Windows 7 plus new hard drive, which order?

[Tom1947]

Hello, I have a pc with windows xp home, 2 x 40Gb IDE drives, and a new 1Tb SATA drive as yet uninstalled (my mobo will support it). I have purchased a 32 bit upgrade version of Windows 7 and read the article on performing a clean install - no problems there. My question is which order should I do things in - install the new drive first then upgrade to W7, or the other way around? I would like to end up with W7 on the large SATA drive and keep at least one of the IDE drives (I'm not sure of the space available for 3 drives and will have to check the temp if all three are installed). Also is there any value in partitioning the SATA drive?
Thanks, Tom

 

[mi1ez]

Install drive, then W7. make sure you're installing it on the right drive. I can't see a real advantage in partitioning a HDD but I guess it depends how you like to organise your data.

 

[Plumble]

if you install the 1TB drive first, then run the upgrade. You can run a fresh install straight to the 1TB Sata as an upgrade (well, you can with 7 64bit, I would assume you can with 32bit as well).
Simply change the boot order to First CD/DVD then second 1TB Sata in the Bios (leave the older disks connected) and run the Upgrade DVD.
Or Did you buy just the software download?
If so you will have to install the upgrade within windows. If you can clone your XP installation to the new drive (or fresh XP install to new drive), then upgrade from there. If you upgrade from the current install on the old drive, it will need that drive to boot (unless you want to get complicated).
Just to check, it could be worth keeping drivers for you MOBO's sata chipset on a Floppy or USB stick.

 

[Tom1947]

Thanks guys, that makes it clear.

Plumble I have the upgrade cd for W7 so it sounds relatively straightforward from your post. Will my old XP system still be sitting on it's current IDE drive after I install W7 to the SATA drive?

 

[sminlal]

Disconnect all the other drives before you install Windows. If the install program finds any free space on any other drives it will put the 100MB boot/recovery partition there instead of on the OS drive - generally speaking most people prefer this on their OS drive so that they can still boot if another drive fails.

 

[Tom1947]

Thanks for that sminlal. If I disconnect the existing drives will W7 still install, even though it can't 'see' my existing XP installation?

 

[sminlal]

That's a good point - you'll probably have to leave that drive connected. If there's any unpartitioned space on it then create a dummy partition so that it's all used up - that should stop the install program from placing the boot/recovery partition there.

 

[RetiredChief]

(1) As sminlal first said - Disconnect all other HDDs before Windows Install.
(2) You can do a clean install using the Upgrade Win 7 Version BY SELECTING CUSTUM INSTALL. Just a couple of simple steps - Will locate and post.
(3) I would recommend partitioning the drive. C drive for operating system and Programs, Not too large, maybe 120 -> 200 Gigs. Then the remainder of the drive as D Drive for all of your documments and files.
This way you can use win 7 Backup to image JUST your operating system and programs - Works great for reinstalling. Then back up your data as need. My self I use three partitions. D for most of my documents, speadsheets and misc and then E drive for all my Photos/dvd movie files.

Added:
When done with win 7 install, Reconnect your old HDDs and transfer all your data/files to the d drive. Also remember Win 7 does not have a email client - need to dertermine weather to use Windows live and/or a 3rd party email program.
Until your satisfied with win 7, you should be able to dual boot win 7 and XP. On my system I hit F12 during post and it brings up a choice of which drive to boot from (This does not change boot order in Bios). Just remember that what drive you boot to will be your "C" drive.

2nd edit, Added. Steps for doing a custum install using an upgrad disk
From one of my previous posts.
Do a Clean Install, select custom method, But DO NOT enter your Key
Go ahead and let windows 7 down load critical updates. Then:

Open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE
Easier - Just do a search for " MediaBootInstall"

Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0". (Double-click it and then enter 0 in the dialog that appears.)

Close RegEdit.

Open the Start Menu again and type cmd in Start Menu search to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose "Run as administrator." Handle the UAC prompt.

In the command line window, type: slmgr -rearm

Then tap ENTER and wait for the "Command completed successfully" dialog.

Then, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows.

 

[Tom1947]

Thanks for that, Chief. I plan to do the upgrades next week and will post here with the outcome - positive, I hope!

Tom

 

[Plumble]

(1) As sminlal first said - Disconnect all other HDDs before Windows Install.
(2) You can do a clean install using the Upgrade Win 7 Version BY SELECTING CUSTUM INSTALL. Just a couple of simple steps - Will locate and post.
(3) I would recommend partitioning the drive. C drive for operating system and Programs, Not too large, maybe 120 -> 200 Gigs. Then the remainder of the drive as D Drive for all of your documments and files.
This way you can use win 7 Backup to image JUST your operating system and programs - Works great for reinstalling. Then back up your data as need. My self I use three partitions. D for most of my documents, speadsheets and misc and then E drive for all my Photos/dvd movie files.

Added:
When done with win 7 install, Reconnect your old HDDs and transfer all your data/files to the d drive. Also remember Win 7 does not have a email client - need to dertermine weather to use Windows live and/or a 3rd party email program.
Until your satisfied with win 7, you should be able to dual boot win 7 and XP. On my system I hit F12 during post and it brings up a choice of which drive to boot from (This does not change boot order in Bios). Just remember that what drive you boot to will be your "C" drive.

2nd edit, Added. Steps for doing a custum install using an upgrad disk
From one of my previous posts.
Do a Clean Install, select custom method, But DO NOT enter your Key
Go ahead and let windows 7 down load critical updates. Then:

Open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE
Easier - Just do a search for " MediaBootInstall"

Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0". (Double-click it and then enter 0 in the dialog that appears.)

Close RegEdit.

Open the Start Menu again and type cmd in Start Menu search to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose "Run as administrator." Handle the UAC prompt.

In the command line window, type: slmgr -rearm

Then tap ENTER and wait for the "Command completed successfully" dialog.

Then, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows.

Good sage advice.