How do I remove windows from an old hd while keeping the other files?

Azuse05

Azuse05

Azuse05

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So my first (40GB) ssd arrives today which I plan on using as a boot drive. Now I'm aware I could simply switch boot priorities and keep windows on my current hd however I'd much rather free that space up for storage. Once I've got windows running on the ssd, is it just a case of deleting the old windows folders on the hdd or is there more to it?

Basically, could someone direct me to a step by step guide for this?
 
Azuse05 said:
Once I've got windows running on the ssd, is it just a case of deleting the old windows folders on the hdd or is there more to it?
Click to expand...
That's it really.

Providing you've backed up all your important documents and settings, just format your old HDD. You may run into permission problems if you delete folders manually (depending on which version of Windows you use) so a quick format is usually the best, however the manual route is still doable.
 
Formatting is good, but I'd rather save the hassle of moving all my files onto my only spare hd which happens to be a chronically slow external usb hd (not even esata :()

What's the manual route and what are the pitfalls to watch out for?
 
Azuse05 said:
What's the manual route and what are the pitfalls to watch out for?
Click to expand...
Like you said on your first, just delete the Windows folder and anything else you don't want.

The only thing I can think of "going wrong" is permissions as Windows 7 at least, seems to complain about that a lot. I've not actually tried deleting the Windows folder manually on Windows 7, so I can't say for sure that any permission problems will even arise. I have done it on XP though and the whole process went by with no problems, except I think I forgot to back up some stuff and accidentally deleted it - but that's a error on my part :p

Also you'll probably leave your drive quite fragmented, so it'll do you good to defragment after deleting the stuff you don't want :)
 
Buy another hard drive to use a backup drive.

Any data that you value should be backed up anyway.

Format that drive and copy the files to it from the backup drive
 
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