Question Keep the old HDD without formating

[LucasRZ]

Hi guys,
I currently have 2 HDD, one with Windows 7 and some programs (160 GB total) and one with data (500 GB total).
I'm installing a new SSD, which is 1TB total, and I'm migrating to Windows 10. I was planning on creating a partition of 100 GB for windows 10, and a partition of 900 GB for everything else.

My question is: Can I keep the 500GB HDD as it is, without formatting it? Or it won't be recognized by the new OS?
Thanks in advance.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi guys,
I currently have 2 HDD, one with Windows 7 and some programs (160 GB total) and one with data (500 GB total).
I'm installing a new SSD, which is 1TB total, and I'm migrating to Windows 10. I was planning on creating a partition of 100 GB for windows 10, and a partition of 900 GB for everything else.

My question is: Can I keep the 500GB HDD as it is, without formatting it? Or it won't be recognized by the new OS?
Thanks in advance.

The data one is probably just fine, depending on exactly what is on it.

For your new 1TB SSD...100GB for Win 10 is almost certainly TooSmall. You WILL run into size issues sooner or later.

 

[ThatVietGuy]

It'll be recognized.

Just make sure to uninstall it when you're installing Windows to the new SSD.

 

[geofelt]

It might be easiest to clone your current 160gb C drive to the new 1tb ssd.
If your new ssd is samsung, they have a good ssd migration app.
App and instructions here:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

semiconductor.samsung.com

Other vendors will have similar clone apps.

If you will do a new clean install of W10, have NO other drives connected during the process.
Apps will need to be reinstalled
After, you should have no problem connecting and using the 500gb hdd.

As an aside, I think space management is easiest if you allow Windows and other apps and data to share the single C drive space.