clean install of Windows 7 on new 250GB SSD

[RogerAttila]

This is my first post on this web site. I certainly not a guru and could use some help of this is the way you ask for it. At 78 I am kind of slow and methodical but am willing to follow detailed instructions as to how to keep my old pc going.

The Windows community has convinced me to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a new 250GB SSD that is replacing my HDD. The C: HDD is getting errors when I use Seagate's SeaTools programs and my PC has really slowed down to a crawl. in trying to repair my C: HDD I have run System File Checker multiple times (no Problems). Checkdisk multiple times /f/r options. it only shows errors on stage 5 of 5 free space verification and correcting errors in the volume bitmap.
My latest Windows Backup on a flash drive and a Windows System image on the External HDD are considered not reliable by the community and they strongly recommend a clean install of Windows 7
I have the WIN 7 DVD with product key that I purchased when I went from XP to Win 7. I have the other SW apps product DVDs. Although I have a Windows Backup and a Windows 7 System Image I have been told, and I believe, that this would be dangerous to use vs doing a clean install. Now that I am convinced to do just that I want to be pro-active in making sure that I do it right.
Is there a step by step process documented anywhere that will take me through this install. I need to save years of data from all of my pc applications, e.g., Quicken, Word, Excel, Adobe, email, etc.
My PC competence is So So and I don't pretend to be a guru in this area.
thank you.

 

[Kari]

This is my first post on this web site. I certainly not a guru and could use some help of this is the way you ask for it. At 78 I am kind of slow and methodical but am willing to follow detailed instructions as to how to keep my old pc going.

Hi Roger, welcome to the Seven Forums.

The process of clean installing and restoring your data is quite straight forward. You can use Windows Easy Transfer (WET) to backup your personal data, all your documents, images and such, then clean install and finally retrieve the backed up data again using WET.

• Step 1: Use WET to transfer your settings and data to an external hard disk or USB drive
• Step 2: Clean install Windows 7 on your new SSD
• Step 3: Use WET to restore your settings and data

Tutorials:

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11470-windows-easy-transfer-transfer-computers.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

If you have any questions or issues either with WET or clean install, please post your questions in respective tutorial thread. Any other concerns, please post here or start a new thread in an appropriate section of our forums.

Kari

 

[RogerAttila]

If you have any questions or issues either with WET or clean install, please post your questions in respective tutorial thread. Any other concerns, please post here or start a new thread in an appropriate section of our forums.

Kari

Thank you Kari, I am going to follow the procedure you posted to my question to install Windows 7 on my new SSD.
I have reviewed the tutorials you posted and there are comments about partitioning. I am replacing a 160GB HDD with a 250GB SSD. My C: drive was not partitioned, except for what Windows does, when this PC was purchased. From a performance standpoint, is partitioning advisable for this new SSD. After many years I still have used only 100GB of my HDD. Don't game or work with music, just email, Word, Excel and hopefully Nuance speech to text as I am badly crippled and can barely type. Would now be the best time to create partitions on this SSD if you feel that is necessary. Thank you.

 

[Kari]

In your case Roger I am not sure if I would partition that SSD at all, I think I would keep the whole drive as one partition. Another option would be, based on what you told about your current HDD usage, to give C: 80 to 100 GB and the rest for a data partition D:.

 

[RogerAttila]

Kari, I will follow your 1st thought and that is just leave the SSD alone. I have used this PC for many years with the HDD not partitioned the speed of gained using an SSD is supposed to be much faster so I will go with that and start the WEW now. I formatted my external HDD and will easy transfer to that. I appreciate your help and hope not to bother you as I get this PC squared away. Thanks.

 

[RogerAttila]

Kari,
I did WET to external HDD with no problems.
Moved IDE cables from old HDD C: to new SSD. Installed Clean install Windows 7 from DVD. No partitions on the new 250GB SSD. Install ran clean until I tried to do a Windows Update and the PC went into a loop looking for updates. Have no idea why. Thought I better install VIPRE, my Internet Security and Antivirus program. Install started and in the midst of downloading files and installing .NET framework PC went into a loop. Have no idea why. I can do a restart from SSD so the operating system boots up fine. I can access the internet but I don't want to do the reverse WET on to the new SSD until I figure out why the pc looping is going on.

