New Hard Drive-Help?

Hi Folks. I've just ordered a new hard drive which I intend to use as my main drive. I'm not very techy so I thought I'd better seek some advice on what to do with it when it comes.

My present situation(+see spec): I have two Samsung 500GB HDDs, the HD501LJ version, running from an Asus P5Q Pro mobo.

My c/ drive has been partitioned into 2x250GB with Vista x64 on one side and W7 build 7232 on the other. The other 500GB drive has my media files on it.

Vista was obviously installed first and then W7. So at boot I get a default of W7 or choose Vista as second choice.

I've ordered a 1 TB Samsung F1 32MB cache which is a really good price here at the moment. I figured that this would increase my space plus my speed as it is supposed to be a fast drive.

Where I'd like to be: I'd like to re create the same situation on the new drive-2 250 GB partitions with Vista and W7 on plus 500GB spare.
I would then like to use my two older 500GB drives as back up and storage.

Then I realised I don't really know how to do this ie connect the new drive, partition it, install the OSs and make it my boot drive.
I think I have only two SATA cables so I'll probably have to get one but where do I stick it?

I read that with this mobo I have to use the same socket on the mobo as my present c/ drive if I want to use it as my main boot drive.
I have plenty of sockets but if this above is true how do I do it? Can't get my head round the logistics of it.

Does anyone have the time to write me a baby talk run through please?

Thanks, John:)

The hard drive will probably come with instructions to install it. Basically, you just put it in the case and plug it in.

As for partitioning the drive, all of that can be done from within Windows itself (using disk management or the command line tool diskpart) or even using the Windows install media. So that's no problem.

The question I have is:
Do you want to start from scratch? That is, reinstall both Windows fresh on the new disk? Or were you planning on moving the existing Windows installations onto your new hard drive?

johnwillyums said:

Hi Folks. I've just ordered a new hard drive which I intend to use as my main drive. I'm not very techy so I thought I'd better seek some advice on what to do with it when it comes.

My present situation(+see spec): I have two Samsung 500GB HDDs, the HD501LJ version, running from an Asus P5Q Pro mobo.

My c/ drive has been partitioned into 2x250GB with Vista x64 on one side and W7 build 7232 on the other. The other 500GB drive has my media files on it.

Vista was obviously installed first and then W7. So at boot I get a default of W7 or choose Vista as second choice.

I've ordered a 1 TB Samsung F1 32MB cache which is a really good price here at the moment. I figured that this would increase my space plus my speed as it is supposed to be a fast drive.

Where I'd like to be: I'd like to re create the same situation on the new drive-2 250 GB partitions with Vista and W7 on plus 500GB spare.
I would then like to use my two older 500GB drives as back up and storage.

Then I realised I don't really know how to do this ie connect the new drive, partition it, install the OSs and make it my boot drive.
I think I have only two SATA cables so I'll probably have to get one but where do I stick it?

I read that with this mobo I have to use the same socket on the mobo as my present c/ drive if I want to use it as my main boot drive.
I have plenty of sockets but if this above is true how do I do it? Can't get my head round the logistics of it.

Does anyone have the time to write me a baby talk run through please?

Thanks, John:)

Of course you want me to give you the high points till you get the drive or you want all the gorry details now?

Ken

Thanks to both of you for your swift replies.

Sup3rsprt, I don't mind starting from scratch on the new drive when it comes.
Would that mean I could just take my time setting them both up and shift stuff over bit by bit?
That would make for a leaner install as I could leave out all the progs I don't use much or that are duplicated by something better.

And Ken, whenever you are ready. I'll probably get the drive sometime this week so it might be next weekend before I put it in and set it up.

I have a dread of messing up the boot and being left without an OS to boot into. Also the actual SATA cables and connections are a mystery.

Thanks to you both for your input, John

johnwillyums said:

I have a dread of messing up the boot and being left without an OS to boot into.

If you shut down your computer and install the new hard drive, you can boot into your current version of Windows and partition the new drive however you want. Then, for safety, you can shut down, unplug your other drive and proceed installing Windows on the new hard disk. This way, if something goes wrong with the install (which it probably won't) you can just swap drives and boot into the old version of Windows.

johnwillyums said:

Thanks to both of you for your swift replies.

Sup3rsprt, I don't mind starting from scratch on the new drive when it comes.
Would that mean I could just take my time setting them both up and shift stuff over bit by bit?
That would make for a leaner install as I could leave out all the progs I don't use much or that are duplicated by something better.

And Ken, whenever you are ready. I'll probably get the drive sometime this week so it might be next weekend before I put it in and set it up.

I have a dread of messing up the boot and being left without an OS to boot into. Also the actual SATA cables and connections are a mystery.

Thanks to you both for your input, John

If you dont mind clean installs this is going to be a piece of cake. You cant screw it up cause you will always have the old drive to plug back in. when your done with the new install you can format the olld and use it for whatever you like
let me know when you get the drive and we can start.

the steps are as sup3rsprt said. Plug the drive in windows will say you have to format it and you do. use the default settings (ntfs and block size 4096) .

I think we should restart this when you get the drive.

Ken

Thanks very much. That sounds easier than I thought. So just plug it into a spare SATA socket?

You're right. It would be better to wait until I've got the drive and then go through it step by step once I've got it in the case.
I'll stop posting here until I have it in.

Thanks very much to you both. We'll talk again next week hopefully. J

Hi Guys.

Hope you're still subcribed to this thread.

I've got my new drive and I've installed it into the case.
I've identified a power cable for it and purchased a SATA latch cable (Akasa) which does not look like the ones I have but fits into both the mobo SATA sockets and the drive.
I've currently not got this drive plugged in to either power or mobo but I've got the chassis open and am ready to do so.

It occurs to me that I need a partition tool to make 2x250GB partitions on the new 1TB drive (for Vista and W7)).
I looked at Gparted live cd downloads and they mention i386 platform. Is this the one I want?

Once I've got the drive running I intend to install Vistax64 first and then W7 7232 (I have 7264 but the activation trick didn't work for me and 7232 seemed just as good on my rig) and hopefully be in the same dual boot situation I am now only on a different drive.
As my OEM Vista x64 disk is pre SP 1 the install will take ages updating.

Another thought is that my P5Q Pro comes with Express Gate, a basic Linux system to enable boot if Windows won't boot. This has to be installed.
Should I ignore that for now?

I await your instruction, thanks in advance for your help, John
Also, of course, how do I get my new disk to be my c/ drive?

Another thought occurs to me.
Will I still be able to access my docs and downloads in my installs on the old disk?
I have downloads of programs, exe files, drivers plus general docs I'd like to move over bit by bit to the new boot drive.

Thanks, John

johnwillyums said:

Another thought occurs to me.
Will I still be able to access my docs and downloads in my installs on the old disk?
I have downloads of programs, exe files, drivers plus general docs I'd like to move over bit by bit to the new boot drive.

Thanks, John

John could you refresh my memory. What do you have now and what do you want to do

Ken