How to Format Storage after Clean Reinstall of Windows onto SSD

Aug 20, 2018
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I originally had one 2 tb hard drive with Windows and all my applications/files on it. I recently received a 128 gb SSD from a friend so I decided to do a clean install of Windows 10 to make it my boot drive. I followed all the precautions and completely unplugged my original HDD while installing it. I successfully made Windows boot from the SSD but none of my application are "available" (its just a completely plain version of Windows 10). Both drives show up in the File Explorer with the SSD as the C drive and HDD as the D drive (still with all the original data on it).

My original plan was to use the SSD as a boot drive and to store some apps/games I use often (chrome, MS Word, Steam, etc) on it as well, but to keep the HDD with mass storage/files and applications I don't use as often. Is this achievable? If so, how would I go about achieving this?

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution


After saving off anything you need from the HDD, you should clear out the HDD first.
Start with an empty drive.
Then, you c an reinstall your applications. Some/most on the SSD, and whatever else on the HDD.

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
That is correct, if you did a clean reinstall on the SSD, the registry will not have any data on the applications that are on the old install.

You will need to reinstall the applications while running the Windows version on the SSD. You can direct them to install on a different drive, but they must be reinstalled with one minor exception -- STEAM games can be migrated by just reinstalling the STEAM app and redirecting it to the folder where the games are -- just follow THIS guide.
 
Aug 20, 2018
2
0
10


Thanks for you response. Just to clarify, does that mean I should reinstall literally every single application including the ones I intend to have on the HDD? Additionally, once I reinstall the applications, should I delete them from the HDD?

Thanks again. Sorry for being ignorant about this kind of stuff.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


After saving off anything you need from the HDD, you should clear out the HDD first.
Start with an empty drive.
Then, you c an reinstall your applications. Some/most on the SSD, and whatever else on the HDD.
 
Solution

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