2 os on separate hdds

AcSpears

Commendable
Dec 2, 2016
2
0
1,510
So im purchasing a new motherboard due to an incompatibility with the rx 480 i just bought, however my os windows 7 home premium that i currently have is oem so when i replace the motherboard i will have to install a new os. I have 2 hdd installed in my pc, the one that came with the computer had has the os and 99% of my data, and a new 1tb i just bought with nothing really on it. Question, if i install the new os on the empty card will it still wipe my old hdd or only the one i install it onto, second if i install it in the new hdd while still having the old os on the old hdd, will there be issues. from what i understand i can change the boot up sequence in bios to select which os boots first but i just want to confirm that i will not have to wipe my old hdd and there wont be any issues having 2 operating systems installed at the same time
 
Solution
Best to back any important data up in case you make a mistake or something goes wrong.

Then with only the HDD that will have the new OS attached do the installation. After the installation you can re-attach the old drive and your machine will only boot from the new drive. Since it is OEM Windows 7 you will not be able to dual boot on the new motherboard, but if the install is done with the old drive not attached you should not have any issues using the old drive after the new install.

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Best to back any important data up in case you make a mistake or something goes wrong.

Then with only the HDD that will have the new OS attached do the installation. After the installation you can re-attach the old drive and your machine will only boot from the new drive. Since it is OEM Windows 7 you will not be able to dual boot on the new motherboard, but if the install is done with the old drive not attached you should not have any issues using the old drive after the new install.
 
Solution

BadAsAl

Distinguished
I have 3 different hard drives in my machine, Windows 10, Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I installed each OS with all other drives disconnected during installation. It will boot to Windows 10 if I don't do anything but if I want one of the other OS's I just hit my boot options key (F12) and select the one I want. Works great.
 

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Not his issue. His old OS is an OEM version of Windows 7 and that will not activate on a new motherboard. Things changes with 8 and 10 as far as OEM transfer rules.



 

AcSpears

Commendable
Dec 2, 2016
2
0
1,510


Thank you for the reply