Bought new SSD, uninstall windows?

95thrifles · 19 Sep 2009 at 07:22

I treated myself to a shiny new 160Gb Intel M25 G2 and windows7, just gonna leave it for a month til i get the new w7 before installing, when I have it and have w7 installed this will be my primary boot drive, obviously. Just wondering though, the drives I currently have which have a combination of vista/apps and storage on, is there a way to uninstall the old windows without wiping the stored data? IE not doing a format, I know uninstalling the apps is easy, just not sure how to go about deleting vista? or should I just leave it on there?

5abr3 · 19 Sep 2009 at 07:30

All the apps that are installed will be referred to in Vista's registry, not the new Windows 7 install when that gets put on so many might not work in the first place. Data wise I would simply burn all the files you want to keep to DVD or clone it to a NAS or external HDD (should be doing this kind of backup anyway

).

There are key folders where data gets stored such as the obvious 'My Documents' and googling where games store their save data should help keep any save files you want but can't find!

95thrifles · 19 Sep 2009 at 08:28

Im happy uninstalling all apps/games and reinstalling them on SSD with w7, thats why I got 160Gb, Im just meaning for my music/movies etc that are on the drive atm, Id like to keep, is there anyway to uninstall vista from the drive? Or do I just have to as you say back them up then format the drive?

Elric · 19 Sep 2009 at 10:46

Just use what you have until you are ready to install W7 on the SSD. Before you put the SSD in, take out the existing HDD and plug it back in after you have installed W7 on the SSD. YOu now have your old Vista installation and all the data. YOu can clear out the old vista files manually.