Trouble making a new bootable internal hdd windows 7

FingFrenchy

Honorable
Jun 15, 2012
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10,510
Hi all, having trouble finding a clear answer for my issue. My intention is to store data on an internal hdd (let's call it H:), and run windows 7 off the C: drive. I've used Norton Ghost to copy the C: drive to the H: drive and was going to try and boot from the H: and do a clean install of windows 7 on the C: drive, then go back to booting from the C: drive with all my data happy and safe on the H: drive. SOooooooo, the problem is I can't get the H: drive to boot, not sure how to do a repair with my windows DVD on just the H: drive to make it bootable. I also have a sneaky suspicion there's an easier way to do what I'm trying to do... Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
 
... Why make things so complicated?
1) unplug old drive (better safe than sorry)
2) Plug in new drive
3) Install Win7
4) plug in old drive (use boot select to boot from new drive)
5) Move all files you want to save somewhere safe (cloud, flash drive, new drive, or clearly marked folder on the old drive)
6) Reformat the old drive (or delete everything except for your 'save' folder if you do not have enough space to store your documents elsewhere)
7) Move files back to the old drive in whatever organizational form that suits your fancy
8) Rt click on 'my documents/music/pictures/etc', select 'properties' and then 'move' and select the new location on the old drive so that when you save items to these folders they will automatically be reidrected to the old drive. This is especially helpful if your new drive is a smaller SSD and space is of concern.
9) set up a skydrive acct, and install the local application. When installing be sure to set the skydrive folder to the old drive, move your important documents to it, and you have an automatic backup. Do this on your other computers as well and you will get an automatic sync of your documents between computers :) Very handy for those of us to live on multiple machines. I also did this with my desktop for a quick and easy 'cheater' way of document xfers between computers. Just save to the desktop, and by the time I walk to the other machine the document is already on it's desktop.
 

FingFrenchy

Honorable
Jun 15, 2012
2
0
10,510


Thank you so much for the help! This does seem a lot easier. :)