reinstall win 7 on ssd

[davy crockett]

I have had win7 on my new ssd and also win7 on the old hdd for some months now, and I think now is the time to wipe everything from the old hdd and reinstall win7 on the ssd again. Are there any issues I should be aware of when reinstalling win on the ssd?

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Wipe the SSD with a secure erase. I use Parted Magic. If you decide to go with it there are instructions on how to do it.

It's good for other things as well. Lots of tools on it.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Are there any issues I should be aware of when reinstalling win on the ssd?

Not really. But I am wondering why you feel you need to reinstall?

You can delete all partitions during the install process, either through the Windows installation disc interface or by using the Diskpart command.

After the new install, you should check SSD alignment and confirm that defrag is set to exclude the SSD.

 

[davy crockett]

Just that I've downloaded a lot of stuff that I don't need on the ssd, that way I'm keeping win7 clean on the ssd.

Sounds like reinstalling windows on the ssd is no different from doing it on HDD. By the way, how do I check the ssd alignment after the install?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html?ltr=S

Above link will show you how to verify alignment after the install--and also how to manually create an aligned partition to begin with---although in my experience Windows properly aligns anyway without using Diskpart.

 

[gregrocker]

Reinstalling Windows 7

 

[davy crockett]

I decided to format the HDD as a way of deleting the original win7 setup and all the files on it first before reinstalling win7 on the ssd. But I found that I cannot format the HDD within windows explorer or even within the computer management. I noticed that in computer management the HDD is labelled as the system and active partition and the SSD is labelled as the Boot, Page File and active partition. I'm wondering if the HDD being a system partition means it cannot be formatted?

 

[gregrocker]

Boot the Win7 installer, select Custom install, then Drive Options to Format or Delete unwanted partitions and create new to format - or just click Next and the installer will create your partitioning and format it for you.

I would unplug all other HD's during reinstall to avoid problems. After install, plug back in the HD to either wipe it using Diskpart Clean Command or to delete only the OS partition use Diskpart Delete Partition Override command.