Reusing a master HDD with corrupt OS as a slave...couple questions!

[Lauratron]

I will try and explain my situation as short and sweet as possible!

My current desktop (about a year and a half old) decided that it was going to corrupt Windows 7 beyond repair. Thankfully my hard drive is fine--hooked it up to my husband's computer and was able to use it as a slave and back up all the info.

I have to buy/install a new copy of Windows 7, but this time I'm getting an SSD to put the OS, Photoshop, and my games on and then I plan to use my current hard drive as the slave.

I'm having a hard time figuring out a couple things due to my lack of knowledge/experience:

--will having the corrupt OS on the slave device impact the new install at all and can I/should I uninstall the corrupt OS off the slave?

--will I be able to run the programs that are already on the hard drive, when it's a slave?

--the two programs I'm worried about running into problems with is Photoshop (which I want to take off the slave and put on the SSD) and then Microsoft Office. If I can continue to use Office on the slave ,then no problem, but if I have to reinstall, will I be able to uninstall the original so that there isn't issues with the licensing (I've used the max licenses allowed with my disk)?

I've never used multiple hard drives so I'm having a hard time pre-figuring out issues I might run into. Thanks in advance!

 

[bigmck]

I will try and explain my situation as short and sweet as possible!

My current desktop (about a year and a half old) decided that it was going to corrupt Windows 7 beyond repair. Thankfully my hard drive is fine--hooked it up to my husband's computer and was able to use it as a slave and back up all the info.

I have to buy/install a new copy of Windows 7, but this time I'm getting an SSD to put the OS, Photoshop, and my games on and then I plan to use my current hard drive as the slave.

I'm having a hard time figuring out a couple things due to my lack of knowledge/experience:

--will having the corrupt OS on the slave device impact the new install at all and can I/should I uninstall the corrupt OS off the slave?

--will I be able to run the programs that are already on the hard drive, when it's a slave?

--the two programs I'm worried about running into problems with is Photoshop (which I want to take off the slave and put on the SSD) and then Microsoft Office. If I can continue to use Office on the slave ,then no problem, but if I have to reinstall, will I be able to uninstall the original so that there isn't issues with the licensing (I've used the max licenses allowed with my disk)?

I've never used multiple hard drives so I'm having a hard time pre-figuring out issues I might run into. Thanks in advance!

First, you don't need to buy a new copy of Win 7. Did your PC have Win 7 on it when you purchased it? If so, you must have a sticker on it somewhere that has a 25 character code. If you have that, you can download the copy of Win 7 that you have (example Win 7 Home Premium 32-bit) from here Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life You can then burn a copy to a DVD (no more that 4x speed) and you can install from the DVD and activate using the sticker I mentioned before using this tutorial http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html == Since you are installing Win 7 again, you will have to install all of your programs again. Your data, pictures, music, letters, etc will be OK using them from the old Hard Disk. To reinstall the programs, you will need a DVD of the program. I would guess you would have that since you installed them the first time. Let us know how it goes.

 

[DeaconFrost]

You don't need to buy a new copy of Windows 7. If you have a legitimate license for your current desktop, that can be reused (since it is the same computer).

Chances are, the programs on the old drive won't work, because the new install will be missing registry info. So, for an overall better system, plan to cleanly install them once the SSD is in and Windows 7 is reinstalled. Office will reinstall fine, again, assuming you have a legitimate license.

The best way is to download the drivers you need ahead of time to a flash drive. Then install Windows 7 clean on the computer with just the SSD installed. Once that is complete, you can connect your old HDD and use that as a data drive.

 

[whs]

I think you have the wrong notion of 'slave'. I assume what you mean is that you want to use the drive as data storage.

To avoid all confusion, attach it to your husbands PC and run these commands in cmd:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your disk in question)
Clean
Create partition primary
Format fs=ntfs quick
Exit


Then install a new Windows 7 on your SSD as advised above. But you will have to reinstall all programs - those on your old disk are useless.

 

[DeaconFrost]

As a note, follow whs's advice if or when you backup anything important from that drive.

 

[Lauratron]

Thanks for all the replies!

Major "doh" on me for getting the new copy of Windows 7! Hopefully Amazon will take it back. I guess I never realized that was an option because I've never encountered this type of situation (I've been lucky to never have had a major issue like this come up in the 18 years I've owned computers). My computer only came with the boot disk so I just assumed I was out the copy if I needed to reinstall from scratch.

Whs, will those steps format the hard drive? I certainly don't want to have to do that if I don't have to, even if I have backed up the information.

Also, having never had an SSD, I'm wondering what I SHOULDN'T load on it. Do I not want to run web browsers on it? And since you said I'll only be using my hard drive as a storage drive, should I also buy/designate an actual slave drive?

 

[whs]

Yes it will format the HDD. And why would you not want to do that - this is the most natural step when you want to use the HDD for a new purpose. Just make sure you first get all your stuff off. But after 18 years with computers you know that.

Put the whole system on the SSD. Put only your data on the reformatted HDD (no need to buy a new HDD, you have one at hand). There are a few optimization steps you should do once the OS is installed on the SSD. Post back when you actually have the OS on the SSD and we'll tell you.

And PLEASE forget that term 'slave drive'. That is something they had in the last century with ide drives.

