Hi. I'm building my first gaming PC, and I was told that I would NOT have to lose all my data if I used an existing hard drive. Sadly, it seems that I might have to after all.
My old PC had two hard drives:
Primary: 1TB (has Windows 7 + some personal files)
Secondary: 3TB (has many many Steam games)
Plan A was to make the secondary hard drive of my old PC (3TB) the primary and only hard drive of my new PC. So I transferred everything I needed from the 1TB over to the 3TB and moved the 3TB over to the new PC setup. However, when I went to install Windows 8.1, it said that there was no available space on the 3TB hard drive (even though, in reality, there's still nearly 2TB of space left). It turns out that the hard drive wasn't the correct format, and that I would have re-hook it up to the 1TB machine in order to format it completely. I'm not entirely unwilling to lose all the Steam games on the 3TB hard drive. It's just that it would take forever to re-download them. I've already backed up all the savegames and put them on another computer, so they're safe.
Plan B was to have the same setup as last time: 1TB + 3TB. But when I went to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 on the 1TB hard drive, it asked me to completely format my 1TB hard drive. This scared me a little. What would become of my 3TB hard drive after I formatted its little brother? Would the 3TB no longer be compatible next to it? Or would I have to format the 3TB one as well and lose absolutely everything from both hard drives?
Plan C was to install Windows 8.1 onto my secondary (3TB) hard drive using my old Windows 7 PC setup, but I have no idea what the ramifications would be being paired up with a 1TB hard drive that has Windows 7 on it. Plus, when I go to install the newly-Windows 8.1-ed hard drive into my new PC, it'll ask me to re-install Windows, right? Would it now be compatible but ask me to format the hard drive anyway? And would I even be able to re-install Windows 8.1, or is it a one-time-only thing? (I have the retail version of Windows 8.1, by the way)
Plan D was to buy a new (and hopefully larger) hard drive and start from scratch, and then just transfer everything over from my old PC. But I would like this to be a last resort. Also, can you even use a fresh-out-of-the-box hard drive on a new PC build?
My question: Is there a way to make the 3TB hard drive the primary hard drive without losing everything on it?
My old PC had two hard drives:
Primary: 1TB (has Windows 7 + some personal files)
Secondary: 3TB (has many many Steam games)
Plan A was to make the secondary hard drive of my old PC (3TB) the primary and only hard drive of my new PC. So I transferred everything I needed from the 1TB over to the 3TB and moved the 3TB over to the new PC setup. However, when I went to install Windows 8.1, it said that there was no available space on the 3TB hard drive (even though, in reality, there's still nearly 2TB of space left). It turns out that the hard drive wasn't the correct format, and that I would have re-hook it up to the 1TB machine in order to format it completely. I'm not entirely unwilling to lose all the Steam games on the 3TB hard drive. It's just that it would take forever to re-download them. I've already backed up all the savegames and put them on another computer, so they're safe.
Plan B was to have the same setup as last time: 1TB + 3TB. But when I went to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 on the 1TB hard drive, it asked me to completely format my 1TB hard drive. This scared me a little. What would become of my 3TB hard drive after I formatted its little brother? Would the 3TB no longer be compatible next to it? Or would I have to format the 3TB one as well and lose absolutely everything from both hard drives?
Plan C was to install Windows 8.1 onto my secondary (3TB) hard drive using my old Windows 7 PC setup, but I have no idea what the ramifications would be being paired up with a 1TB hard drive that has Windows 7 on it. Plus, when I go to install the newly-Windows 8.1-ed hard drive into my new PC, it'll ask me to re-install Windows, right? Would it now be compatible but ask me to format the hard drive anyway? And would I even be able to re-install Windows 8.1, or is it a one-time-only thing? (I have the retail version of Windows 8.1, by the way)
Plan D was to buy a new (and hopefully larger) hard drive and start from scratch, and then just transfer everything over from my old PC. But I would like this to be a last resort. Also, can you even use a fresh-out-of-the-box hard drive on a new PC build?
My question: Is there a way to make the 3TB hard drive the primary hard drive without losing everything on it?