Dual boot question

[K-Swiggle]

Okay got a question right now I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate on one SSD and I have all my games on HDD so if I buy another SSD and try to dual boot Windows 10 on it will all my games on the HDD play on Windows 10 or will I have to re-download everything even the Windows 10 boot because I do plan on getting a Windows 10 64-bit just like my Windows 7 64 bit

[Guest]

No you don't need to.

[jj9987]

You should be able to play them fine. Applications like Steam and Uplay can easily detect them and create necessary shortcuts. For other games, you will have to navigate there yourself and start the executable - you will not find the shortcuts in Start Menu or Desktop.

 

Do take note, that if the game stores data (mods, savegames, screenshots etc) on the main OS drive (in Documents for example), then these are also inaccessible.

[K-Swiggle]

1 minute ago, deXxterlab97 said:

No you don't need to.

So I wouldn't need to redownload that's good to know. Would there be any compatibility issues like going from 32 to 64 bit. I have had problems when I first upgraded from a 32 bit to 64 bit. 

[K-Swiggle]

9 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

You should be able to play them fine. Applications like Steam and Uplay can easily detect them and create necessary shortcuts. For other games, you will have to navigate there yourself and start the executable - you will not find the shortcuts in Start Menu or Desktop.

 

Do take note, that if the game stores data (mods, savegames, screenshots etc) on the main OS drive (in Documents for example), then these are also inaccessible.

OK so pretty much make a back up of the saves on the HDD since it's shared and have steam and other applications pull save data from the new folder. 

[jj9987]

Just now, K-swigle said:

OK so pretty much make a back up of the saves on the HDD since it's shared and have steam and other applications pull save data from the new folder. 

Anything on the HDD will be untouched and accessible by both operating system.

Items on the SSD will need to be copied between two OSes.

[K-Swiggle]

4 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

Anything on the HDD will be untouched and accessible by both operating system.

Items on the SSD will need to be copied between two OSes.

Gotcha. Thanks. 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

The files in the HDD will be accessible, but, unfortunately, most of the times installing a program is involves more than copying/unpacking files. In particular, it may involve writing several registry entries. Hence, while you can navigate your way to the game's executable, it may fail to run if you haven't installed it in the new OS. In addition, you may lack some complementary software (all the "redistributable" stuff) that gets installed together with the game if not already present.

[K-Swiggle]

On 10/31/2016 at 1:32 PM, SpaceGhostC2C said:

The files in the HDD will be accessible, but, unfortunately, most of the times installing a program is involves more than copying/unpacking files. In particular, it may involve writing several registry entries. Hence, while you can navigate your way to the game's executable, it may fail to run if you haven't installed it in the new OS. In addition, you may lack some complementary software (all the "redistributable" stuff) that gets installed together with the game if not already present.

even if when games are installed they are only done on the HDD. only stuff that gets installed on my existing SSD is win 7 and the stuff that MSI needs to run. and the updates XD. i know ill have to reupdate all the drivers and stuff if i dual boot to new SSD. what if i just dual boot on the existing SSD by partitioning the ssd a little for win 10? only reason im asking is cuz im gonna buy a new GPU and some of the stuff it can do is only with win 10. but just curious cuz i really dont like win 10. may not even do it since it seems more work than its worth

[SpaceGhostC2C]

8 hours ago, K-swigle said:

even if when games are installed they are only done on the HDD. only stuff that gets installed on my existing SSD is win 7 and the stuff that MSI needs to run. and the updates

Yes, because most of the times, on top of the game files installed to the folder you choose, there are other common files installed in the OS drive, files placed in your User folder, and updates to the registry. That's why uninstalling a game and deleting its main folder are not the same thing.