How to set up BIOS and windows on HDD full of data.

[SpitfiremkII]

So my new motherboard, RAM, and CPU just arrived. I figured it woud be good to know what to do when im finished before i start building. That is how to set up BIOS and windows. I am keeping my old 2 tb hdd from my old setup wich is full of data. How do i set it up, do i need to do the full process and will I loose any of my data?

[SorryBella]

3 minutes ago, SpitfiremkII said:

I am keeping my old 2 tb hdd from my old setup wich is full of data. How do i set it up, do i need to do the full process and will I loose any of my data?

Does it have the windows installation inside of it? If it is it should be a plug and play process, with some waiting as the windows need to reidentify its new environment. But imo, after that, you should start backing up data that you need and either clone the C: partition to an SSD, or format the drive and fully reinstall windows on an SSD.

[Beerzerker]

Thing is, if you are wanting to just pop it in the new build and go, there is a good chance you'll have problems.
Before doing your build, make sure you create a backup image of the entire drive and archive it in a safe, secure place (External drive) first before doing your build. That way if there are any problems you will still have all the data even if the drive itself is nuked.

 

Create the drive image and stash it on an external drive of sufficient size to hold it before doing anything at all towards the new build, that's the smart way to safeguard this info you can't lose.

 

After that you can either use the old drive or get another with a fresh OS install done, it's up to you.

[SpitfiremkII]

20 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Does it have the windows installation inside of it? If it is it should be a plug and play process, with some waiting as the windows need to reidentify its new environment. But imo, after that, you should start backing up data that you need and either clone the C: partition to an SSD, or format the drive and fully reinstall windows on an SSD.

So I shoud first backup my C: data incase anything happens. Then just plug the hdd in and coose the hdd to install from in BIOS?

Broblem is I don't have anywhere to backup my data

[OrionFOTL]

27 minutes ago, SpitfiremkII said:

So my new motherboard, RAM, and CPU just arrived. I figured it woud be good to know what to do when im finished before i start building. That is how to set up BIOS and windows. I am keeping my old 2 tb hdd from my old setup wich is full of data. How do i set it up, do i need to do the full process and will I loose any of my data?

1. Create a new partition of around 100GB in size.

2. Install Windows on it.

3. Done, you'll have Windows on the new partition, and all your old data on the original partition. You'll see them as 'C:' and 'D:' drives in file explorer, or whatever other letters you assign them.

 

If you want to merge the two partitions later, you can gradually move data from the original partition to the new Windows partition, while resizing the partitions until there's nothing left of the original one.

[Beerzerker]

4 minutes ago, SpitfiremkII said:

So I shoud first backup my C: data incase anything happens. Then just plug the hdd in and coose the hdd to install from in BIOS?

Problem is I don't have anywhere to backup my data

That's an issue you will need to resolve before carrying on with it.
If not and you corrupt the drive, your data will be "Bye-Bye" and that's it.

The above isn't a bad suggestion either as long as you have enough room left on the drive to use for the new OS install.

[SpitfiremkII]

3 minutes ago, OrionFOTL said:

1. Create a new partition of around 100GB in size.

2. Install Windows on it.

3. Done, you'll have Windows on the new partition, and all your old data on the original partition. You'll see them as 'C:' and 'D:' drives in file explorer, or whatever other letters you assign them.

 

If you want to merge the two partitions later, you can gradually move data from the original partition to the new Windows partition, while resizing the partitions until there's nothing left of the original one.

What is a partition how do I create one and how does it work. Sry for my lack of knowledge

[OrionFOTL]

44 minutes ago, SpitfiremkII said:

What is a partition how do I create one and how does it work. Sry for my lack of knowledge

A partition is dividing a disk into parts, so the computer treats it as separate disks.

 

You press Start and search for "Disk Management", or write "diskmgmt.msc" and press Enter.

You will see your drive and partitions present on it, including the biggest one labeled 'C:'. First, you need to shrink it by around 100GB, in order to get this space for the new partition. Right-click on it, select Shrink, and follow instructions to shrink it by 100GB.

You're left with your C partition, and a black empty space labeled as Unallocated, 100GB in size. RIght-click on it, and select New Volume to make a partition out of it. Follow instructions on your screen and assign it a letter, like 'D:' or whatever.

Open file explorer to confirm that you now have two drives visible, a 1.9TB one with all your data and a 100GB empty one with the letter you just assigned.

[SorryBella]

1 hour ago, SpitfiremkII said:

Then just plug the hdd in and coose the hdd to install from in BIOS?

Just set that HDD as the first boot priority yeah, that should be able to boot them in windows as long as you use the same GPU brands.

[SpitfiremkII]

16 minutes ago, OrionFOTL said:

A partition is dividing a disk into parts, so the computer treats it as separate disks.

 

You press Start and search for "Disk Management", or write "diskmgmt.msc" and press Enter.

You will see your drive and partitions present on it, including the biggest one labeled 'C:'. First, you need to shrink it by around 100GB, in order to get this space for the new partition. Right-click on it, select Shrink, and follow instructions to shrink it by 100GB.

You're left with your C partition, and a black empty space labeled as Unallocated, 100GB in size. RIght-click on it, and select New Volume to make a partition out of it. Follow instructions on your screen and assign it a letter, like 'D:' or whatever.

Open file explorer to confirm that you now have two drives visible, a 1.9TB one with all your data and a 100GB empty one with the letter you just assigned.

So if i just install windows from the new petition is there still a chance I will loose all my data?

[OrionFOTL]

2 minutes ago, SpitfiremkII said:

So if i just install windows from the new petition is there still a chance I will loose all my data?

Nope, not a chance.

[Beerzerker]

1 minute ago, SpitfiremkII said:

So if i just install windows from the new petition is there still a chance I will loose all my data?

Not likely.
BTW it's not mandatory for the new OS partition to be 100GB's, Win 10 can go with as little as 10GB if you must but I do advise to use whatever spare space is available on the drive.

[SpitfiremkII]

1 minute ago, OrionFOTL said:

Nope, not a chance.

Huge thanks!

[SpitfiremkII]

47 minutes ago, OrionFOTL said:

A partition is dividing a disk into parts, so the computer treats it as separate disks.

 

You press Start and search for "Disk Management", or write "diskmgmt.msc" and press Enter.

You will see your drive and partitions present on it, including the biggest one labeled 'C:'. First, you need to shrink it by around 100GB, in order to get this space for the new partition. Right-click on it, select Shrink, and follow instructions to shrink it by 100GB.

You're left with your C partition, and a black empty space labeled as Unallocated, 100GB in size. RIght-click on it, and select New Volume to make a partition out of it. Follow instructions on your screen and assign it a letter, like 'D:' or whatever.

Open file explorer to confirm that you now have two drives visible, a 1.9TB one with all your data and a 100GB empty one with the letter you just assigned.

Was just going to create a new partition when i realised that the disk management software do not exist on my hdd any solution?

[OrionFOTL]

1 minute ago, SpitfiremkII said:

Was just going to create a new partition when i realised that the disk management software do not exist on my hdd any solution?

diskmgmt.msc is a part of every Windows since 2003.

[SpitfiremkII]

19 minutes ago, OrionFOTL said:

diskmgmt.msc is a part of every Windows since 2003.

Nope not there, I have gone through all of my programs

[OrionFOTL]

3 minutes ago, SpitfiremkII said:

Nope not there, i searched through my apps it isn't there

https://www.digitalcitizen.life/open-disk-management-windows/