[Basara]

I have recently bought a new solid state hard drive to replace my super old hard drive which I used when I first built the computer a few years back, in which I ripped it from an even older computer to use because I didn't want to buy a new one at the time. My question is, after installing windows into the new hard drive, will there be a problem using the older one as storage since it has windows installed on it as well or will it work as just an additional hard drive?

Also considering that the new hard drive has less space, is it possible to run programs off the older one. I understand that if it is possible, they might run slower etc.. But for programs and utilities that I deem not priority as the ones I would put on my new hard drive, I would not really mind.

Also Also, for programs and more specifically games lol, if I just took the entire folders from C:Program Files/Game etc..
and put them on my external and then transferred to the new HD......would they work? lol I'm expecting not but hey I love not having to re download stuff

This post has been edited by Basara: 27 November 2012 - 03:59 PM

[compnovo]

Basara, on 27 November 2012 - 03:43 PM, said:

I have recently bought a new solid state hard drive to replace my super old hard drive which I used when I first built the computer a few years back, in which I ripped it from an even older computer to use because I didn't want to buy a new one at the time. My question is, after installing windows into the new hard drive, will there be a problem using the older one as storage since it has windows installed on it as well or will it work as just an additional hard drive?

Also considering that the new hard drive has less space, is it possible to run programs off the older one. I understand that if it is possible, they might run slower etc.. But for programs and utilities that I deem not priority as the ones I would put on my new hard drive, I would not really mind.

Also Also, for programs and more specifically games lol, if I just took the entire folders from C:Program Files/Game etc..
and put them on my external and then transferred to the new HD......would they work? lol I'm expecting not but hey I love not having to re download stuff

Hi Basara, and welcome to the forums,
You won't have any problems using your old hard drive for storage, that's what I'm doing with my computer. At the very most you might have to go into the BIOS and set your SSD as the boot drive, but that probably won't be necessary.

"...if I just took the entire folders from C:Program Files/Game etc..
and put them on my external and then transferred to the new HD......would they work?"

Probably not. When a program is installed it puts items in the registry on the C drive, and if the program is on a new drive and can't find the registry items it won't launch. Also, if you install your applications on your old drives you'll lose one of the biggest advantages of an SSD: fast program launches.

Best of luck with your new SSD.

[LiveBrianD]

Btw, compnovo, I would guess that the BIOS would choose the hard drive boot priority by default according to the SATA port it's on. Meaning that, if the SSD is on the first port, it'll likely be the first boot device.

@Basara My suggestion is to install all your programs and stuff on the new drive (like compnovo said), then remove Windows from the old drive and use it for plain file storage. If you have at least 128GB on the SSD, I doubt you'll run out of space too easily (with just programs and games).

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 27 November 2012 - 09:24 PM

[Basara]

Thanks you two for your info I was a little hesitant at first but now I can go through this with a better sense of knowing I won't screw it up haha.

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 27 November 2012 - 09:24 PM, said:

Btw, compnovo, I would guess that the BIOS would choose the hard drive boot priority by default according to the SATA port it's on. Meaning that, if the SSD is on the first port, it'll likely be the first boot device.

That's why I said 'it probably won't be necessary".

[smax013]

Basara, on 27 November 2012 - 03:43 PM, said:

I have recently bought a new solid state hard drive to replace my super old hard drive which I used when I first built the computer a few years back, in which I ripped it from an even older computer to use because I didn't want to buy a new one at the time. My question is, after installing windows into the new hard drive, will there be a problem using the older one as storage since it has windows installed on it as well or will it work as just an additional hard drive?

Also considering that the new hard drive has less space, is it possible to run programs off the older one. I understand that if it is possible, they might run slower etc.. But for programs and utilities that I deem not priority as the ones I would put on my new hard drive, I would not really mind.

Also Also, for programs and more specifically games lol, if I just took the entire folders from C:Program Files/Game etc..
and put them on my external and then transferred to the new HD......would they work? lol I'm expecting not but hey I love not having to re download stuff

You will basically just use it for storage as others have offered.

Whether or not you can put programs on the spare drive will depend on the program. Some Windows programs HAVE to be on the boot drive. Others can be installed on a second drive, but will still install some stuff to the boot drive (i.e. some Registry entries at a minimum, but may more).

One thing to be careful of...when you install Windows on the new SSD, be sure to completely disconnect the old drive while you do that installation. If you do not, then it is possible that the Windows installation might install a boot loader on the old drive, which will then be used to determine which drive(/partition) to boot from. If it were to do this, then the computer may not boot off of the SSD if you remove or completely reformat the old drive.