Installing Windows 7 on 2nd HDD from 1st HDD with XP

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
SKIPPY PB

SKIPPY PB

Reputable
Jan 9, 2015
486
0
4,860
I have a Dell XPS Desktop from the 2005/06 era. It had Windows XP SP3 on the 1st hard drive. I have a 120GB Solid State Drive that I just installed into the second hard drive bay, I then disabled the first drive and enabled the 2nd with the system bios. But it would not let me boot with the re-install disk for Windows 7. I tried many times with many different configurations (removed first drive, moved it to the 1st drive, reboot, shut down and pulled the power cord for some time.) No luck.

So I ended up activating the SSD (harddrive #2) from windows XP and formatted it with that as a second storage device for my original HDD. I then deleted all storage partitions with diskmgmt.msc and activated the Windows 7 disk for installation through XP. Now, it installed successfully and is operational. However here is the catch.

- Windows 7 OS will not run from the SSD where it is stored when that drive is used alone. (Im thinking it used XP (the main HDD) to write the booting part of the software)

- 2nd problem with that is I was already multi booting separate OS's (linux) with Windows XP. When I did the addition of Windows 7 it have some created another boot screen before the XP multi boot screen. I have windows 7 or xp. If i choose XP I go back to my old boot screen with the other linux OS systems.


??

Is there a way I can move the necessary files over to the SSD to make the SSD bootable on its own?

Is there a guide to setting up an additional hard drive to run standalone software without having to be paired to the primary system?

Is there a reason I cannot run the install disk's when using the SSD. They worked fine when I did it on a 3rd hard drive i formatted that is currently not in use.

I guess as a simple option how can I make the SSD bootable. And remove the remains from my primary HDD.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
When installing SSDs, I always recommend unplugging all drives in the system except the SSD and installing the OS. Windows often will find boot partitions or empty space on other hard drives and try to install files/partitions to them. If it is the only drive, you are good to go. After installation, patches and drives, then you can plug the other drives back in.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SKIPPY PB

SKIPPY PB

Reputable
Jan 9, 2015
486
0
4,860


Is it possible that I messed up the drive by running it with the other stuff attached? Could it be formatted wrong?

I have tried removing all other devices and even them when I use the SSD as the only primary hard drive with an installation disk, I get no bootable devices found message. Assuming something "glitched" I shut down, rebooted, shut down pulled the power cord out, retried again, etc. No luck.

Very odd as the re installation disk's function in other computers and with regularly HDD's.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
You will need to setup the boot priority to be the DVD first (or bootable flash drive), then the SSD (these should be the only two drives installed). When you boot, it should say, "Press any Key to boot from the DVD" - you have the press a key, then it should install.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SKIPPY PB

SKIPPY PB

Reputable
Jan 9, 2015
486
0
4,860



Unfortunately I already attempted that. I set the bios up to run the disk first but it only allows you to choose onboard hard drive as a boot option. It doens't allow you to pick Drive 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. It just says USB, onboard DVD drive or onboard hard disk drive. So I just set the SSD up as the primary, pulled my regular HDD out and replaced it with the SSD. For some reason when its set up like that I dont get any messages to boot a CD during start up. It just says "no bootable drive found".

Ill attempt it once more and see if I make any progress. Or maybe I can figure out how to drag the Windows 7 boot files over from XP.


On a side note does anyone know how to uninstall windows 7 as in remove all its content and such from Windows XP
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
Operating systems install system partitions - so they will need to be removed - and the operating system itself needs to be removed (windows folders). The programs installed in a different operating system will need to be reinstalled as well.

To boot - choose from "onboard DVD drive" as the first bootable drive, then "onboard hard disk drive" (that should be the SSD). The BIOS won't show drives that aren't installed (power & SATA cables connected).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SKIPPY PB

SKIPPY PB

Reputable
Jan 9, 2015
486
0
4,860


Well this one I cant explain. Maybe you know more than I do. The Windows 7 Install disks would not activate on a cleared SSD, I had reformatted the drive and created two primary paritions hooking it up as a secondary HDD. I tried both the 64 bit and 32 bit versions, in both the CD-ROM drive and the DVD-RW drive. Nothing. No bootable devices found. I finally gave up after playing with all different setting and many reboots. I went ahead and installed Windows XP SP2 that disk took and went ahead and worked with the SSD, the update was successful. I then installed the Windows 7 32 bit disk on the windows 7 partition I made and now have a dual booting SSD. Its funny im still trying to figure out why the windows 7 disk would work on a new blank HDD in my PC.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SKIPPY PB

