How hard would it be to set up an SSD as a boot drive?

[ckim2116]

The new Intel 40 GB SSD is too cheap to not consider SSD's for me anymore. Thing is, I don't really know how I would set it up.

I bought the OEM version of Windows 7; would I need to buy another copy of 7 to install on the SSD? I also have a few dozen games installed on my current HDD. Would I need to remove Windows 7 from the HDD, and would this have any effect on the games installed there? Would I need to reinstall the games onto the HDD? Please advise

 

[Shadow703793]

1. No you DO NOT need to buy another copy of Win 7 for install.

2. What you want to do is, fresh install the OS,drivers,games,etc to the SSD then back up the HDD's important documents (ie Word docs,etc) and then wipe out the HDD. Put your My Docs,etc folder paths to the HDD along with big programs/files,etc.

3. Then follow this:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47212

4. BE WARNED: 40GB SSD is cutting it close. Depending on how much space you take up for games,etc you'll eat through 40GB easily.

 

[ckim2116]

1. No you DO NOT need to buy another copy of Win 7 for install.

2. What you want to do is, fresh install the OS,drivers,games,etc to the SSD then back up the HDD's important documents (ie Word docs,etc) and then wipe out the HDD. Put your My Docs,etc folder paths to the HDD along with big programs/files,etc.

3. Then follow this:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47212

4. BE WARNED: 40GB SSD is cutting it close. Depending on how much space you take up for games,etc you'll eat through 40GB easily.

I have too many games to fit on an SSD. The SSD will only be used for holding the OS.

So I have to fresh install the OS onto the SSD. But do I really have to wipe the HDD? Is there some way I can get around that?

 

[sminlal]

You don't need to wipe the HDD. To keep things simple I'd disconnect the HDD while installing windows on the SSD, make sure it boots OK, then reconnect the HDD. That should avoid ending up with a dual-boot system (assuming that you don't want one).

Be warned that personal folders on your HDD will have security attributes that prevent them from being accessed from the new system installed on your SSD. This is because the internal security identifiers for every Windows account are unique, even if the account is created with the same name. To access the folders you'll have to use an administrative account on the new system to take ownership of them and then change their security settings. The "take ownership" part is important - you can't change security settings on files and folders unless your account owns them.

 

[Bilsko]

I have some similar questions and was hoping you could help out a bit more. Here are my details:

Right now I'm running XP on an HDD (also running the RC of Win 7, but am going to delete that partition before doing the upgrade anyways)

I just bought one of the X-25 V drives (40Gb) and an OEM copy of Win 7. What I'd like to do is install Win 7 to the SSD and keep the HDD contents the way they are - the HD drive will technically be an OS drive, but I'll be using it as a Data drive.

So my questions:
1. If I do keep the content on the HDD and want to access the personal folders (My Docs, etc.) then will running as admin in Win 7 be able to take over ownership attributes of personal folders in Win XP?

2. Again, assuming I keep the HDD as is without a format, what about running programs that I keep on it from the HDD even though the SDD is the OS Drive. I'm thinking here of MS Office, or Steam or iTunes, for example. Since they won't show up in the Win 7 registry, will I even be able to run them? My guess is no, but its worth asking anyways.

If it looks like its going to be too clunky to keep the old HDD running side by side with the new OS on the SDD, then I'll probably back up all of the data, format and then use it for programs & data that don't fit on the SDD.

If I do reformat the HDD and decide to locate Data there, can I tell Win7 to relocate the Personal folders (which I assume would have been located on the SDD by default when I install Win 7 since the other Drive wouldn't have been present yet)?
EDIT: Found the answer to the last question - once I do have the HDD formatted and installed, I'll just point the location of the personal folders to the HDD

 

[sminlal]

1) Yes, if you use an account with Admin privileges you'll be able to take ownership of the files on the old HDD and change their permission to allow access.

2) No - the programs that were installed on the old HDD won't be runnable in the new OS on the SSD. You'll have to re-install them, and when you do you can choose a "custom" install if you want to put their files onto the HDD instead of the SSD.

 

[Bilsko]

Thanks for the answers

I think I'm just going to format the HDD after all. I'll keep Win 7 and a handful of small programs on the SDD for performance and then put most other programs and all data on the HDD. I found the .iso files to resintall big things like MS Office on the HDD so I won't lose any programs after all (which was the only reason I was going to keep the HDD as it is anyways)