I have just installed my Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD into my computer and installed a fresh version of Windows 7 on it. So right now in my computer I have a 1TB Seagate HDD with all of my old files on it, and a new SSD with Windows 7 and a few new files on it. How can I make it so that I have access to Pictures, Documents, and such on my HDD and programs, some games, and such on my SSD. I don't know if I am explaining this well enough, but I want to be able to see files and stuff that are on my HDD, when I search for them on my Windows 7 on my SSD. Is this possible? Also, what do I do with my old Windows 7 on my HDD.
New Windows 7 on SSD, old Files on HDD
- Thread starter SCanfield
- Start date
Solution
dingo07
Distinguished
- Jan 5, 2012
- 3,155
- 0
- 21,160
you need to have both drives installed - set up properly in boot order in BIOS, and you Need to Install ANY PROGRAM you want to use in your current windows environment
you will naturally have access to the other drive in widows explorer but you CANNOT Move programs for them to operate - data (pictures, movies, documents) is no issue once you install the program used to open the file
you will naturally have access to the other drive in widows explorer but you CANNOT Move programs for them to operate - data (pictures, movies, documents) is no issue once you install the program used to open the file
WyomingKnott
Legenda in Aeternum
- Aug 29, 2006
- 13,249
- 3
- 51,960
dingo07 is correct, but let me add a few details.
You can access any files on your old drive, but they will be on another drive letter, probably D:. Instead of moving My Documents, My Music, and what I call My Everything Else to the SSD, you can have My Documents point to the old folder on the old drive.
Programs, however, modify Windows when they are installed. Almost all games make entries in the registry, and they may add DLLs to common areas in the Windows tree. So when you make a new copy of Windows, these won't be present and the games can't be run from their old installations. There are programs that claim to be able to migrate software and settings from the old drive to a new one.
As to what to do with Windows on the old drive, you can
1) Ignore it,
2) Use the drive as a spare boot if something goes wrong with your SSD installation.
3) Erase most of it to make more space on the drive.
You can access any files on your old drive, but they will be on another drive letter, probably D:. Instead of moving My Documents, My Music, and what I call My Everything Else to the SSD, you can have My Documents point to the old folder on the old drive.
Programs, however, modify Windows when they are installed. Almost all games make entries in the registry, and they may add DLLs to common areas in the Windows tree. So when you make a new copy of Windows, these won't be present and the games can't be run from their old installations. There are programs that claim to be able to migrate software and settings from the old drive to a new one.
As to what to do with Windows on the old drive, you can
1) Ignore it,
2) Use the drive as a spare boot if something goes wrong with your SSD installation.
3) Erase most of it to make more space on the drive.
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