Installing Windows on new drive & wiping old hard drives with windows & programs installed. What order do I go in?

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samanthaleviosa

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Nov 15, 2015
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I bought a new 500gb ssd and I want to install Windows on it and then keep all my programs there, but I'm trying to figure out how to go about wiping my current drives.

Currently in my PC:

  • Old SSD #1: Windows & programs installed
    Old SSD #2: Programs installed
    HDD #1: Programs installed & all files (docs, photos, etc.)

What I want in my PC when I'm done:

  • New 500 GB SSD: Windows & Programs
    HDD #1: All files

My instinct is to install Windows 10 fresh on the new ssd and then boot to that and wipe all the old drives from there. Once the old drives are wiped, I'll remove the two old SSD's, migrate all my regular files from a backup onto the HDD, and install all programs on the new SSD. Is it that simple?

I guess I want to know what order to go in, because I'm worried installing windows fresh on the new SSD and then booting a computer with all those old connected drives that all have programs installed (one of which an OS) will confuse the new windows installation. Am I wrong?


YES, I do have two backups on external drives in addition to the drives listed above, so no worries there.
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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Dec 7, 2014
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No, It will boot from the SSD you installed your windows 10 on as long as you have it located in SATA 0!!! I repeat, it must be plugged in sata 0, the os you are booting from. After that you can connect the other drives, once the computer turns on go to the bios, Be sure to change it to legacy, and switch the boot priority to your SSD that has the OS you want on it.

It will now boot from your drive with the OS while the others will be avaliable once the computer is loaded. then you can migrate the files you want from the drives to your storage. Following a completion of your migration, its time to reformat your drives

You have the option of turning a SSD into a boot drive by installing ONLY the OS and Systemfiles on it, Leaving 1 SSD for very large games, that take long times to load. This will make it so when you boot up, you will be able to access your computer in mere seconds after pressing the power button. The HHD you shuld use for storage as it has no effect on performance., following that go ahead and do your reformats to the drives you want to wipe. if its a HHD you want to wipe and format I recommend creating at least 4 partitions on it. 1 for the backup, the second for movies, third for pictures and songs, and the last for MISC files and Downloads. This keeps your PC clutter free and running the absolute best.
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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the SSD if you only have 1 500g one, I highly recommend only putting system files, Virus scanners, the OS, and Games. The reason why games its it has been proven to dramatically increase load times and ingame responsiveness/smoothness. also no one likes waiting 14 mins just to get into gta online.
 
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Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

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Part of the install process is discovering and initiating disk drives. You should be able to handle all of your drives during the install process, so I would recommend:

1) Shut down your system.
2) Install the 500GB SSD.
3) Boot your system from the installation media.
4) During the install process, format all of your drives.
5) Install Windows onto your new 500GB SSD.
6) Shut down your system.
7) Remove the old SSDs from the system.
8) Boot from your new Windows install.
9) Migrate your files from back up to your HDD.

-Wolf sends
 
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