deleting old os from other hard drive

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cujoman22

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Feb 25, 2014
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I built a second gaming rig and bought a ssd for my main boot drive. I brought over my old hard drive from my other computer that's has windows 8.1 on it and I installed windows 8.1 on my ssd. When I boot my computer I feel like my computer is trying to choose what one to boot from. My ssd would vanish then boot from my hard drive and vise versa. What I would like to know is how to boot from my ssd and delete the os on my other hard drive .

Thanks!
 
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popatim

popatim

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Dec 2, 2009
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First, disconnect the data cable from the hdd (while powered off) and see if your PC will boot up without it. If it boots up fine like that then proceed.
When booted off the SSD, and provided the HDD does not have anything important stored on it yet, use disk management (run diskmgmt.msc) to delete the existing partitions and then you can create one large partition and format it.
 
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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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Dec 2, 2013
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if you can boot with just the SSD, then formatting the old boot drive is a good idea. Even maybe research the difference between a quick format and a full format. Because if you're well versed with PCs, and always catch problems and solve them- especially the HDDs you have- then a quick format is fine. But if your still learning stuff about HDDs and partitioning and aren't sure of the entire history of an HDD as far as it always running perfectly and no fragmentation and De-fragment it everyday and don't know everything about Checkdisk (chkdsk), well then maybe a full format IS a good choice. :)

but then hey maybe all you need to do is change the boot order in BIOS. And if the boot order or options with Boot order make it possible to always boot from SSD; then why not leave the OS on the old HDD too?! Because if the SSD ever fails to boot, then the old HDD still will boot (after changing the boot order options back the way they were) and you can easily diagnose the SSD or start fixing it easier. :)
 
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cujoman22

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Feb 25, 2014
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I would love to have the back up os but also when in my bios I can see that my computer is only recognizing one at a time if I have the ssd In that will show up but not the hard drive when that's plugged in also but it would show up on the desktop :(
 
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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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Dec 2, 2013
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Yes. Well then there are two options:
1. Run the OS from the SSD and Format the HDD and use it for storing Data.
or
2. Unplug the HDD and use it in an emergency only to boot if the SSD fails to boot.

The only other thing is, that the problem needs to be clear:
-You presently can't have, or get, both drives to show up in Windows while booting from the SSD without formatting the HDD 1st. Unless, maybe this trick works...

If the the PC failing to recognize both drives, IS caused by maybe both drives being what is called, "Primary Active Partitions". But then that goes back to having all the experience in the world with Partitioning and Drives. Or having a friend or two onsite, that do know. With all the experience in the world you can easily experiment with changing the HDD to a Logical Drive (no longer a Primary Active). While at the same time leave the OS on it and also store Data or wat not on it. And for a contingency, switch it bak from Logical to Primary Active, at a later date (while using a Boot Disk or Live OS Disk/ USB Thumb Drive) if ever it needed to be booted from as a result of the SSD failing to boot.

But for know just Format the HDD. (Full Format.) Then Boot from the SSD and use Partitioning (Disk Management built into Windows) on the HDD and use it for storing Data. "Windows Disk Management" search at Youtube should result in all you need to know.

And eventual master Partitioning. One step at a time. Then master Backup Imaging and Restoration of Backup Images. Because with those two prerequisites you can experiment to your hearts desire with PCs. They are the best things possible to learn. I have done Hundreds if not more than a thousand experiments and repairs with the knowledge. And I never ever need to worry if my PC fails to boot. Contingency, Contingency, Contingency is the rule.... And Partitioning, Backups and Restoring is the key to it. :)

GL
 
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