Clean install onto secondary internal drive?

I have a Core 2 Duo PC with 2 SATA internal drives:

Seagate 320 gig, with C and D partitions. C contains a legit retail upgrade version of Vista Home. D is for data.

Western Digital 640 gig, with a single E partition, currently used as backup.

I ordered a Windows 7 Home Premium retail upgrade at the discounted price a few months ago and expect it in a month.

My Seagate drive is running low on space and I want to retire it. I would like to boot to the Win 7 DVD, have my Vista install on the Seagate recognized, and then do a clean install of Windows 7 on the Western Digital drive, currently E.

I hope to buy another considerably larger backup drive shortly to replace the Western Digital as a backup drive.

Will the WD drive be available as a location for the installation in these circumstances?

Any previous time I have installed MS operating systems, I always chose to install to the same drive as the existing OS. This time things are different due to little space on the Seagate drive. Windows 7 would certainly fit on my current C, but I want to retire that drive.

Or will this remain a complete unknown until some time after October 22?

Or will I be forced to install to the Seagate and then somehow migrate the install to the WD?

I have not played with the RC, so I don't know what options are normally presented during the install.

Thanks for any opinions.

I

if I read your post correctly You can do what you want. IN win 7 you dont have to install it to the partiton with the previous OS, in fact MS recommends you dont upgrade but do a clean install instead.
that being the case 650 gigs probably should be partitoned for win 7 and data if I understand your partition straegy.
Are you looking to dual boot, vista and win 7 or looking to get rid of vista and install win 7 by itself?

ken

Ken:

Thanks for the reply.

Do you only mean that I can install to a different partition on the same drive(eg, D in my case)? That doesn't help me.

Or do you mean I will be shown and have the option to install to a different currently installed drive (my Western Digital, now E, now only a backup drive with no OS on it). That does help and is what I want to do.

I just don't know if the Win 7 UPGRADE disc will permit a clean install to a drive without an OS, even if it is in a PC with another drive that has Vista.

Ideally, I would leave my Seagate alone (C and D now) during the install, and choose the WD drive. Then delete the WD's only partition (now E) and do a clean install on the WD, making it the new C.

Then boot to the new C (Western Digital) and remove the no longer wanted Seagate drive.

Then shrink C on the WD to make room for a data partition on that drive (the new D)

Then install my new backup drive, the new E.

No dual boot. Goodbye entirely to Vista.

Where might that go wrong?

Wally:

Thanks for the response.

I hope you are right. There is so much contradictory information out there with no authoritative word from Microsoft one way or another that I really don't know what to believe and can only hope there are not a lot of surprises on October 22.

ignatz

Wally has been in this business a long time and is usually correct. I also agree with him.

hope this helps

ken

the faq on the digital river site for the student discounted windows 7 for $30, which lets you buy the upgrade version, says you can install on a disk with no OS.

Installing a custom version of Windows. Choose Custom to completely replace your current operating system, or to install Windows on a specific drive or partition that you select. You can also use Custom if your computer doesn't have an operating system, or if you want to set up a multiboot system on your computer. For more information about setting up a multiboot system, see Install more than one operating system (multiboot).

Installing and reinstalling Windows