Upgrade to SSD adn Keep the Old HDD as Secondary Drive

jecann

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Dec 7, 2016
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So I upgraded my existing HDD to and SDD by unpluging the HDD and installing windows fresh on the SSD. Then I added the HDD back in.

My desktop files are buried in the HDD and the programs don't want to run from that location. I was going to just lay a shortcut to my old desktop on my new desktop, to keep the SSD free of space, and to eliminate reinstalling all of my programs, but it doesn't seem to work well.

How should I treat the secondary HDD moving forward? Should I bite the bullet and format it and just reload what I wanted off of it and reinstall all the programs choosing which drive to install them too, or is there a smoother way to transition without loosing all the software I had installed (microsoft office, steam, etc.)

Thanks!
 
Solution
The best thing to do is grab your files and save them to your ssd. Wipe your HDD with something like killdisk, then reformat itand transfer your files back to it. Finally re-install all of your programs and designate where you want them. Unfortunately there is no easy way to just create shortcuts to your programs on the HDD because there are so many additional files/registry files for each that would need their path updated as well.

snurp85

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May 6, 2009
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The best thing to do is grab your files and save them to your ssd. Wipe your HDD with something like killdisk, then reformat itand transfer your files back to it. Finally re-install all of your programs and designate where you want them. Unfortunately there is no easy way to just create shortcuts to your programs on the HDD because there are so many additional files/registry files for each that would need their path updated as well.
 
Solution
The smoothest way would have been to clone the HDD to the SSD that is if the SSD is large enough to hold everything. If it is a Samsung they provide a free tool google "samsung clone ssd". If its another drive you can use other tools to clone the SSD to the HDD like Partition Wizard Free Edition etc.

Doing a fresh install does get around all the trash that can build up in the file system registry over time so there are some pluses to biting the bullet and copying you files over and reinstalling all your software.
 

jecann

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Dec 7, 2016
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I could erase enough data to make a clone now, but I think I like the idea of a fresh install.

Is there any advantage of using something like Killdisk vs. just formatting the HDD? If I use Killdisk, what steps will I need to take to make Windows recognize the drive again?


Thank you.
 

snurp85

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Killdisk writes the entire drive to 0's and helps ensure the that any sensitive data is destroyed. In theory you just need to reformat it if you dont care about that though.

Once written to zeros, you just go to the disk management in windows and reformat it and assign it a drive letter