SKIPPY PB

Reputable
Jan 9, 2015
486
0
4,860


Would making it unallocated space through Windows XP be considered blank? I seemed to have trouble trying to install it on the SSD when it was fresh out of the box (Windows 7 64-bit that is.) From what I have read it seems like my PC is capable of taking 64-bit systems. That is all I tried with before formating the hard drive with the regular HDD.

I have a new problem now. I kill all the partitions from the SSD drive when I had it plugged in alone as the primary drive and what installing Windows XP. I no am running XP and 7 successfully for the most part. I should be able to take it from there but now I have a problem on my regular hard drive. Since I tried to install Windows 7 onto the SSD from windows XP on the regular HDD I now have two multi boot screens when starting up on the regular HDD. The first one says Windows 7, Old WIndows, Ubuntu. Now windows 7 wont work since it was installed on the SSD and it has now been removed but the boot screen is still on my regular HDD. If I click old windows it takes me to my old multiboot screen where it says windows xp professional and Ubuntu.

So now im in quite the pickle. Because I will either have to leave the PC on 24/7 or deal with the multi step process to log onto a user account.

Is there anyway to uninstall windows 7 with the disk? Or can I use something like fixmbr command prompt from safe mode start. Or bcdedit?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
Why install Windows XP on the SSD? Once the drive is cleared (all unallocated space), you should be able to install Windows 7 64-bit. If you make the SSD first boot priority, it should boot to Windows 7 without any menus.

Since you have multiple boot partitions (from your explanation) on the hard drive, I would suggest backing up the data folders, then removing all partitions of the hard drive and then partition and move your data back.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SKIPPY PB

SKIPPY PB

Reputable
Jan 9, 2015
486
0
4,860


I actually did it a risky way but I fixed the boot menus. I like running both OS's atleast. Or atleast XP and whatever else is current because I have a lot of software that will only work on XP. For example dealership level automotive software. I could probably figure out how to make it run on windows 7 but I have not tried yet. Im mostly just experimenting.Im also planning that these hard drives will hop around. The SSD im testing more for speed and to be honest im not noticing that much of an improvemnent. They are quieter but I don't think my system is built to utilize the SSD fully.

No I understand what you are saying but with the hard drive completely wiped and another instance where I deleted all partitions to make it unallocated space. It wouldn't boot the Windows 7 DVD, not 32 bit nor 64 bit. My guess is that the DVD-rom drive doesn't work from the bios with a blank HD. I believe the XP CD only worked in teh CD-RW drive and not the DVD-RW drive. The Windows 7 disk is big and I assume it is a DVD disk, the XP disk i thought was a dvd aswell but seem like it is actually just a CD.

That is my best guess so far.


EDIT: I almost forgot I managed to fix my booting issues. Since windows 7 was never downloaded onto the regular HDD it never had any files there. So when I pulled the SSD and ran from the HDD it was a dead "link" in you will. That would cause an error and either crash the computer or make it reboot. This also happened with my Ubuntu OS. This would not boot either from either boot menu. So I ended up looking at the boot.ini file edited it. Restarted. Didn't start. So I used the reinstallation disk and booted into system recovery and got to the command prompt screen. Did FixBoot, FixMBR or something like that. You can type help and it show you all the usable commands. That fixed the boot screen and it goes right into windows now. I have since deleted my ubuntu partition.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
I have never tried a 32-bit/64-bit dual-boot. I have performed an Ubuntu/Windows dual boot, and a Windows 8.1/10 dual boot. Seems like the more "options" you have, the more problems you encounter. I keep an ancient laptop around (about 13 years old) to run old programs if needed (it still runs Windows XP - I haven't taken it out of the closet in a while...).

As for the SSD on Windows 7, you have to to a few edits to really see the difference: http://www.maketecheasier.com/12-things-you-must-do-when-running-a-solid-state-drive-in-windows-7/

Windows 8 does most of them automatically, and my favorite - the Samsung 840/850/EVO drives come with software to make sure everything is optimized.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom