Do i have to reformat my drive?

dannywilco · 1 Nov 2010 at 20:51

My first SSD will be arriving tomorrow and i plan on running it alongside my current SATA 320gb Hitachi Drive. I have a lot of music and videos that are really hard to replace so i really dont want to reformat my drive. Can i just install Win7 to the SSD and then delete all the windows files off the Hitachi?

Thanks

hybrid572 · 1 Nov 2010 at 23:33

I believe you don't even have to delete the windows files (I'd advise against it actually, that kind of thing usually sends a computer haywire). Are you migrating the same copy of windows, or installing a new one?

dannywilco · 1 Nov 2010 at 23:34

Probably installing a new one just to make things simple. Bought the SSD purely for OS use.

MouthBoy · 1 Nov 2010 at 23:37

My advice, find a friend or someone who can lend you a storage device to backup all your music and files on. Install the SSD by itself and get windows working first. Then when you are ready, attach the other HDD you have and the other borrowed storage device and copy everything you want to keep onto that device. Once it has copied, TEST it all works and then you can reformat the HDD. After formatting it, simply copy it all back over. I have done this method many time and never had any issues.

hybrid572 · 1 Nov 2010 at 23:47

This seems like it would be a fuss-free way to solve your problem without needing to buy a new OS. This, on the other hand, has a more in-depth discussion of how to do it while being able to transfer over other stuff as well, but obviously it depends how big your SSD is.

My one concern with a virgin install on your SSD would be that it wouldn't keep any of the indexes or registries. This kind of thing means that certainly all your programs would be unusable, but I can't say for sure about your music/videos.

edit: do what smeaney said, it's a far better way to ensure you keep all your files and will give a better end result, albeit it's a time-consuming process

MouthBoy · 1 Nov 2010 at 23:53

hybrid572 said:
edit: do what smeaney said, it's a far better way to ensure you keep all your files and will give a better end result, albeit it's a time-consuming process

Yep, sure is a time consuming process, but at least it will make his new SSD look even faster!

dannywilco · 2 Nov 2010 at 00:07

Im just going to reformat my current HDD and start afresh. I found all my rare stuff once, can do it again.

Admiral Huddy · 2 Nov 2010 at 08:09

I take it then you don't keep regular backups of your "music and videos that are really hard to replace " data?

jorzeh · 2 Nov 2010 at 10:36

I didnt format my old drive with games music movies and windows 7 on i just installed the new drive and all the files were accessable even old windows 7 reinstalled steam to the old drive and all my old game installs working as well..

was super easy.

lurkio · 2 Nov 2010 at 10:58

No you dont have to reinstall everything
I got a new SSD last week and worked out how to use the win7 install disk along with acronis boot cd to clone my OS drive onto the SSD
and managed to get the partition alignment sorted out

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18201093