windows 7 on ssd

hi all. i have had a look around and cant see any previous posts that specifically match my issue, so here goes:

I have just got myself an ocz vertex 120g ssd, and i had a plan which was:

install ssd, then boot with windows 7 disc in, install win7 on ssd. keep old samsung hdd (with win 7 installed) untouched for the moment (just in case i muck up, still have a usable pc)

once installed and all drivers reinstalled etc, i would change boot priority to new ssd, then i can format old samsung hdd and use it for data

i did all the above, but after changing the boot prioity to ssd (and disabling samsung hdd) it wouldnt boot: had message that i should insert bootable media

so i changed the boot priority back so it would only boot from the old samsung hdd, and lo and behold, it seems i have 2 installations to choose to boot from. i am now in my fresh new installation of windows, but explorer says its installed on the ssd.

what have i done here? i have managed to make 2 installations boot from one hdd, but one is saved on the ssd? my big question is that i dont want to format the hdd yet obviously, as i might not have anything to boot up.

i admit i never looked up whether i need to prepare an ssd for installing win7. i just chose it as a drive to install on and let it go. is there something else i should have done to make sure the ssd will boot to windows? as if it were the only drive i had? i dont mind starting again obviously with the ssd

any insight would be apprecated. thanks in advance

When you install Windows 7 with another OS HD still plugged in, it configures a dual boot menu to choose from the two upon bootup.

The correct way to have done this is to unplug the old HD during install, then after install when you plug the old HD back in you can either boot it from one-time BIOS Boot Menu key shown on first boot screen, or copy your data over from it while booted into the new Win7, then delete and format old HD as data drive in Disk Mgmt.

What you need to do now is unplug the old HD, either swap its cable to SSD or set SSD as first HD to boot in BIOS setup (after DVD), boot the Win7 DVD, press Shift F10 at first screen, open a Command Line, type the following to mark Win7 active:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (confirm this is SSD)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION 1 (confirm this is new Win7 partition)
ACTIVE
EXIT

Now return to DVD Recovery Tools list to Run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the MBR to Win7 partition and start Win7.

Thanks so much for the help mate. I was sitting on the couch, and the thought did cross my mind if I should have just unplugged the other drives first. Ah well we live and learn. Thanks again mate will let you know