should I remove windows from my storage drive?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
F

flyb0y

Honorable
Oct 29, 2013
12
0
10,510
I have two SSD's and a large 1TB HDD for storage. The HDD still has my original install of Win 7 on it, but I boot from one of SSD's and use the second SSD for games, I want to access the pictures on the HDD, but also want to make sure I clear anything unnecessary.

Will removing the second copy of Win 7 cause any difficulty accessing my pictures and video?
 
Solution
Solandri
Before you do any formatting, try disconnecting the HDD's SATA cable and rebooting. If the computer boots up fine, then it's safe to wipe or reformat the HDD.

Unlike older versions of Windows, Win 7 can boot off of drives other than the first drive. So sometimes you think you're booting off the SSD, but you're actually booting off the HDD and a small partition on the HDD is telling the computer to look for the OS on the SSD. If you find yourself in this situation, disconnection or reformatting the HDD will result in the system becoming unbootable. You need to correctly set the SSD as bootable, then run a Windows repair to put the proper boot info on the SSD. By testing for it first by disconnecting the SATA cable, you have the...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Solandri

Solandri

Illustrious
Jan 4, 2012
4,919
98
39,240
Before you do any formatting, try disconnecting the HDD's SATA cable and rebooting. If the computer boots up fine, then it's safe to wipe or reformat the HDD.

Unlike older versions of Windows, Win 7 can boot off of drives other than the first drive. So sometimes you think you're booting off the SSD, but you're actually booting off the HDD and a small partition on the HDD is telling the computer to look for the OS on the SSD. If you find yourself in this situation, disconnection or reformatting the HDD will result in the system becoming unbootable. You need to correctly set the SSD as bootable, then run a Windows repair to put the proper boot info on the SSD. By testing for it first by disconnecting the SATA cable, you have the option to fix this problem when you want. Instead of being stuck with an unbootable system until this is fixed.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
F

flyb0y

Honorable
Oct 29, 2013
12
0
10,510
Thanks for the info everyone! I will do the test you suggest Solandri, and I guess it won't hurt anything to leave it as is, I have been having strange instability problems while playing Elder Scrolls Online, and I want to eliminate any possible conflicts or hidden malware in un-needed storage.

If I move my pictures and such, I suppose I will have to then figure out how to access them again via the newly formatted drive, as it is now, the only way I know to access them is through the "User" name on my old HDD.

Thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,456
17,915
184,590
Move all of those files to a whole other folder selection.

On whatever drive, create a top level folder - "MyStuff"
Under that, create a folder for each file type. Movies, pics, music.
Copy those files to the relevant folder. You are moving them out from inside the old Windows install and that particular User.
In your Libraries, you can add those new folders to the Library, and they will be accessible.
 
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