Question Loading Windows 10 on new SSD and using old 2 TB hard drive

[novicebuilder1049]

I bought a Crucial MX500 1TB SSD to use as my boot-up drive. I will do a clean install of Windows 10 on it. Will I be able to hook up my old hard drive internally running Windows 7 OS and designate it as a different lettered drive ? Or will the two different OSs conflict ? How do I make this work and not lose data on the old hard drive.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

Back up any necessary files and then format the HDD. This will probably be the easiest way to avoid os conflicts.

 

[karenjoly]

The windows 7 drive and any other drive ssd/hdd/od/ will show as different lettered drives. Formatting the 7 drive wastes a back up plan, a second OS drive can be useful as a back up system and still works as storage using the remaining space.

 

[Obakasama]

In addition to the above, consider disconnecting the old drive before installing Windows to the new SSD. After installation and booting up for the first time, then connect the old hard drive back. Double check BIOS for boot order if necessary. This way you should avoid losing any data and any boot order conflicts.

 

[Math Geek]

you want to dual boot the new ssd with the old hdd that has windows 7 on it if i am reading it right.

easy to do. leave both drives installed and boot to your win 10 install disk/usb. point the install to the ssd. it won't touch the other drive at all if you make sure you select the ssd as install point. the installer will notice that the other drive has win 7 on it and should automatically set-up the multi-boot menu for you. do note though that your system reserve partition will stay on the hdd and removing it after win 10 is running will cause win 10 to stop booting since the boot partition will be gone.

the other way to do it is to remove the hdd and install win 10 to the ssd as planned. once win 10 is running and set-up, then put the hdd back in. on boot up press f8 to get to the boot selection menu and select whichever drive you want to boot from. it should default to the win 10 drive if you do nothing. but to get to the win 7 install you'll need to press f8 and boot that drive.

either one will work fine and is a matter of preference. both OS's will see both drives and the data present.

 

[novicebuilder1049]

you want to dual boot the new ssd with the old hdd that has windows 7 on it if i am reading it right.

easy to do. leave both drives installed and boot to your win 10 install disk/usb. point the install to the ssd. it won't touch the other drive at all if you make sure you select the ssd as install point. the installer will notice that the other drive has win 7 on it and should automatically set-up the multi-boot menu for you. do note though that your system reserve partition will stay on the hdd and removing it after win 10 is running will cause win 10 to stop booting since the boot partition will be gone.

the other way to do it is to remove the hdd and install win 10 to the ssd as planned. once win 10 is running and set-up, then put the hdd back in. on boot up press f8 to get to the boot selection menu and select whichever drive you want to boot from. it should default to the win 10 drive if you do nothing. but to get to the win 7 install you'll need to press f8 and boot that drive.

either one will work fine and is a matter of preference. both OS's will see both drives and the data present.

Hi Math Geek,
First off, thank you for your input ! I'm not sure I need to dual boot my old 2TB hard drive with the new 1 TB SSD. I just want to be able to use the old hard drive mainly as a storage devise and run my older games with Windows 7. Would there be a big advantage to a dual boot situation ? I'm pretty new to all this stuff.

Thanks,
Novice Builder1049

 

[Math Geek]

run my older games with Windows 7. Would there be a big advantage to a dual boot situation ?

Thanks,
Novice Builder1049

considering this, the advantage is that you can do what you want to do. since you want to play your old win 7 games on win 7, then you'll need win 7 installed somewhere/somehow. since it's already installed and running, then a dual boot with the fresh win 10 install is the way to go.

other option is to run win 7 as a virtual machine through win 10, but that will involve reinstalling win 7 to it and then the games and such you wish to run with that OS. frankly i'd save the time and just dual boot since it is so simple to do.