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Removing Windows 7 from HDD without formatting

Askew
Go to solution Solved by ZetZet,

make a new partition for just the files and then format the windows one.

OK here is the situation, I've been running W7 from a 2TB spinner and today I just received my new SSD so I'm going to install Windows on that of course.

 

On the 2TB drive I have some data I want to keep (700GB), it won't fit on the 256GB SSD and allow me to format the 2TB drive, so my problem is, can I successfully remove all traces of the old operating system from the 2TB drive when I'm up and running from the SSD without having to format it and lose my data?

 

I'm thinking perhaps a method of file deletion and then a defrag of the drive could possibly result in the same outcome as if I formatted it and then copied my data back but I'm not sure and any help is much appreciated.

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make a new partition for just the files and then format the windows one.

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You didn't have the Windows install on a different partition? Because then you should be able to just format that partition and keep the data that way. If it's a 2TB drive, couldn't you make a 800GB partition and copy the important data to that?

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make a new partition for just the files and then format the windows one.

 

You didn't have the Windows install on a different partition? Because then you should be able to just format that partition and keep the data that way. If it's a 2TB drive, couldn't you make a 800GB partition and copy the important data to that?

 

I apologize for my ignorance I have never partitioned a drive before and didn't know it was possible if data has already been written.

 

So I can just create a big enough partition, move the files and format the other OK I will go to windows disk manager and find out how to do that now thank you both for the response.

 

One more question, after I finish my operation is it possible to remove the partition again so I have just one? As the drive is only ever going to be used for storage of data now.

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I apologize for my ignorance I have never partitioned a drive before and didn't know it was possible if data has already been written.

 

So I can just create a big enough partition, move the files and format the other OK I will go to windows disk manager and find out how to do that now thank you both for the response.

 

One more question, after I finish my operation is it possible to remove the partition again so I have just one? As the drive is only ever going to be used for storage of data now.

 

Yes, you can delete the partition with your previous windows install after you wiped it and resize the "data" partition to 2TB.

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