 

[Lauratron]

Put the whole system on the SSD. Put only your data on the reformatted HDD (no need to buy a new HDD, you have one at hand). There are a few optimization steps you should do once the OS is installed on the SSD. Post back when you actually have the OS on the SSD and we'll tell you.

And PLEASE forget that term 'slave drive'. That is something they had in the last century with ide drives.

I ordered a 240GB SSD; is that an appropriate size to run everything off of?

My husband says he takes the blame for getting he whole "slave" thing in my head. Until I actually start using all of these new things, it's going to be pretty foreign for me--I'm really visual and hands on so I have to experience the new setup to really "get it".

 

[gregrocker]

Follow these steps to obtain and maintain a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Be sure to unplug the other HDD while installing Win7. I would also run a full scan with Malwarebytes and Disk Check on the "slave" HD from the other PC before plugging it into the new install.

 

[whs]

Put the whole system on the SSD. Put only your data on the reformatted HDD (no need to buy a new HDD, you have one at hand). There are a few optimization steps you should do once the OS is installed on the SSD. Post back when you actually have the OS on the SSD and we'll tell you.

And PLEASE forget that term 'slave drive'. That is something they had in the last century with ide drives.

I ordered a 240GB SSD; is that an appropriate size to run everything off of?

My husband says he takes the blame for getting he whole "slave" thing in my head. Until I actually start using all of these new things, it's going to be pretty foreign for me--I'm really visual and hands on so I have to experience the new setup to really "get it".

240GB is very generous. I run my desktops on 60GB SSDs and I have plenty of free space. Just make sure you get rid of the hiberfile and reduce the pagefile to 2GB. When the time comes, we'll tell you how that's done - very simple.

PS: and Greg is right. When you install on the SSD, make sure all other disks are detached - else you run the risk that your bootmgr lands on another disk.

 

[Lauratron]

Awesome! Ya'll are a big help!

I won't be able to attempt any of this until the weekend because a.) I've got to wait for my SSD to come in and b.) my husband is going to have to do most of it for me because he is much more computer literate than I and I have to work Saturday. I will send him to this thread!

Even though I'm pretty bummed about having to start over, I'm excited to try something new and faster!

 

[whs]

We'll be here when you are ready.

 

[Lauratron]

So we're starting the whole install process right now. I was looking through the comments on the link to the ISO download page and noticed that people were saying one of the downloads was corrupt (the one that I downloaded). We gave it a shot anyway and it ended up saying it was corrupt. We did a search on that same website for the Windows 7 ISO and got this:
Download Windows 7 ISO (Official 32-bit and 64-bit Direct Download Links) « My Digital Life

Can we use this one in the other's place(Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit)?

 

[AddRAM]

My Digital Life is the page to use...... so yes.

Download and install 64 Bit if you have a dual core cpu, don`t even think twice about that

Post the link to the page and the version you are saying is corrupt, I want to take a look at it and see what the issue is, Thanks

 

[Lauratron]

It was the link posted by bigmck on the first page...did the Win7 home premium 64 bit (English). I apologize for not linking it directly right now as I'm on my phone running out to get more DVDs since I used my last one to burn the ISO.

Also another thought; my husband has his oem disc from when he built his computer last year ( same OS as mine) can't we just use his cd and then enter my key code when required?

 

[whs]

Also another thought; my husband has his oem disc from when he built his computer last year ( same OS as mine) can't we just use his cd and then enter my key code when required?

Yes you can do that. Use the key on the COA sticker of your PC.

 

[Lauratron]

[/QUOTE]Yes you can do that. Use the key on the COA sticker of your PC.[/QUOTE]


Guess we should have thought of that in the first place and saved ourselves the trouble, huh? We consider ourselves to be a little more computer literate than the average joe uuuuntilllll something like this happens. We're definitely appreciative that there are people like all of you out there to help guide us through when we get stuck!

You mentioned something about optimizing the SSD once we get it going. Can you let us know what we need to do for that?

Again, gigantic thanks!!!

 

[AddRAM]

Just a tip: Do not defrag SSD`s


1) Turn off your User Account Control.
Control Panel>User Accounts>Change User Account control settings, Trust me!

Restart the pc.

2) Download and install your video drivers from their website, DO NOT use windows update for video drivers.
3) Run windows update, install the updates. Uncheck any video drivers if they show up. Uncheck Internet Explorer 9 unless you want it.
4) Restart the pc after the updates are installed.
5) Run disk cleanup.
6) Run windows update again.
7) Install your software
8) Run disk cleanup
9) Do all your customizations ( mouse pointers, screensaver etc )

Enjoy Windows 7

 

[whs]

There are 3 things I always do:

1. I get rid of the hiberfile because it takes a lot of space on the HDD and I do not use hibernation. The command in elevated cmd is powercfg -h off

2. I always reduce the pagefile to 2GB. Yours is most likely bigger. Another space saving.

3. I move all user files (Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos) to the HDD. The best way is to make new folders on the HDD with those respective names and move your stuff into the respective folders. Then you right click on each folder and INCLUDE it into the repective library.

PS: unlike AddRAM I would not turn off the UAC

 

[AddRAM]

If you don`t turn it off you`ll be getting the popup while you`re trying to work on your pc, very annoying.

Not to mention blue shields all over your icons.

Remember, you will be setting this machine up for awhile and this popup will keep bothering you everytime you install some software.

You can always turn it back on in the future.