Corsair Force Series 3 60GB install help

Kinetix · 05 Jan 2012

Hello, I put together a new computer, and I'm using a Corsair Force Series 3 SSD and a Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD. I set my SSD as primary boot device and installed Windows 7 on it. Last night I noticed my HDD was showing up in Disk Management as Unpartitioned. I decided to go ahead and format it. This is what is currently showing.

I'd like to have Windows 7 and 1 game, Star Wars the Old Republic. on the SSD, and have the rest of my files load to my HDD. SWTOR did manage to load to my SSD automatically. But it seems everything else is going to SSD as well. I was going to reboot my computer and make the HDD my primary boot device, but I didn't know if it was cause a failure to boot. So did I do this correctly or did I screw up? Windows and SWTOR load blazing fast, so I think i'm on the right track. This is the extent of knowledge I have with hard drives.

Corsair Force Series 3 60GB install help-desktop1.png

Corsair Force Series 3 60GB install help-desktop2.png

Kinetix · 05 Jan 2012

Forgot to mention my motherboard is a GIGABYTE Z68-D3H-B3 if that helps any.

TVeblen · 05 Jan 2012

You should only have one drive/partition marked as active. The correct drive/partition is that 100MB System Reserved partition on Disk 1 (SSD).

The concern is that your Windows installation actually used the HDD to install the files necessary for startup. A quick, easy test for this is to simply disconnect the data cable from the HDD and boot. If Windows starts up then you are OK. If not then post back.

So if OK then it is just a matter of un-marking the HDD as Active. To do that you will use DISKPART.

**********
1 Start Orb > search box
2. Type "cmd"
3. At the prompt type "diskpart"
4. then after the ">" symbol type "list disk"
(looks like) DISKPART> list disk

You will see:
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online xxx GB xxxx KB
Disk 1 Online xxx GB xxxx KB

5.Now select the disk which you want to make INACTIVE (This would be your HDD. You determine which disk is the HDD by the size. Don't assume that DISKPART will show the HDD as Disk 0. Below instuctions assume it is.)

DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

6. Type "list partition"

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary xxx GB xxxx KB

7. Since there is a single partition on DISK 0, select it by issuing the command "select partition 1"

DISKPART> select partition 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

8.Type "inactive" - this will mark disk 0 partition 1 as inactive

*********

Afterward you should go back into Disk Management and remove the Disk Label "System Reserved". That will confuse things in the future.

Or if there is no data on the drive, you could format it without a Disk Label.

Kinetix · 05 Jan 2012

Thanks for the help TVeblen. I unplugged the HDD and Windows booted up fine. I plugged it back in, restarted, then ran the cmd lines you told me to. My HDD "disk 0 parition 1" is now marked inactive. Is this what you mean by remove "System Reserve" Disk Label? I deleted the name so now it only shows "( D: )" instead of "System Reserved ( D: )"?

So now that I did that, will files automatically go to my HDD or do I have put them there some other way? I already formatted it before doing all of this. My hard drive back up is stored on the HDD, and my Star Wars. I should have got a bigger SSD :)

Here is a snip of the end result

Corsair Force Series 3 60GB install help-disko2.png

TVeblen · 05 Jan 2012

I'm wondering what you mean by "will files automatically go to my HDD".

Your files will be saved wherever you direct them to go, either by selecting the drive and folder when saving, or by using the "File Save" settings from inside a program. Even Windows system files can be redirected to the HDD.

But if you do nothing then Windows will save everything to your default User Folder on the C: drive the OS is on. And even that setting can be changed. Check out the SevenForums Tutorial section, everything you need is there. You can also use Advanced Search to find a Tutorial. Just type "My Documents" in the search box and select Tutorials.

BTW: Your Disk Management looks normal now. Good job!

Kinetix · 05 Jan 2012

TVeblen said:

I'm wondering what you mean by "will files automatically go to my HDD".

Your files will be saved wherever you direct them to go, either by selecting the drive and folder when saving, or by using the "File Save" settings from inside a program. Even Windows system files can be redirected to the HDD.

But if you do nothing then Windows will save everything to your default User Folder on the C: drive the OS is on. And even that setting can be changed. Check out the SevenForums Tutorial section, everything you need is there. You can also use Advanced Search to find a Tutorial. Just type "My Documents" in the search box and select Tutorials.

BTW: Your Disk Management looks normal now. Good job!

I'll check out the tutorials. But yes, I want my normal HDD to be the default for where my files go. I'll have to do some research. Thanks again for your help.