Windows 7 & system upgrade

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GinoS

GinoS

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Jul 7, 2006
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I have Vista 64 retail which I upgraded to Windows 7 using a retail version of Windows Seven upgrade. I know I can use both of these when I swap out my mother-board, CPU, RAM etc., and do not need to purchase a new OS.

It was suggested in a previous post that I move my OS to an SSD. So I'm getting a Samsung 840 250 gigabyte drive just for that purpose.

My question is, rather than reformat my primary drive or delete all the programs on that drive, would it be possible (or recommended) just to delete Windows from my current hard drive, do the re-build and then install Vista 64 and Windows 7 upgrade on the SSD? If I did that would I still have all my programs in place on the primary drive (which will become my secondary drive)?

That seems too simple to me to actually work. Please advise and thanks in advance for your suggestions.
 
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mbreslin1954

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A new installation of Windows on your new SSD will require you to re-install all your games and applications on the new system. You're right, you have all the installation folders already on your old HDD, such as \Program Files\XXX , but when a Windows program is installed it does more than just put a folder in Program Files. It puts files in the C:\Windows directory and it puts lots of entries in the Windows configuration database, called the Windows Registry. Simply pointing a shortcut at the old HDD folders will not magically cause the configuration information to appear in the Windows Registry -- the program needs to install itself in order for that to happen. Sorry, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it is what it is.
 
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mbreslin1954

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That most likely will not work. Changing out all the hardware (mobo, CPU, etc.) but keeping the old install of Windows will usually result in a BSOD. Windows will probably have to be installed. Even in the unlikely event that the old drive did boot successfully into Windows with a new motherboard, it would fail authentication.

[EDIT]

Sorry, I forgot that you had retail versions of Windows. Of course you can call Microsoft and re-activate on the new motherboard, if needed. IF the old hard drive booted with the new hardware.
 
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GinoS

GinoS

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OK. I'll just reload Windows on the SSD. However, I'm guessing the last thing I need to do after I backup all my photos, documents and music would be to delete Windows or reformat my 1 TB hard drive to make sure I don't have conflicting versions of Windows on one computer? I know when I load Windows on my SSD, the SSD is the only drive that should be connected to the mobo. I guess I'm asking if I should reformat my two 1 TB hard drives before re-installing windows to the SSD. (One terrabyte drive serves as my primary drive and the other is a backup.) Thanks for the help.
 
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mbreslin1954

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There is no need to reformat any hard drives just to get rid of the old Windows installation. When you install Windows to the SSD, the new installation of Windows will be set to boot from the SSD and will ignore any other Windows installations on any other drives. It won't matter how many other installations of Windows you have on any other drives, the boot manager will be on the SSD and that's what will be booted. You can just delete Windows from the other drive, or reformat it, it's your choice, but a reformat is not strictly required.

It IS a good idea to install Windows with only the boot drive (SSD) connected, because in my experience Windows sometimes installs the boot manager on a second hard drive -- I suspect it depends on what SATA port the drives are connected to. For instance, if your boot drive is on Port 1 and your extra storage drive is on SATA port 0, then Windows installs the boot loader on port 0, which you think is an extra drive, and when you remove it later the system won't boot. Used to happen to me all the time with Windows XP.

But after you install Windows with just the SSD present, feel free to connect the other drives and everything will work fine.

[EDIT] But if you ever find yourself in such a situation where you remove an extra storage drive and Windows won't boot, the solution is to boot with a Windows install disk, go to a command prompt, and run BOOTSECT, it will install the boot loader to the "C" drive:

BOOTSECT /NT60 C: ( or what ever drive letter you want to install the boot information onto)
 
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