Two HDD's (second used for backup)

ASUS P8Z68-V LX
Intel i5
8GB DDR3
WD HDD
Windows 7 Professional

After my dual core processor died I bought new hardware (above). I have successfully got everything up and running from the legacy SATA 1 HDD running W7-32bit. I’m waiting delivery of a new SATA 6 HHD.

My intention to take out the old SATA 1 drive, plug in the new SATA 6 drive, load Windows-7 64bit on the new drive then plug in my old SATA 1 and use the SATA 1 drive as backup. Why, I hope to get access to my 8GB of RAM, have faster computing with and have safe reliable and quick backup from the SATA 6 to the SATA 1 drive.

Questions:

1. After I install the 64bit system on the new drive I plug in the old drive, alongside it and switch on – what will I see?
2. The old drive is, right now running sweetly on W7-32bit, if it all goes pear shaped, will I be able to unplug the SATA 6 and plug back the old SATA 1 drive by itself and be back to ‘sweet running?’
3. I’ve loaded all kinds of drivers over past week and everything looks good, correct me if I am wrong, but I presume those drivers are on the current SATA 1 HDD and not on the motherboard? And, when the new SATA 6 comes and I load the 64bit on I’ll have to go through the process of finding and loading 64bit drivers?
4. What problems will I encounter; what should I do to make sure I don’t have problems?

I’m not looking for anything tricky like dual boot, but if I can switch on and see the SATA 1 as a separate entity and if I could keep the 32bit boot stuff on the SATA 1 for future problems that would be good.

TIA

Michael000 said:

Questions:

1. After I install the 64bit system on the new drive I plug in the old drive, alongside it and switch on – what will I see?
2. The old drive is, right now running sweetly on W7-32bit, if it all goes pear shaped, will I be able to unplug the SATA 6 and plug back the old SATA 1 drive by itself and be back to ‘sweet running?’
3. I’ve loaded all kinds of drivers over past week and everything looks good, correct me if I am wrong, but I presume those drivers are on the current SATA 1 HDD and not on the motherboard? And, when the new SATA 6 comes and I load the 64bit on I’ll have to go through the process of finding and loading 64bit drivers?
4. What problems will I encounter; what should I do to make sure I don’t have problems?

I’m not looking for anything tricky like dual boot, but if I can switch on and see the SATA 1 as a separate entity and if I could keep the 32bit boot stuff on the SATA 1 for future problems that would be good.

TIA

If you had only the SATA 6 drive connected when you install Windows, the old drive should be recognized and fully accessible after you plug it back in.

If the new drive goes bonkers, you shouldn't have any trouble getting the old drive to boot back up if it is running OK now on the new motherboard.

If you do a fresh install to the new drive, you will have to relocate drivers.

The most important thing you need to do is to have only 1 drive connected when you reinstall. Get a plan in order, locate your disks and Product keys, decide on partitions, etc.

Unplug all other HD's except the new one to clean install, or you can clone or image Win7 over using Macrium - Image your system or the free premium Acronis cloning/imaging apps which come with any WD or Seagate HD in the mix.

Make sure the new HD remains set to boot first in BIOS setup when you plug in the old HD to access its data, which is best done by linking the old User folders to the new installation's related Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forums.

On a fresh install you can also pull any needed drivers over that are not given by the installer or quickly updated via optional Windows Updates. From the Device Manager, choose Update Driver, then Browse to the old HD's Windows>System 32 folder and it will pick up the driver.

If you need to boot the old install again, just change the boot order in BIOS setup so old HD is set to boot first, or swap cables.

Maguscreed said:

Make sure the new drive is plugged into the port which the motherboard sees as 0 (zero)
.

How do I do that?

There is a ribbon that comes off the power supply that has two plugs on (a plug for two devices)

There is a data cable that plugs into the back of the HDD and I plug that into one of the SATA connectors (I have four SATA 3 and two SATA 6). How do I know which on is 'zero'?

TIA and thanks for the previous advice

Just a note to say that this all went so smoothly it was scary. I was expecting all kinds of problems of which none occurred. I loaded the 64bit OS and again I am dumfounded at how well it went, no driver problems all software working including my old Office XP which I was told would not run.

Happy

Glad to hear it. Be sure to follow these other steps to setup a Clean Reinstall Windows 7 Factory OEM
so that you maintain best performance and never have to reinstall again.