Newcomer looking to put in an HDD from old comp into new one and install an SSD

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soulweaver

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Jan 29, 2015
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Hello! My old computer died so I bought a new one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227593
My old computer was windows 7 and this one is 8.1.

What I'd like to do is put one of my hard drives I had in the old computer into this new one. It wasn't the primary hard drive, just one I had for storage that has files on it that I'd like to retain. Furthermore, I bought a 250gb ssd that I'd like to install and put my OS on. So in total I'd have 3 drives in my computer (old, new, ssd). The thing is that I don't know every step I need to do in order to accomplish these tasks. I only know how to plug the power and data cords into the drives. Beyond that I come to you seeking advice. Thanks for your time!
 
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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First of all since it appears that you've apparently had no experience in this area it really would be desirable if you could arrange to have someone reasonably experienced at your side as you make these connections. The process isn't difficult but you're dealing with pretty sensitive electronic equipment and things can go awry if you don't really know what you're doing.

Anyway, with that as a caveat...
1. Connect your SSD to the motherboard's first SATA connector which will either be designated SATA 0 or SATA 1 depending upon the particular motherboard. In all probability the present 1 TB HDD in the machine is connected to that connector so it would be necessary to uninstall that disk from the connector.

2. Assuming that you would plan to utilize the 1 TB HDD as your chief secondary drive - connect it to the second SATA connector.

3. Connect your final HDD to one of the vacant SATA connectors.

I'm assuming in all this that the motherboard contains at least 4 SATA connectors to accommodate your disk drives + optical drive. Most likely the MB will contain more than 4 SATA connectors so there shouldn't be a problem there.

BTW, judging from the specs on Newegg it certainly appears to be a fine PC for the money although I was a bit concerned with the fair amount of negative user reviews. Was $799 what you paid? Any idea of the make & model of the desktop's motherboard?
 
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soulweaver

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Jan 29, 2015
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Hi there. Thanks for your reply. My motherboard is an ASRock 797 Anniversary (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157528). It has 6 SATA connectors starting with SATA 0, which like you said is more than enough to cover everything. As for the computer itself, I did pay the $799 for it. I too was a bit concerned about the reviews, but so far things have been going well. The only issues I've had with it at this point have been a missing screw from one of the sliding side panels and lag spikes with the wireless usb. But I'm getting a PCI wireless adapter to replace the usb.

The old HDD I have is a 2TB 7200rpm drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834&cm_re=seagate_barracuda_2_tb-_-22-148-834-_-Product) while the new one is 1TB 7200rpm so I'm not sure whether or not I should make the old drive the chief secondary drive or not. The old one does currently have some files and programs on it that I'd like to still have access to. I'm not sure how much this all matters though since on my old computer I had only really ever used up about 500gb between my two drives and will probably still stay somewhere around that range.

If there is more I need to do beyond just hooking the drives up to the SATA connectors/power supply for my situation, (such as formatting, configuration, or doing stuff with BIOS/boot) it'd be great to get a detailed step-by-step.
 
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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ArtPog

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From your initial query I'm assuming that you're going to make a fresh install of the OS onto your new SSD. Are you planning to install Win 7? You're aware, of course that your new desktop contains (on the 1 TB HDD) the Win 8.1 OS. You could clone that drive over to your new SSD. Is there any reason why you prefer not to?

There's really nothing else to do configuration-wise if you're going to install Win 7 on your SSD. The system will boot to that OS, however, you will need to have a Win 7 license in order to activate that OS. On the other hand if you would simply plan to use the included Win 8.1 OS the most straightforward way of achieving that goal would be via cloning as indicated above.

Of course another alternative (assuming you plan to use the Win 8.1 OS) is to install the 1 TB HDD containing that OS to your first SATA connector as previously explained. That way you would be booting to that drive rather than the SSD. If you do this initially you can ensure that the OS is properly functioning before you undertake any disk-cloning operation. By & by you could later clone the contents of that drive to the SSD if that is what you prefer. I'm going on the assumption that your new desktop did not include a DVD allowing you to make a fresh install of the Win 8.1 OS. But if you have the requisite media than you could simply install the OS on your SSD.
 
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