Now, this may be a newbie question, but I am building my first PC and I wanted to ask you guys about the storage. Now I know that there is a C drive that holds the operating system, but I was wondering if I am able to put let's say a 128 GB SSD with just my operating system on it to boot up my computer, then use a 4TB HDD to hold all my programs, games, photos, etc. My second question is will it prevent each one from having conflict such as if a program I install conflicts with the operating system. I am new to all of this so any advice is appreciated.
Figuring out how storage works
- Thread starter Smithy07
- Start date
Solution
Boogieman_WD
Judicious
- Jul 31, 2014
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Hey there, Smithy07.
Don't worry for being new to this field. Everybody has to start from somewhere.
You can use a 128GB drive for your OS (operating system, which is Windows in your case) along with a 4TB drive for simple storage and games. This is a actually a pretty good combo.
My recommendation is that you install the OS on the SSD without having the HDD connected to the motherboard during the Windows installation process. This is necessary because Windows sometimes puts some of the system files on the secondary storage HDD and by having it disconnected during the Windows installation, you will prevent future possible issues while booting or updating the OS.
I'd advise you to use the SSD for the programs as well (not the games just programs which are not too demanding it terms of capacity). You should also make sure that you set the SATA mode of your motherboard to AHCI before you start the Windows installation on your SSD. This is done via the BIOS/UEFI settings.
Here's a useful article with tips for new SSD users: https://www.maketecheasier.com/12-things-you-must-do-when-running-a-solid-state-drive-in-windows-7/.
Hope that helps. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD
Don't worry for being new to this field. Everybody has to start from somewhere.
You can use a 128GB drive for your OS (operating system, which is Windows in your case) along with a 4TB drive for simple storage and games. This is a actually a pretty good combo.
My recommendation is that you install the OS on the SSD without having the HDD connected to the motherboard during the Windows installation process. This is necessary because Windows sometimes puts some of the system files on the secondary storage HDD and by having it disconnected during the Windows installation, you will prevent future possible issues while booting or updating the OS.
I'd advise you to use the SSD for the programs as well (not the games just programs which are not too demanding it terms of capacity). You should also make sure that you set the SATA mode of your motherboard to AHCI before you start the Windows installation on your SSD. This is done via the BIOS/UEFI settings.
Here's a useful article with tips for new SSD users: https://www.maketecheasier.com/12-things-you-must-do-when-running-a-solid-state-drive-in-windows-7/.
Hope that helps. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD
Boogieman_WD :
Hey there, Smithy07.
Don't worry for being new to this field. Everybody has to start from somewhere.
You can use a 128GB drive for your OS (operating system, which is Windows in your case) along with a 4TB drive for simple storage and games. This is a actually a pretty good combo.
My recommendation is that you install the OS on the SSD without having the HDD connected to the motherboard during the Windows installation process. This is necessary because Windows sometimes puts some of the system files on the secondary storage HDD and by having it disconnected during the Windows installation, you will prevent future possible issues while booting or updating the OS.
I'd advise you to use the SSD for the programs as well (not the games just programs which are not too demanding it terms of capacity). You should also make sure that you set the SATA mode of your motherboard to AHCI before you start the Windows installation on your SSD. This is done via the BIOS/UEFI settings.
Here's a useful article with tips for new SSD users: https://www.maketecheasier.com/12-things-you-must-do-when-running-a-solid-state-drive-in-windows-7/.
Hope that helps. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD
Don't worry for being new to this field. Everybody has to start from somewhere.
You can use a 128GB drive for your OS (operating system, which is Windows in your case) along with a 4TB drive for simple storage and games. This is a actually a pretty good combo.
My recommendation is that you install the OS on the SSD without having the HDD connected to the motherboard during the Windows installation process. This is necessary because Windows sometimes puts some of the system files on the secondary storage HDD and by having it disconnected during the Windows installation, you will prevent future possible issues while booting or updating the OS.
I'd advise you to use the SSD for the programs as well (not the games just programs which are not too demanding it terms of capacity). You should also make sure that you set the SATA mode of your motherboard to AHCI before you start the Windows installation on your SSD. This is done via the BIOS/UEFI settings.
Here's a useful article with tips for new SSD users: https://www.maketecheasier.com/12-things-you-must-do-when-running-a-solid-state-drive-in-windows-7/.
Hope that helps. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD
Thanks for the advice and I did what you said but now I am facing another problem. My pc that I am using now has a failing hard drive in it. I have two HHD's installed into the computer and they are both active. The one that is failing is the one with my operating system on it. Is it possible to transfer all files over to the other one and use that one as the operating system one? I really would not like to buy a new one if I do not have to when I am building a new pc.
Boogieman_WD
Judicious
- Jul 31, 2014
- 6,050
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You could try migrating your OS, however if the drive that's failing is in a bad condition, the process might not be successful. Other than that, you should backup the data of the second drive as during a migration/cloning process, the destination drive is reformatted and overwritten with the information from the source drive (the HDD you're going to clone from).
This is a tutorial on how to migrate your OS from an HDD to an SSD, however the process is basically the same and you don't need to slim down the HDD that much in most cases. Also, skip the AHCI part in the beginning: http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows.
Good luck!
This is a tutorial on how to migrate your OS from an HDD to an SSD, however the process is basically the same and you don't need to slim down the HDD that much in most cases. Also, skip the AHCI part in the beginning: http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows.
Good luck!
Boogieman_WD
Judicious
- Jul 31, 2014
- 6,050
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- 35,960
If you have enough space on the destination drive and your documents along with the OS are on the same partition/drive, you can do it by following the tutorial from my previous link. Migrating a partition or an entire drive basically transfers all the information so that will include the OS and the documents as well.
However in my opinion, if you don't have a backup of you "other documents" you should transfer just them to another drive, just to keep them safe and then start the migration/cloning process.
Please keep me updated.
However in my opinion, if you don't have a backup of you "other documents" you should transfer just them to another drive, just to keep them safe and then start the migration/cloning process.
Please keep me updated.
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