# How to set up SSD as boot drive and have a reg hard drive for more space?



## morgofborg

Yeah, as far as installing fresh with the ssd, it's probably just easiest to just hook up the ssd first, then hook up the other drive after windows is all installed on the ssd.

Reformatting is easy, just go to disk management and click reformat (this is after you have the music off of it, lol).

As far as transferring the music, do you have an other pc in the house? Putting the 1tb hdd in another computer and transferring to a hard drive on that pc and then transferring over the network would probably be much faster than going back and forth with flash drives.

Hope that helps some


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## Hexa

Yeah I do have another PC, I didn't even think of that. I could probably move the entire "music" folder in one motion over the network.

Edit*
The disk management thing, if I do that it will remove every single thing off the hard drive correct? I'm confused as to how Windows could do this through the OS b/c if it did there would be nothing for it to come back to when it was done?


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## importflip

inb4seanwebstersguide


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## yomama9388

If you don't want to transfer the music another option is creating a new partition the drive you want to format, move the music over to the new partition, wipe the large partition, move the data back, then expand the formatted partition to include the place where you stored the music. Just an option if you can't transfer it all.


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## xDriftyy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hexa*
> 
> Yeah I do have another PC, I didn't even think of that. I could probably move the entire "music" folder in one motion over the network.
> 
> Edit*
> The disk management thing, if I do that it will remove every single thing off the hard drive correct? I'm confused as to how Windows could do this through the OS b/c if it did there would be nothing for it to come back to when it was done?


I think it was meant for you to format the 1TB drive in a computer that was running Windows on another drive. When you get your SSD, throw the music on another computer, format the HDD, put the music back on, install Windows on the SSD following Sean's SSD Install guide, then plug in your HDD and you should be good to go


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## morgofborg

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hexa*
> 
> Yeah I do have another PC, I didn't even think of that. I could probably move the entire "music" folder in one motion over the network.
> Edit*
> The disk management thing, if I do that it will remove every single thing off the hard drive correct? I'm confused as to how Windows could do this through the OS b/c if it did there would be nothing for it to come back to when it was done?


Oh yeah, I forgot that this is your boot drive we are talking about, right?

In that case, I would reformat the hdd after you have win7 on the ssd all set up. then hook up the 1tb hdd, it will give you the option of with windows to boot to, pick the ssd. Then open disk management and reformat the hdd.

I don't think you can do a full reformat on the drive that has the OS you are currently using, but I've never tried so not positive. The way I described totally works, though


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## Hexa

So your saying install Windows onto my SSD, then plug my old hard drive in and format it then?


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## morgofborg

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hexa*
> 
> Yeah I do have another PC, I didn't even think of that. I could probably move the entire "music" folder in one motion over the network.
> Edit*
> The disk management thing, if I do that it will remove every single thing off the hard drive correct? I'm confused as to how Windows could do this through the OS b/c if it did there would be nothing for it to come back to when it was done?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hexa*
> 
> So your saying install Windows onto my SSD, then plug my old hard drive in and format it then?


Exactly. That is a sure way to remove everything on the drive and start fresh.


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## xDriftyy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hexa*
> 
> So your saying install Windows onto my SSD, then plug my old hard drive in and format it then?


You can just copy the music onto another PC, then format it, then copy it back, then plug it into your rig with the SSD.


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## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hexa*
> 
> Hey guys I've ordered all my pc parts and they should be here by Friday. I'm pretty excited but I have a few questions about steps to take to get ready.
> 
> I have a M4 128 gig ssd coming that I want to use as the boot drive. I did not order another reg hard drive b/c they are so expensive right now. What I plan on doing is completely formatting the 1TB drive I have now and simply use it in the new PC. With that I have a couple of questions..
> 
> The only thing on the current hard drive I want to keep is my music folders. They are absolutely huge so I'm wondering what the fastest way to save those would be? As of now I'm simply trying to load them all onto thumb drives lol.
> 
> Second question, how do I go about completely formatting this drive and having absolutely nothing on it so as that I can make it the secondary drive once my SSD gets here?
> 
> Lastly, I've heard that when building a new PC with a SSD drive as a boot drive that it's actually better to ONLY install the SSD when you first build the pc, then after everything is set up go back and place the reg hard drive in. Any truth to this?


Read my guides lol

Make a new partition after shrinking your free space on your current drive.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *importflip*
> 
> inb4seanwebstersguide


LOL

well yea, here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-guide-optimization-for-ssds-hdds

This is a good way to do a install.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hexa*
> 
> So your saying install Windows onto my SSD, then plug my old hard drive in and format it then?


Once you install the OS on your SSD then pop in the HDD and do this

*How to: Use old OS HDD as a data drive after installing a SSD!*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



*What is this?*
This how you can migrate your data from your old OS HDD into your system once you have reinstalled a new SSD or HDD.


*If your personal data is backed up to another drive then:*
Open the Start Menu, type *diskpart*, press Enter
Type *list disk*, press Enter
Type *select disk X* (where *X* is the number your drive shows up as), press Enter
Type *clean*, press Enter
Type *create partition primary*, press Enter
Type *active*, press Enter
Type *format quick fs=ntfs*, press Enter
Type *assign*, press Enter
Type *exit*, press Enter

*If you can't save your personal data to another medium you can do...*

*Option 1:* Okay option
Once you have windows installed you can usually just delete all the folders on the HDD that are part of the old OS and the ones you don't need. (make sure you delete hidden files and partitions that may be on there as well)

*Option 2:* Better option to me, will take longer.
Shrink the old HDD OS partition. (link)
Then make a new partition on the HDD in the free space. (link)
Then move the personal files to the new partition, like you movies, documents, pictures, etc.
Now you may have to keep shrinking and expanding the partitions as you do this depending on how much free space you have on your drive.
When done moving your files delete the older OS partition and the MSR one if it is there too.
Then expand the new partition into the left over free space.

*Next redirect your user folders to the storage HDD.*

*Move user folder locations to Secondary HDD:*
Right click your folder (ex. My pictures)
Click Properties
Click the Location tab
Change the destination to your other HDD (ex. D:\Pictures)
*Note 1:* Recommended, I do this myself for my user folders (ex. My Documents, My pictures, Desktop, etc.)
*Note 2:* If there are two of the same folder in teh User folder after the move (ie. My Documents "A" and My Documents "B") you should delete the empty one located on the C: drive. (May need to go into safe mode to delete it) Do not delete the other User folders, only duplicates that come up after the move within the User folder.
*Note 3:* If the folder already exists that you are linking it to you may want to merge the folders.

*Video Tut:*


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