Uninstalling Windows 8 from second Harddrive? Can I still install STEAM and other apps on that second harddrive with no OS?

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TaskinRahman

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Apr 18, 2013
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Hello,

When building my computer, I accidentally installed Windows 8 OS on both my SSD and my 1 TB HD. I thought that was the common procedure but later I learned that most people do not install a second OS on their data drive. I intend to mainly use my 1 TB 7200 RPM Western Digitial harddrive to store my HD videos.

However, if I do uninstall the Windows 8 OS from my second harddrive, can I still install programs like Steam, google chrome, etc. on my second harddrive or can it only be used to store things?

Also, any quick links on how to go about uninstalling a OS from a harddrive without losing my videos stored on that harddrive?

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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OK...let's fix this:

I accidentally installed Windows 8 OS on both my SSD and my 1 TB HD.

You went through the whole install on both drives?

if I do uninstall the Windows 8 OS from my second harddrive, can I still install programs like Steam, google chrome, etc. on my second harddrive or can it only be used to store things?

Yes. Steam in particular is recommended to be installed on the HDD.

Also, any quick links on how to go about uninstalling a OS from a harddrive without losing my videos stored on that harddrive?

Save whatever personal data you want, videos, music, images...to elsewhere.
Disconnect the HDD
Verify everything boots properly from the SDD only. The reason it might not is that the HDD holds a small 100MB boot partition.

If everything boots properly with only the SSD connected, and you have saved all your personal files (movies, music, etc), simply wipe the HDD.

After that, when you want to install something, choose the specific location where to install.
Things like Firefox and Chrome are comparatively small, and will not impact SSD space in any real way.

My 128GB currently has 50+GB free. And Win8Pro + most of my applications installed on it. MS Office and Steam live elsewhere.
 
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TaskinRahman

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I have to open up my tower and physically disconnect my HDD? I dread going back in there and messing something up... what is the disadvantage to having the two harddrives with OSes? Is it slower?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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With Widows 7 and later, it is very advisable to have only one hard drive connected during the install.
The install process may create the ~100MB boot partition on the wrong drive.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Disk Manager.
Look at the partitions on each drive.
See where the 100MB "System Reserved" partition is
 
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TaskinRahman

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Apr 18, 2013
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Sorry USAFRet. I quickly searched for Disk Manager on Windows 8 and I did not see it on my system. Should i download a version online somewhere? Thanks for all your help. I appreciate it.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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nonono...That's part of Win8

Bottom Right corner, bring up the Charm panel
Search
Disk Management in the Search Window.
"Windows Disk Management" should appear over on the left
Rightclick on it and select Run as Administrator

Let's see what that shows
 
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TaskinRahman

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So I got to disk management and opened it. This is what it says:

Disk 0: (This is my 250 GB SSD)
C: 232.54 GB NTFS
Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition, etc.)

Disk 1: (My 1 TB 7200 RPM Western Digital HD)
931.51 GB NTFS
Healthy (Primary Partition)

Then that must mean that my SSD has the boot correct?
 
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