Newbie question on disk management

Axone

Honorable
Oct 2, 2013
3
0
10,510
Hi all,

For all sorts of silly reason (?) I now have 5 active drive on my PC, 1X DVD RW + 2X HD 1TB (1 internal & 1 external usb) + 1X HD 2TB (Toshiba) + 1X SSD 120GB Pyro SE*. The two 1TB HD's are Seagate drive at 7,500. All this in a Antec 900 mini tower ATX with 3X 5,25 & 6X 3.5 internal drive space. My MB is a ASUS P5Q LGA 775 with a CPU Intel Quad Q6600 at 2.4GHZ. My power supply is a 600w Coolmaster.

My SSD is connected but as a secondary drive at this time. Disk management is using the letters C, D, E and G at this time (the 2TB Toshiba HD is not installed yet). My main drive is "C" with my Win7 OS on it. For the past few years I have assign the drive "E" My Document in the Registry, "D" is for my DVD.

Here is my question: I want to reinstall my Windows 7 OS and my 2TB Toshiba HD nd I wonder about my disk management set up, any recommendation before I reinstall all these drives?

My new SSD will be at the center of my new install and will put my Win7 OS on it (obviously for speed!) and will assign him the "C" drive letter. Because of the Registry entry, I would like to keep the "E" as My Documents location. Programs files (including x86) should be on the "C" SSD or on another available drive (1TB or 2TB My Documents)? My external 1TB HD should remain closed most of the time and only open for back ups!

Yes, it is a silly question for most of you but it puzzle me greatly! I know I can reassign My Documents to another drive but last time, even through I believe I've done it properly, it cause me many headaches for quite a while!

Any comment and suggestion are welcome!

Thank you in advance for any help and advice you can give me!
Ax
 
Solution


When I installed my 128 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, I cloned the C: partition of my HDD to the SSD. The "old" C: partition is still on the HDD and does not cause any problems. I could prolly still boot into it if I changed the boot order in the BIOS. Just be sure to change the boot order in the BIOS after...

jbseven

Distinguished
Dec 2, 2011
646
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19,160
Keep all your programs/games on the SSD which will be C:. This will give you the best performance.

Keep everything else (pictures/music/videos/backups) on the other drives. The arrangement is according to your preference.

To customize the drive letters to your satisfaction, hit start and do a search for 'computer management', hit disk management on the left.

Now you can re-arrange every drive's letter as you see fit (except C). If a drive letter is not available, assign the disk that is currently using the drive letter to something else like z: and then do it.

Hope this is the answer you're looking for.
 

Axone

Honorable
Oct 2, 2013
3
0
10,510
Hi,

Thanks for the answer!

I'm about to install Windows on my SSD.

Another newbie question: can I keep my old Windows install on my 1TB HD and be able to use it (if necessary)?

Not that I intent to do this, but would feel more secured for a while! I understand would have to change my bios primary drive, but other than that is there any potential problem that can occur?

Many thanks again for any help you can provide me.

Ax
 


When I installed my 128 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, I cloned the C: partition of my HDD to the SSD. The "old" C: partition is still on the HDD and does not cause any problems. I could prolly still boot into it if I changed the boot order in the BIOS. Just be sure to change the boot order in the BIOS after Windows installation so that the SSD is first or second, after the ODD.

Be sure to set your BIOS SATA mode to "AHCI" before you install Windows on the SSD and also be sure to disconnect all other drives except the SSD during the install. Otherwise Windows may install some hidden backup boot files on one of your HDDs that will from then on be required to boot the SSD.

Yogi

 
Solution

Axone

Honorable
Oct 2, 2013
3
0
10,510
Thanks for the answer Yogi. Quite appreciate it !

Disconnecting all the other HD is an excellent idea! Keep only the SSD and the DVD for install.

Will look for the AHCI SATA mode on my BIOS.

Again, thanks for your help!
Ax