Is it possible to have windows 7 on two hard drives

clubb699 · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:15

Hi all,

Is this possible to have windows 7 on one 500 Gig harddrive for general use, then having my SSD drive 60 Gig with same windows 7 on it purley for playing bf3 for faster loading times.

IF this is possible the next question is how do i go about this correctly please, i currently have the 500 Gig installed and running fine, the SSD is not connected (Still at my mates house ready to be brought lol)

Thanks in advance for your time lads

Clubb699

VaderDSL · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:16

What you want ideally is Windows installed on the SSD then games installed on the external HDD, if you have enough space you can always install BF3 to the SSD as well.

Jordan97 · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:22

It is possible, yes. But it won't be any quicker.

As Vader said, just install Windows on the SSD and if you have enough room you can put BF3 on there as well. Use the HDD for storage.

clubb699 · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:22

Hi Vader,

I should have said the 500 Gig is the old 7200RPM, so dont want to mix the 2 together so keeping the 500 Gig for downloading etc, then if it allows to have the boot menu come up and then i can chose the what HHD to load up if i fancy playing BF3 then load up the SSD seperatly with its own win 7 on

VaderDSL · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:26

Seems like a faff for no benefit really.

You could install Windows 7 on both HDDs and have them selectable at a boot menu, but you'd need 2 copies of Windows 7 and having to restart each time is a bit pointless.

Mixing the 2 won't cause any issues. I used to run an 80Gb SSD with Windows 7 and used to have Steam and all my games on my 500Gb 7200rpm drive, there was no issue with this setup.

clubb699 · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:33

Ok i get what you mean with no issues and it can work, just a bit confused trying to get my head around surely the 7200rpm will bottle neck the game loading times, surley the seperate SSD set up would be faster but yeah i would have to reboot to switch to the 500Gig for downloading that would not bother me really.

Thanks for input

clubb699

VaderDSL · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:37

I don't understand what you mean with switching to the 500Gb HDD for downloading? Why not just have 1 install on the SSD and use that for everything? The games being on the 7200 drive won't be much of a bottleneck at all.

You'll be looking at a few seconds here and there for game load times and if you're really concerned, just install your favourite game on the SSD along side Windows and install everything else on the HDD.

Buying a second copy of Windows 7 in this instance is a waste of time and money

clubb699 · 3 Dec 2011 at 16:55

Ok vador this is getting funny now its so hard to explain on forums lol let me explain why im thinking how i am. Proof below>>>>>>>

Out of 5 mates on BF3 they have between them raptors and SSD hard drives and i am the last to load in everytime on the maps, its about a min - 1.30 to get in does not sound like much lol but people are on the other side of the maps capturing flags etc before i even start (Leave it at that without going into to much detail lol)

So my logic is have my mates SSD for gaming only it seems faster loading into maps going from Mates loading in times.

On the same PC have a dual boot menu come up with the 2 options.

Option 1 Windows 7 on the 500 Gig (Downloading, burning discs etc etc etc)

Option 2 Windows 7 on the SSD 60 Gig (Playing BF3 )

Thanks

clubb699 · 3 Dec 2011 at 17:33

VaderDSL said:
You'll be looking at a few seconds here and there for game load times and if you're really concerned, just install your favourite game on the SSD along side Windows and install everything else on the HDD.

Buying a second copy of Windows 7 in this instance is a waste of time and money

I think this will be a good solution and will work for me thanks for your time

VaderDSL · 3 Dec 2011 at 17:34

Well if you want to do it that way

it is an option, just seems like you could simply skip the whole second install and use the SSD for downloading/gaming/burning etc.

madindehead · 4 Dec 2011 at 16:23

Just have your documents on the HDD and Windows and BF3 on the SSD. It's what everyone else does...I see no need to have two Windows installs just to make a game load a few seconds faster really. One install, and move all documents to HDD. Definitely the most sensible option!

JustBen · 5 Dec 2011 at 14:07

i'd imagine you'll be last on the map if you have to reboot to play

lol
I have windows and my favourite game on ssd everything else on a normal one.