Installing OS on a second HDD

[lordrothgar]

It's a very simple and noobish question but, since it's the first time i do this thing, i prefer to have everything clear before attempting it.

I have a single HDD computer with Win 7 installed. I decided to replace the hdd since it's getting slow and noisy.

So what i want to do is install Win 7 on a new HDD, and use my current one as a storage unit.

Now...how can i do that?

Do i simply plug in the new hdd, install win7 on it, set BIOS on making it the 1st on boot priority..and thats it? Or is there any pass i missed?

Thank you for your help

[aedipuss]

windows sometimes makes mistakes and damages other drives during an install. i'd unplug the old drive and only have the new one hooked up during the install. once it's done you can plug in the old drive and give it a new drive letter.

[lordrothgar]

And when i plug the old drive in again, after the install... will it give any problem by having an OS already installed on it, or if i set boot priority right in the bios it will just be recognized as a "storage" unit?

[slicebogey]

you shouldn't as long as the jumper is set to "cs" which is cable select, it should see it as the second drive and should also automatically give it drive letter and you should be able to see everything you left on it. also check to see it the new drive jumper is set to master.

[MOVIEGEEK]

you shouldn't as long as the jumper is set to "cs" which is cable select, it should see it as the second drive and should also automatically give it drive letter and you should be able to see everything you left on it. also check to see it the new drive jumper is set to master.

You are living in the IDE days, SATA drives don't have a jumper anymore. Either the mobo will have a master connector or you select it in the BIOS.

@lordrothgar,

You have the procedure down correctly.

[aedipuss]

as long as the bios is set to boot the new one first it will be fine.

[lordrothgar]

Thank you for the help guys.

Much appreciated

[hello_hello]

I always unplug the first drive (if it already has Windows installed) before installing Windows on a second drive. If you don't, Windows will see the installation on the first drive and set up dual booting. Then if you later want to delete Windows on the original drive it can get messy, so rather than do that, I unplug the first drive so the Windows installation can't see it and it'll install on the second drive without dual booting. When the installation is finished, I plug the original drive back in and Windows will asign it a drive letter when the PC reboots.

Most PCs should let you choose the boot drive via the BIOS when the PC starts. For mine I tap F12 after the PC starts and the BIOS gives me the option to select which drive to boot from.

[jman98]

Do note that unless you bought another version of Win 7 to install to the new drive that at some point, probably fairly in use, the new drive will very likely freak out and you'll get a full screen panic message from Windows warning you that you have a registration issue. This will require a call to Microsoft to resolve. Windows doesn't really like you reinstalling it to a new drive using the same registration number as a previous install.

[cal_tony]

Or you can just clone your existing drive and except for a faster quieter new drive everything else will be exactly as the old drive and microsoft wont call you up.

Tony