Partition)?
Sorry, I may be overthinking this lol...

 

[Major_Trouble]

That's cool. Didn't want you rushing in then coming back on to ask how you unformat a drive. Once you've added the HDD back in you should have the option to boot from the HDD in the bios settings so can go in and access other stuff you might need but forgot at the time.

 

[USAFRet]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

Just 'formatting' the drive misses the original System Reserved partition. Although small, you want that gone as well.
And yes....verify you have EVERYTHING off that drive before you do that.

Does it matter which process i do first (Format / Delete Partition)?
Sorry, I may be overthinking this lol...

Delete partitions. You are then left with one large unallocated space. Make that into one partition, Format.

 

[Major_Trouble]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

Just 'formatting' the drive misses the original System Reserved partition. Although small, you want that gone as well.
And yes....verify you have EVERYTHING off that drive before you do that.

Does it matter which process i do first (Format / Delete Partition)?
Sorry, I may be overthinking this lol...

Just take a moment to think about what you said. You do understand what partitioning a drive means don't you?

 

[xNightCaster]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

Just 'formatting' the drive misses the original System Reserved partition. Although small, you want that gone as well.
And yes....verify you have EVERYTHING off that drive before you do that.

Does it matter which process i do first (Format / Delete Partition)?
Sorry, I may be overthinking this lol...

Just take a moment to think about what you said. You do understand what partitioning a drive means don't you?

From what I understand it's basically just splitting a drive into multiple divisions...
But I can't say that's correct... (1st time builder here)

 

[xNightCaster]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

Just 'formatting' the drive misses the original System Reserved partition. Although small, you want that gone as well.
And yes....verify you have EVERYTHING off that drive before you do that.

Does it matter which process i do first (Format / Delete Partition)?
Sorry, I may be overthinking this lol...

Delete partitions. You are then left with one large unallocated space. Make that into one partition, Format.

Understood. Thanks for the help

 

[xNightCaster]

Nonetheless, I know what I have to do now.
Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Major_Trouble]

I have my OS as well as all my Programs/Games all stored on a WD Black 1TB. Now that I have bought an SSD (500GB 840 EVO) I want to uninstall everything off of my HDD, and use it as excess storage. I now want to install my MAIN software such as Windows 7 Pro and and other Programs/Games on my SSD.

What would be the quickest way into doing this? and what would be the most accurate way to formatting my HDD? (Bios / Win7 Install Disc?)

Thanks for the help!

Have only the SSD connected
Install the OS
Let Windows do its updates
Install your applications
Verify that only the SSD is in the boot order
Connect the old HDD
Disk Management, and delete every partition
Format

Wow, never thought of that, Thanks!

By "delete every partition" you mean to delete the partitions on my HDD? and should I format my HDD before deleting the partitions?
Would formatting the HDD in the "My Computer" section work?

Just 'formatting' the drive misses the original System Reserved partition. Although small, you want that gone as well.
And yes....verify you have EVERYTHING off that drive before you do that.

Does it matter which process i do first (Format / Delete Partition)?
Sorry, I may be overthinking this lol...

Just take a moment to think about what you said. You do understand what partitioning a drive means don't you?

From what I understand it's basically just splitting a drive into multiple divisions...
But I can't say that's correct... (1st time builder here)

No problem. Think of your drive as a filling cabinet. If you give your drive a single large partition you have a cabinet with just one large draw. Multiple partitions, multiple draws. Formatting a partition would be like preparing a draw so you can store stuff in it. You would have to format every partition you create same as you would prepare every draw you want to use.

Deleting a partition is just like removing a draw from the cabinet. You may still have other partitions/draws left untouched.

I always break stuff down like that so I can understand it.