2 HDD, 32bit and 64 bit OS.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Trave

Trave

Honorable
May 22, 2013
617
0
11,160
I have a 500GB HDD with a 32bit OS and reformat it because I recently get a 250GB HDD w/ 64 bit OS for like $10 and decided to make the 500GB my primary storage for big files.Movies, games and such.

Now I'm planning to get some games to play with the 64 bit OS and use the 500gb as an installation storge for my games,videos,media files etc.

So my question is do I need to change my 500GB HDD to 64 bit OS to play 64 bit games, while using my 250GB as my boot OS or I can just use it as it is?

sorry for my english and grammar.
 
Solution
Math Geek
you stated you would be formatting the hdd for the new use. so that means there is no trace of the win 10 install left behind to worry about. when you install something to it, the 64-bit win 7 will install it to be compatible with itself since there is no other os present for it to worry about.

even if you left the win 10 on there and dual booted, it would still install to the hdd as 64-bit compatible since 64-bit win 7 is the one installing it and would not be usable by the win 10 install.

but since you stated you would be formatting the drive, then there is no worry as the win 10 install will be gone and not make any difference
Sort by date Sort by votes
R

Rookie_MIB

Distinguished
Jul 27, 2013
1,970
10
20,965
You shouldn't need to reinstall an OS to access a drive as a bare storage drive, you should just be able to specify the 500gb drive as the installation target and install whatever you want on it.

When it comes to storage, for the most part, the bit-ness of the OS doesn't matter, what matters is the format of the file system. In Windows for example, it doesn't matter under which OS you format a drive under, if it's formatted in NTFS it can be read by 32bit or 64bit WIndows XP, 98, ME, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.

Yes, there ARE some issues with >2TB drives vs MBR vs GPT vs UEFI vs Legacy booting, but those are -partition- issues and have no relevance to what you're looking to do.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Trave

Trave

Honorable
May 22, 2013
617
0
11,160
So tell me if I get it right.

So the 500gb being a 32bit W10 to be exact"" previously has nothing to do when I use my 250GB HDD W7 64 bit as my boot disk while the 500GB being a 2nd storage and installation path of my game e.g. Quantum Break, GTA 5 or any 64 bit required games?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Math Geek

Math Geek

Titan
Ambassador
Oct 15, 2014
18,020
2,335
101,590
you stated you would be formatting the hdd for the new use. so that means there is no trace of the win 10 install left behind to worry about. when you install something to it, the 64-bit win 7 will install it to be compatible with itself since there is no other os present for it to worry about.

even if you left the win 10 on there and dual booted, it would still install to the hdd as 64-bit compatible since 64-bit win 7 is the one installing it and would not be usable by the win 10 install.

but since you stated you would be formatting the drive, then there is no worry as the win 10 install will be gone and not make any difference
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom