What do I need to do please.

46 the goat · 7 Aug 2011 at 17:59

Hi all,I am going to load W7 OS and some other apps on an SSD to use as my boot HDD. At the moment I have got a WD 680Gb HDD that is partitioned for operating system and another partition for data. Can I just dissconect the WD drive, plug in the new SSD and then re-load W7 (obviously with CD set as first boot drive). Do I need to disconnect the printer, internet router etc or can I leave them all connected?
I then want to use the WD drive for data only, how do I set things up so that data only goes to the WD drive ( I will probably call it drive D ) and not to the SSD.
I,m not very computer literate so please use simple terms
Thanks
Alan

TNGL · 7 Aug 2011 at 18:31

Hey,
You pretty much have it all summed up, you should be able to leave the printer, internet router etc connected. Once you've installed Windows on your SSD, plug your 2nd drive in, and you'll probably want to format and delete the Operating System partition from the 2nd drive using Disk Management (can be found under Computer --> Manage), and once you've deleted that partition, extend the data partition to use all of the available space on the 2nd drive.

As for making data go on to your second hard drive, you can set your libraries to save to a location on your 2nd hard drive, instead of on the primary hard drive. To do this, right click the library, click properties, click 'Include a folder...', then browse to a folder on your 2nd hard drive, and set that as your default save location. From then on, everything you put in that library, will be stored on your second drive. Do this for all of the other libraries you'd like to use your 2nd HDD.

Make sure that when you install big programs, that you select the D:\ drive for when you download Steam games e.g.

46 the goat · 9 Aug 2011 at 08:20

Hi all, thanks tingle for the help. Have fitted SSD ( Crucial M4 ) and loaded W7 and P/C is up and running OK, much faster. My partitioned WD 680Gb that I was using as boot and data HDD I now want to use for just data. When I plug it back in what will it be recognised as, it was previously designated drive C and drive D. Can I leave the W7 OS on it as a back up if SDD fails?
Can I designate it different letters ( obviosly SSD is now C drive) if so how do I do this.
Sorry to be so dumb.
Alan

vanandjuanunited · 9 Aug 2011 at 08:32

Windows should assign it a drive letter(s)
You could leave it as it is if you wish but obviously new updates and drivers won't be on it.
Personally I would wipe that partition as mentioned above. Just take care you wipe the correct one and not the data one

If your bios allows it go in and set the sad as boot drive so that it does not boot from the original hdd

46 the goat · 10 Aug 2011 at 08:31

Hi all. After fitting SSD and loading W7 and P/C running OK plugged in the WD that I had been previously using. It had been partioned for O/S and data.
I wanted to completly clear the disc and start again using it for data only.By formatting I have erased all on the disc but the partition remains. How do I remove the partition so that I can use all space.?
I have re-deignated this drive as D and when I look at "my computer" it shows drive D as 500Gb and not the full 680Gb it should be ( 500Gb was the ammount after the partition )
Thanks
Alan

Pilgrim57 · 10 Aug 2011 at 10:20

You are missing the old C:| drive it will show up in disk management as unallocated space.
You need this http://www.soft32.com/download_151.html Partition magic
or Acronis to recover the "lost" space & include it in the new D:| drive.
Just make sure you back any important data first. You should loose any but better be safe than sorry.

Have reread yr post. Did you delete both partions on the hdd? Maybe not?
Check disk management again

46 the goat · 10 Aug 2011 at 12:06

Thanks Pilgrim, sorry to be so thick, this is what i've got at the moment:
New SSD has been allocated as driveC, my second drive (my original) has had both partitions formatted so they are empty. I have given it the letter D. My problem is that the partition is still present, and that is what I want to get rid of so that I can use the disc just like a single disc.
If I download partition magic are the instructions clear as I dont want to mess up my drive C.
Thanks for your help
Alan.

Pilgrim57 · 10 Aug 2011 at 12:52

I think I was 1/2 a sleep earlier.

Go to control panel; system security: admin tools
the is a link to create & format hard disk partitions. Click & open up
Disk Management: you should see both disks listed.
On the hdd if you have 2 partitions then you need to delete both & recreate just on, the full size of the hdd. Do this vis the right click context menu|:
choose "delete volume" that should then show whole disk as unallocated space. Use the right click menu again to create & format drive.
You can do the same via the top menu: Action: All tasks after highlighting drive/partition

No need to use Partition Magic or Acronis.

46 the goat · 11 Aug 2011 at 08:17

Hi all, thanks for all your help. I now have the P/C set up the way I want it-I think.
Since fitting the SSD the boot time from the end of POST to desktop screen is about 11 seconds. Does this seem OK. I have an i3 running at 4Ghz with 4Gb 1600Mhz RAM.
P/C seems quick loading apps, is there any cheapish mod that would improve performance?
Thanks
Alan.

Pilgrim57 · 11 Aug 2011 at 10:11

Seems good. There is a program called bootracer to test times.
Load times depends on how many programs load with Windows. You could use msconfig Windows start button & enter into search bar to stop all but essentials from loading. go to startup tab to see what loads.

Also disable items in BIOS i.e. Floppy drive/seek. Serial/firewire ports. If your mobo has 2 LAn ports & you only use 1 then disable other. Doubt if you'll gain more than a few seconds.