OK, so here’s what I want to do with my new hard drive. I already have an 80 Gb harddrive that i have windows xp installed on. I want to install this new hard drive to use only as storage, so i want to take all my files and put them on the new hard drive. Then, i want to reformat my 80 Gb harddrive to install windows 7 and then hook up the 500 Gb drive again, that has all my files on it.
(1) If I hook up the drive with all my files on it to windows 7 will i have to reformat it and lose everything?
(2) How do i do this?
Thankyou!
Sorry for straying off topic, but why would you install a window 7 on the 80Gb hard drive? Your 500 Gb Caviar blue should be much faster than the 80Gb hard drive due to much higher platter density. You will appreciate this speed especially since windows 7, takes up around 15Gb of space. Normally people would install their OS, programs in their fastest drive and get a slower drive as a storage since storage drive don’t need much speed. I recommend partitioning the 500Gb drive and to install windows 7 on C drive. Then you can use the other partition as a storage as well as + 80Gb drive for storage.
(1) There is no need to reformat anything from an additional drive if you hook it up to a com with main drive that has OS already installed. If there are any other OS installed in the additional drive, the com will ask which OS to boot with during the system start up. Don’t install any 2 OS in the same partition though.
(2) Copy all files in the 80Gb drive to 500Gb drive. As for the program files, you should have have all the set-up files saved in one folder for times like this. Too bad if you deleted the set-up files after installing programs/apps, you may have to start from scratch. After you confirm all your important data is safely transferred to the 500Gb drive, installl the windows 7 on the 80Gb drive. During installation (after you put in the DVD), you will be asked to format the drive.
Actually it’s quite straight forward after you get the hang of it, but I recommend getting help from someone experienced if this is your first time installing OS. As for me, it took me hours and gallons(?) of cold sweat the first time I re-installed my OS.
i want to install on the 80 gb so i can keep my files and have a clean install. it’s not my first time doing things like this, but just different because of the 2 drives. Now im also having trouble doing a clean install because i cant figure out how to boot from my dvd drive, which is hooked up through a PCI Controller card.
If I just install windows 7 on the 500gb drive with files already on it, will the files be accessible from the OS on the 500 gb hard drive?
o yea, and i dont know how to boot from the SATA drive anyways
MikexNemesis14 wrote:
i want to install on the 80 gb so i can keep my files and have a clean install. it’s not my first time doing things like this, but just different because of the 2 drives. Now im also having trouble doing a clean install because i cant figure out how to boot from my dvd drive, which is hooked up through a PCI Controller card.
If I just install windows 7 on the 500gb drive with files already on it, will the files be accessible from the OS on the 500 gb hard drive?
I respect your decision if you say so, but for me it seems rather pointless… Everything including boot up, application loads, etc will be a lot faster in 500Gb drive than 80Gb. (especially if the 500Gb is a newer single platter model) Have you been using windows 7 in your old 80Gb drive? If you didn’t mind the speed, then I guess there’s no point in me yapping 
But I think partition the 500Gb drive makes a lot more sense. Say 50Gb C: Drive for installing windows/programs and 450Gb D: Drive for storing your files? Then you can _ also have a clean install _ by formatting the C: Drive without formatting the D: Drive containing your files. You can also use your 80Gb drive as a storage/back up.
And you’ll probably need to install windows 7 FIRST in the 500Gb drive since you’ll have to format it. After installation is complete, transfer all the files in 80Gb drive. However, as for the actual installation procedure, you’ll need to ask someone else since I’ve never actually used windows 7 before.
ive been using xp on the 80 gb hard drive. I tried to install windows 7 on my new hd but it wouldnt let me and gave the error “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk’s controller is enabled in the computer’s BIOS menu.”
but i can’t figure out anything inthe bios, and even if i did install an OS on the SATA drive, i cant figure out how to boot from it since it’s on a PCI card
