SSD is on the way need advice though!

Outkast_IRE

Got myself a intel 320 120gb ssd , im just wondering what the best way to change over to it is .
Currently i have 2 500gb hdd drives with partitons on each they are labeled c.d.e.f.g.h

Current O.S is on C the reason for partions it to help keep music/games/movies etc seperated and keeping defrag simple.

Would i be right in saying the best way to install the new ssd is to simply disconnect these drives temporarily
go into bios and ensure AHIC is enabled and boot from cd
connect the ssd
perform a clean windows 7 install onto the ssd
once install is done , reconnect old hdds and ensure the new ssd is first in boot order .

Is there anything im missing here ? will the drive labels be a issue when i reconnect the old hdds?

deconduo

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Got myself a intel 320 120gb ssd , im just wondering what the best way to change over to it is .
Currently i have 2 500gb hdd drives with partitons on each they are labeled c.d.e.f.g.h

Current O.S is on C the reason for partions it to help keep music/games/movies etc seperated and keeping defrag simple.

Would i be right in saying the best way to install the new ssd is to simply disconnect these drives temporarily
go into bios and ensure AHIC is enabled and boot from cd
connect the ssd
perform a clean windows 7 install onto the ssd
once install is done , reconnect old hdds and ensure the new ssd is first in boot order .

Is there anything im missing here ? will the drive labels be a issue when i reconnect the old hdds?

Nope thats everything. You don't even need to disconnect the old drives, though it helps to avoid mistakes.

shuyin1

Stick ssd on sata0 port,enable AHIC in bios, boot from cd and fresh install. You don't need to unplug the other drives, just make sure to install on the ssd. When installed the ssd will be C:, everything else will be assigned a new letter.

Outkast_IRE

on a youtube vid it says to disconnect old drives as windows vista or 7 will keep boot info files on the drive the first install took place onto which potentially slows it down
YouTube - ‪Windows 7 install and SSD upgrade on Cameraman's PC (NCIX Tech Tips #65)‬‏

You guys think this is true or not ?

Fluffy88

What he is saying does make a lot of sense. When Windows installs it will put all the boot data in a hidden partition on the first drive. I am not sure if it will still do that after you change the order of the drives but he seems to think it will.

You would be much safer to just unplug the old drives then do the install.

Serephucus

Not true, unfortunately. I've had it happen. Windows will put everything where you'd expect, but I had to boot from one of my old 1TB drives because that's where it stuck the boot info.

Leman

Serephucus wrote: »

Not true, unfortunately. I've had it happen. Windows will put everything where you'd expect, but I had to boot from one of my old 1TB drives because that's where it stuck the boot info.

What's even worse is that sometimes Windows will flat out refuse to install on Drive A if B and C are installed, but have no issue if they are unpugged.

Case in point, I had three Drives, an NTFS formatted SSD partition, and Two EXT4 HDDs plugged in.

Windows right up REFUSED to install and wanted to format the EXT4 drives. I unplug them, reboot and lo and behold, no issues installing on the NTFS partition which moments earlier had been decried as "incompatable".

And let's not even get into Windows lovely habit of installing boot info to random places or straight up deleting things you didn't tell it to...