Putting windows 7 on a SSD

[Vil]

I want to do a clean install of windows 7 on a 120g SSD and the using 1tb hdd as main storage drive.

Now I bought a dell computer and I believe I have the windows boot disk, and I'm fine will installing the drive, just wanted to know after hooking the SSD up first and running the boot disk to install windows, is it just as simple as that and then hook up the second drive and setting preferences to save to the 2nd drive,

And can I take that hard combo it to a new computer ( new Mobo and CPU ) and plug and play or will it upset windows?

[AnUnQuietMind]

yeah its that simple, however what do you mean by (can I take that hard combo it to a new computer)?

[dalekphalm]

I want to do a clean install of windows 7 on a 120g SSD and the using 1tb hdd as main storage drive.

Now I bought a dell computer and I believe I have the windows boot disk, and I'm fine will installing the drive, just wanted to know after hooking the SSD up first and running the boot disk to install windows, is it just as simple as that and then hook up the second drive and setting preferences to save to the 2nd drive,

And can I take that hard combo it to a new computer ( new Mobo and CPU ) and plug and play or will it upset windows?

Yep it's pretty straight forward.

 

Plug in the SSD, install Windows as normal, then install the HDD.

 

After the HDD as been installed, then follow this guide:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2079571/move-your-libraries-to-a-second-drive-or-partition.html

 

Using that or a similar guide, you can change the default save locations of your "Library" (Documents, Pictures, Videos, etc) to save directly to a folder on your HDD.

[rockking1379]

I want to do a clean install of windows 7 on a 120g SSD and the using 1tb hdd as main storage drive.

Now I bought a dell computer and I believe I have the windows boot disk, and I'm fine will installing the drive, just wanted to know after hooking the SSD up first and running the boot disk to install windows, is it just as simple as that and then hook up the second drive and setting preferences to save to the 2nd drive,

And can I take that hard combo it to a new computer ( new Mobo and CPU ) and plug and play or will it upset windows?

so best practice would be leave the 1tb drive unplugged(just sata data is fine) install, do updates etc whatever then shutdown plug it back in and begin modifying everything after you finish formatting/initializing etc. so yes that easy. as for moving it to a new computer, its possible. i have cloned my current windows setup from one ssd to another one, then swapped to a different motherboard. it will just redo the activation once its on the new one. so if your key is valid should be fine.

[Vil]

Thanks guys I meant hard drive combo, this is my going to be my first build and i was 100% sure

[LogicalDrm]

You will still need to manually change drive when installing software you don't want to run from SSD. Easiest way to do it is to have folders named Programs Files and Program Files (x86) in each drive and change only letter on every installation process. If you want to do it the hard way or just want user files on HDD anyway (as I do), here's guide on how http://www.starkeith.net/coredump/2009/05/18/how-to-move-your-windows-user-profile-to-another-drive/

[dalekphalm]

You will still need to manually change drive when installing software you don't want to run from SSD. Easiest way to do it is to have folders named Programs Files and Program Files (x86) in each drive and change only letter on every installation process. If you want to do it the hard way or just want user files on HDD anyway (as I do), here's guide on how http://www.starkeith.net/coredump/2009/05/18/how-to-move-your-windows-user-profile-to-another-drive/

I'm using the same method, and it does work, but I must caution anyone trying to do this:

1. It CAN break features or functions occasionally. On Windows 7, it's less of an issue though (On Windows 8, it breaks the Microsoft Store)

2. It WILL DEFINITELY slow down your system.

 

Moving just your Library locations to the HDD is a much better solution. This leaves the AppData folders on the SSD, which are accessed regularly by Windows and various commonly used programs. By moving the entire Users folder to the HDD (In this case, using junctions), you will decrease system performance, as anytime the AppData folder needs to be accessed, the OS will then have to go looking in the HDD.

 

It's still faster then native HDD OS install, but it will be a little slower than keeping the user folder on the SSD.