Using old HDD with an OS installed as a storage drive

[gazman30]

I have a 2TB SSHD with windows currently installed. I'm thinking of buying a 250GB SSD to use as a boot drive. Is it possible for me to use the old SSHD as a storage drive without doing anything to it? Do I have to uninstall the OS? If so, how do I do that?

 

[USAFRet]

I have a 2TB SSHD with windows currently installed. I'm thinking of buying a 250GB SSD to use as a boot drive. Is it possible for me to use the old SSHD as a storage drive without doing anything to it? Do I have to uninstall the OS? If so, how do I do that?

You install the OS on the new SSD, with only the SSD connected.

Later, you reconnect the 2TB HDD, and wipe it fully. In Disk Management, delete all partitions.
(assuming, of course, there is nothing on it you wish to keep)

 

[gazman30]

I have a 2TB SSHD with windows currently installed. I'm thinking of buying a 250GB SSD to use as a boot drive. Is it possible for me to use the old SSHD as a storage drive without doing anything to it? Do I have to uninstall the OS? If so, how do I do that?

You install the OS on the new SSD, with only the SSD connected.

Later, you reconnect the 2TB HDD, and wipe it fully. In Disk Management, delete all partitions.
(assuming, of course, there is nothing on it you wish to keep)

What if I want to keep some of the data on the HDD? Do I still have to fully wipe it? I suppose I could back the data up but I'd like to avoid doing that if possible.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a 2TB SSHD with windows currently installed. I'm thinking of buying a 250GB SSD to use as a boot drive. Is it possible for me to use the old SSHD as a storage drive without doing anything to it? Do I have to uninstall the OS? If so, how do I do that?

You install the OS on the new SSD, with only the SSD connected.

Later, you reconnect the 2TB HDD, and wipe it fully. In Disk Management, delete all partitions.
(assuming, of course, there is nothing on it you wish to keep)

What if I want to keep some of the data on the HDD? Do I still have to fully wipe it? I suppose I could back the data up but I'd like to avoid doing that if possible.

There is no "uninstall" for the OS that lives on that drive.

The easiest thing to do is to copy whatever you wish to keep to somewhere else.
Wipe that drive.
Copy stuff back to it.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

"I could back the data up but I'd like to avoid doing that if possible".

That is something which should never be avoided.

Far from seeking to avoid it, you should really have two or even three backups on separate storage devices.