 

[RogerAttila]

I am a new user to these forums and have been using the following post to do a Clean install of Windows 7 on a new SSD that I had to install to replace my old C: HDD that won't pass SeaTools disk diagnostics.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
The author of this thread listed this thread for Partitioning questions. In going down your thread I notice that the screens and steps are different (Step 2 and Step 3) than the Clean install post above. Step 2 appears to be a key step as you are told to go and download and install Windows updates before continuing with the installation and staying connected to the Internet throughout the installation. Yet when I install from my DVD I don't see the screens that you have posted in Steps 2 & 3.
How do I get to the stage to go and get updates prior to continuing with the installation? Thank you.

 

[AddRAM]

It`s not essential to install updates when you install windows, I`ve never done it and always install them after.

If there is no network driver installed yet, you can`t even get online, I wouldn`t worry about updates til you`re done the install.

 

[RogerAttila]

Thanks. I won't worry about the updates. I can get online with no problem. In my case after I completed the Clean install, according to my screens it was successful, then I went to do windows update and the PC went into a loop with the screen showing looking for updates. I had to go into task mgr and end this task and it was the only task that was running. I used this same DVD to do a clean install of Windows about a year ago to replace Windows XP after they dropped support for XP. Had no problems whatsoever. The only thing different is that I am installing the clean install to a new SSD instead of an HDD.

 

[RogerAttila]

From RogerAttila.
This is what I would like to do. I purchased the signal cable, already have many power cable plugs, to connect my SSD to the motherboard while still leaving my old HDD installed. I can then use my PC, booting from the old HDD that has problems to get work done, that I must do. Then when I can work on solving the Clean Install of Windows 7 problem on the new SSD, I can switch over to the SSD without having to un-cable anything to switch between the old HDD and the new SSD. I will have to watch when I get to selecting which drive to do the clean install to from my DVD, but that should be all I have to do. Is that correct or am I missing something?

 

[AddRAM]

You can do that, but I wouldn`t I`d keep the 2 installs seperate, install to the ssd while the hard drive is unplugged. When you`re done hook the hard drive back up, then use the 1 time boot menu key to choose which drive you want to boot into.

Be advised, you`ll need a separate key to activate windows, you can`t use the same key on both installs.

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems - Newegg.com

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - Operating Systems - Newegg.com

 

[RogerAttila]

Add-RAM
Be advised, you`ll need a separate key to activate windows, you can`t use the same key on both installs.

My question to you is, if I only want to temporarily use Windows 7 on the new SSD, until I do the reverse Easy File Transfer back to my SSD from the USB connected HDD, where I did the transfer prior to the clean install to my new SSD, will that require another product key? I only want to end up running with the one OS on my SSD. Since it appears that my old C: HDD is flaky, I will just get rid of it and permanently install the SSD in the slot where I removed the old HDD. At what point in time will the MS window in the sky see that I have the same product key installed on 2 different devices? Is that what is causing my system to go into a loop when trying to do a Windows OS update on the new SSD? It also goes into a loop when trying to install my Antivirus program on the new SSD. No errors posted. It just goes into a loop where I have to end the task with task manager, either Windows Update or Install antivirus pgm depending which one I am trying to run.

 

[AddRAM]

Something must have gotten edited, earlier I could`ve sworn you wanted to keep 2 installs going. If you are going to wipe one then the key should work, but you may have to make a phone call.

 

[RogerAttila]

Something must have gotten edited, earlier I could`ve sworn you wanted to keep 2 installs going. If you are going to wipe one then the key should work, but you may have to make a phone call.

What you are saying is that the clean install should have worked to the new SSD. I have also asked the question of the forum, was I supposed to do something to the new SSD before doing a clean install to it from my product DVD? I did not plan to partition it.
When I did the clean install of Windows 7 last year to go from XP to 7, installing to the HDD that I am having trouble with at present, the clean install went just fine with no problem.