Windows 7 second installation after new HDD install and cloning

So I installed a new HDD and cloned my old one. All went well and everything was operating fine until I decided to delete the old windows install on the second HDD. I was able to take ownership etc. and delete everything that was not needed on a storage drive. Then I ran a cleanup and regirty clean and when I rebooted I discovered that even though I had been deleting the old preferences and installed windows 7 from my second drive, it took all my preferences and personal data from the "C:" drive as well . . . so the first question is how could that have occurred? Secondly, a statement . . . My system restore point I made prior to starting this deletion process will not work because apparently there are file, I guess system files missing. Second question and a statement. As I looked around I noticed that the second set on folders that are neded to run some of the older programs are gone . . .meaning you should have an Appdata and an Aplication Data folder, but I have only have of these folders. So how do I get them back, a repair install? Lastly, I can not bring back the deleted old windows install as it went to the recycle bin and obviously all of it could not be held there and was cleared. This is a windows Ultimate 32 bit OS. I am just looking for how and what now?

NOTE: In this process I noticed my Quick Launch bar was goes, brought it back and not it has the addition of a file folder in it that was not there before and that can not be removed. One other note, my right click create folder on desktop does not work either. I have not checked other things yet, nor do I desire to tackle these issues individually if something like a repair install will at least set basic function back to normal.

Deleting an old OS piecemeal is not the way it is done. You need to wipe or delete the old OS partition or HD using the Win7 installer, Diskpart commands, or a Partition Manager, or deactivate it first to delete in Disk Mgmt.

In your case, you would clone the old HD over to the new one, unplug the old HD to make sure the new one can boot on its own after setting it first HD to boot in BIOS setup, then later reattach the old HD to delete the Win7 partition.

You said: Deleting an old OS piecemeal is not the way it is done. You need to wipe or delete the old OS partition or HD using the Windows 7 installer, Diskpart commands, or a Partition Manager, or deactivate it first to delete in Disk Mgmt.

Reply: Why? It was not an active operating system, it was on another physical drive and it contains about 1 TB of data that needed to be saving and would and had taken forever to move prior . . . I am just asking why files that are not part of the active OS that are on another drive could not be deleted and then cleaned up? That drive was the original C:, the new drive was cloned and moved to the Disk 0, C: drive position, the old drive was then moved to E: . . . Obviously there were issues, so I just want to understand why? Had I not minded moving 136K files over several days I would have deleted the volume reset and formatted.



You said: In your case, you would clone the old HD over to the new one, unplug the old HD to make sure the new one can boot on its own after setting it first HD to boot in BIOS setup, then later reattach the old HD to delete the Windows 7 partition.

Reply: That is exactly what I did . . . but I waited several days before I decided to delete the old install . . .again, it (on its own) deleted items from the current C: drive even though I was in the E: drive (the old C: drive) I see no reason, nor do I understand how when I was in the old drive which is E: how it jumped across and also deleted the matching named files on C: . . . I hope someone can answer and/or explain this and maybe offer some insight or advise.

There really isn't an explanation I can think of based on what you've described.

The concern with deleting the OS piecemeal is that you will still have boot code on the HD which would be overwritten by wiping or deleting, code which is possibly even booting the new HD. In the thousands of installations we help with here, this is a chronic repeat problem.

To check this please post up a screenshot of your full Disk Mgmt drive map with both drives connected, using Snipping Tool in Start Menu.

Here you go

Looks ok but I would use Diskpart from C to mark E Inactive: Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

Are you aware that you are using a horribly dated Win2000 graphics theme? To change this to Win7 Aero theme, rightclick on a blank area of desktop, select Personalize and Choose an Aero Theme. If aero is not working, type Aero in start search box to run its troubleshooter.

Yes I am aware, I made my windows as slim, as Windows XP and as easy on resources as possible, additionally I do not particularly like the windows 7 interface, though the added functionality and stable structure obviously makes it better than previous versions.

So the bottom line is there is no answer to my particular situation . . . So I warn others . . . If you choose not to format your old drive in which the original windows was installed before cloning, one in which you have then moved to a secondary drive position . . . There is a possibility that if you decide to delete that old install, you may basically ruin your system and all the work you put into setting up the newly installed drive . . . It just happened to me. . . . DELETE from (E: and it removed from (C: all my personal data a config files.