Hard Drive Compatibility with different computers

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zomboromano said:

Here is a screenshot. Like I said. I forgot exactly what order they were in, but I think Disk 1 and Disk 0 were blocking my video card so I moved over 1 slot to the side to plug in my hard drive.

Then the other slots on the side of that I plugged the Seagate into.

That screen shot looks fine. You have the Hitachi (Drive C) as Disk 0. That's good.

The Hitachi will have 2 cables attached to it. Just disconnect those 2 cables from the Hitachi and attach them to the SSD.


Also, why would it be important not to have any other hard drives plugged in?


Two reasons:

1: it prevents you from making a mistake and accidentally installing to the wrong drive and overwriting all of your data.

2: to prevent Windows from seeing that drive and deciding it might want to install a few OS boot files to it. If it did that and you then disconnected and wiped your hard drives, your PC would not boot from the SSD because those critical boot files were on the hard drive you just wiped. You'd be back on this forum asking "how come my new SSD won't boot!!!!!!"

You don't want Windows to even know you own any other hard drives until AFTER you have the SSD up and rocking.

Couldn't I just boot from my usb drive, do a clean wipe on BOTH hard drives, and then install windows on 1 particular hard drive? Or would having both drives plugged in complicate things (for example, I boot from the usb drive, but when I install windows it would install it to a random drive, and complicate matters)

Why in the world in your wildest dreams would you want to wipe both drives BEFORE you have Windows going on the SSD?

As I've said, disconnecting all hard drives prevents you and Windows from doing something stupid.

ignatzatsonic said:

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zomboromano said:

The USB Drive I have Windows 7 on I have used several times to do clean installs. I also already did it to my current Hitachi hard drive.

I have a key with the operating system code, it's a Dell sticker, Windows 7 Home Premium Key.

Does it say OEM on that sticker somewhere?

I'll have to take your word for it that it's a valid license and key and that you successfully installed AND ACTIVATED on your current hard drive.

Dells don't come with an installation disc as far as I know. Where did you get the files to put on the USB thumb drive?

If that sounds good I'll get the drive and Amazon.com: SABRENT 3.5-Inch to SSD / 2.5-Inch HDD Bay Drives Converter (BK-HDDH): Electronics

That should work fine.

So based off the info I gave you, I could buy that, screw the hard drive into it, do a clean wipe on both my hd's, and then boot from a usb, install windows with the key I have. (I've done it a few times, and also wiped out hard drives using cmd and clean all before).

You've got the order wrong.

You should:

1: attach the SSD to the adapter.

2: mount the adapter and SSD in the drive bay.

3: remove or disconnect all of your other hard drives and any external stuff other than monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

4: connect the SSD to the right port on the motherboard and to your power supply

5: install Windows 7 to the SSD.

6: Fully update Windows 7 and satisfy yourself that the SSD is working OK. Probably run a benchmark and check a few settings like alignment and defragmentation status.

7: Then and only then start thinking about your old hard drives and other programs.


Am I missing anything?


I'd go to the motherboard manufacturer's web site and download the NIC (Ethernet) driver for Windows 7 for that particular motherboard model and put it on your USB stick. That driver should be installed by Windows 7, but I'd download it separately just in case I could not get an Internet connection going immediately after I installed Windows.

I had an issue before where my computer was full of viruses, but I didn't have a install disc. So I got walked through wiping my computer and booting from a usb drive. I did this several times sucessfully. Then I got this HP computer refurbished from a computer store. Even though it's an HP they always said they never sold things with Vista (what originally came with it) so it came fresh with Windows 7 on it. It had a windows 7 sticker on the computer,

Later on, I wiped this computer (which is my current one) and I used that same usb stick to install windows successfully. I think when I did that, it made me call a number to put in my product key, as the normal method didn't work, but after I called in and entered the key in over the phone, it worked great. And I had no issues. So it seems completely legit. Though I don't see any oem on the sticker.

Everything else you said sounds good. Now I have a video card, should I disconnect that when opening cmd and doing a clean all on my hard drive? Or am I okay to just leave it in?

Also once I get windows on that hard drive, how would you recommend getting windows off of my old hard drive once I plug that in?

ignatzatsonic said:

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zomboromano said:

Why in the world in your wildest dreams would you want to wipe both drives BEFORE you have Windows going on the SSD?

As I've said, disconnecting all hard drives prevents you and Windows from doing something stupid.

I have any important files backed up on a portable hard drive.

Wiping both hard drives would ensure I don't have the operating system on my old hard drive. I guess I wouldn't need to wipe the new hard drive, but then I could just install the os on that, but of course, in your other post you mentioned that sometimes it causes issues to have both hd's running, so that sounds like a bad idea

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zomboromano said:

I have a key with the operating system code, it's a Dell sticker, Windows 7 Home Premium Key.



I had an issue before where my computer was full of viruses, but I didn't have a install disc. So I got walked through wiping my computer and booting from a usb drive. I did this several times sucessfully. Then I got this HP computer refurbished from a computer store. Even though it's an HP they always said they never sold things with Vista (what originally came with it) so it came fresh with Windows 7 on it. It had a windows 7 sticker on the computer.


Hmmm.......so you have a Dell Windows 7 sticker on an HP computer. And you don't see OEM on the sticker.

Doesn't sound good to me.

And you haven't said where the installation files on your USB stick same from.

And you say the HP originally had Vista, not Windows 7.

You are on your own with the activation issue. Considering the above confusion, I don't have the slightest idea if you will ever get it successfully activated.





Everything else you said sounds good. Now I have a video card, should I disconnect that when opening cmd and doing a clean all on my hard drive? Or am I okay to just leave it in?

It shouldn't matter, but pull it if you want.

Also once I get windows on that hard drive, how would you recommend getting windows off of my old hard drive once I plug that in?

As I previously said: you get Windows updated and activated on the SSD. Then you reconnect the old hard drive and delete the Windows partition that used to be C.

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zomboromano said:

Wiping both hard drives would ensure I don't have the operating system on my old hard drive.


Having an operating system on your old hard drive doesn't affect anything at all.

I guess I wouldn't need to wipe the new hard drive, but then I could just install the os on that, but of course, in your other post you mentioned that sometimes it causes issues to have both hd's running, so that sounds like a bad idea.

Why would you want to wipe a new hard drive?

You are trying to complicate a simple procedure and I'm not sure why, particularly when you speak of deleting the OS from the old hard drive BEFORE getting Windows installed on the new SSD.

If you delete the OS from the old hard drive before installing to the new hard drive, what do you intend to do if the new installation goes in the toilet for whatever reason? You're left with 3 hard drives, no OS, and no working computer.

Sounds good to me. Appreciate all the help. I'll be working on the computer tomorrow when the hard drive comes in. I wouldn't expect to have any issues

If you boot from a usb drive normally it doesn't matter if either os has Windows. But again my original comments with that were before I read yours. I plan to do things your way and I agree it's the better course of action

Thank you all so much.

I succesfully installed it! I did have to change the boot order afterwards, but it worked great!

Your advice helped me a ton! It turned my average computer to a good one in my opinion. The upgrade wasn't extreme, but again, the computer officially meets all my needs, and some of the parts I bought can be moved to my next computer (like the SSD).

My game basically went from playing in high, to ultra on the games I play, windows now boots way faster, and applications run faster and smoother.

Thanks for all the help both of you and all the information. Sorry if I was ever too questioning or too stubborn! This forum has been really good to me. I now know how to pretty much install and build everything on a computer except for maybe a motherboard. I'll probably tackle that when I save up enough for another computer one day. But this one works great for all my needs so that might be a bit.

Thanks again!