Solved Two OS HD's need to make one Slave

[wingclip]

Hi folks,
I have a 1TB Seagate HD in my comp now which has Windows 7 Home Prem 64bit. I want to put my old Seagate 750GB HD in to replace that 1TB and then I want to reformat the 1TB to clear it completely.

The 'old' Seagate 750GB was my main OS drive before I installed the 1TB and I simply removed the 750GB HD after I ran a System Image transfer to the 1 TB.

SO to be clear: Both HD's have Windows 7 Home Prem 64bit. I want to clear the 1TB HD completely bringing it back to it's empty state like when I got it. And to do that I have to install my 750GB HD.

The question is: is it as simple as installing the 750GB and connecting the Sata cord to the port that my 1TB was in, and then move the 1TB to a different Sata port.

Then I would go to the BIOS and tell it to boot with the 750GB After it boots, I would go to the HD Drive Manager and tell it to reformat the 1TB.

Does that sound right? Can I do it like that?

With all respect; I'm working on a deadline that is going to catch me so I need an answere as fast as is possible. Thank You, Rich

 

[oxymoron02]

Basically yes. Sata is completely self-sufficient when assigning drives a master/slave status, as opposed to the old IDE where you had to position that infernal jumper pin, usually made impossible by confusing diagrams from the manufacturer.

To be perfectly honest you may not even need to change anything in the BIOS; it will detect two Windows installations and ask which you want to boot from, though simply telling it in advance and setting it to boot one over the other will make it much quicker on you, as it will position that particular installation at the top of the list; and if one is an image of the other, then they'll have identical installation names when it prompts you to choose one in a normal bootup sequence.


In summary: Yes. Everything you said is spot on Any problems of course come back here and blame me!

 

[wingclip]

OUTSTANDING!! Thank you very much, you were great. I mean, you got that answer to me just as I finished plugging in thdrives and ready to connect the power.

I was going to use the Bios to point to the drive so I could be sure of which OS Drive I was running from. If I let it go automatically I don't know if there would be any ID method because as you said, one is the image of the other.

But I should be able to tell. Anyway, thanks again, I'm off to try. I certainly will return if I have a prtoblem though.
Rich

 

[oxymoron02]

Happy to help And thanks for the rep!

 

[gregrocker]

If you plug in the smaller HD to install it will configure a Dual Boot with the previous installation you want to get rid of, placing the System boot files for the new installation on the old HD which is hardly desirable.

The solution to this is to unplug the old HD and swap in the new one, boot the installer to Clean Install Windows 7.

Once it's installed, plug in the old HD to wipe it with Diskpart Clean Command from the new Win7's Elevated Command Prompt.

Make sure during all of this the new Win7 HD remains set as HD first to boot in BIOS setup, after the DVD drive.

 

[wingclip]

Hi Greg! No, all I'm doing here is reformatting the 1tb HD. I did just what I asked in the earlier post and it worked fine. I'm simply waiting for the "Long Version of the Windows Disc Management to complete the formatting. I chose the long version instead of the "Quick Format" because I wanted Windows to check the drive while it was at it.

Anyway, you of all people should know what I'm trying to do in the end. The formatting process is about 15minutes from being done and then I'm disconnecting the 750GB drive, reconnecting the now 'Clean' 1TB drive to its original port, and then I'm putting that Windows 7 OS DVD in the Reader and I expect to boot to the install screen via the DVD.

If this doesn't happen, I have only two other options, (what I consider 'Quick' options), to try before I have to go to the next and final level as in one or more of your suggestions in the other Topic section.

I'm going on the pretense that when I deleted most of the residual HP stuff that installed in the original HP p6230f and was transferred along through the many modification points I spoke of, I lost some key software that maybe HP used in the ID process... I don't know, but I do know that there's nothing missing or needed to be added to that OS DVD.

I also know there's nothing wrong with the Reader because my wife’s computer boots from that very same DVD when I tried it on her machine and my reader was reading and burning just fine last night and part of today.

This problem is now "personal" and I need to know why my computer wouldn't boot from that DVD!
Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Why do you have two threads going at the same time?

I've given you some steps to complete in the other thread . When you actually perform those steps, or ask back to understand exactly how to do them if you're confused, then we will know that you're truly ready to help yourself.

 

[oxymoron02]

I'm not entirely certain how he has made up any technical terms, unless you're one of those zealots who insists things be called exactly as they are named and can't just read between the lines of someone who doesn't know better.

I was able to understand what he was asking for, so clearly any "made up" technical terms he used weren't that difficult to decipher.

 

[gregrocker]

I'm only zealous about having key install troubleshooting steps that have worked for countless thousands of others actually followed: wiping (not formatting) the HD, resetting BIOS, trying flash installer, etc.

By all means please lend your Skills over at his other thread: Install Win 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (OEM).

 

[wingclip]

I just saw this, (I'm busy updating the Windows installation), and I have to object about your statement regarding "Two Posts" Greg. The Topic I started here is entirely different from the posts, (I didn't start that other topic), I've been working on with you.

Again, as I stated in the other topic section, I have no idea what you think I'm trying to do. I started this Topic because I just need to be sure of my procedure regarding my idea to clear the entire problematic HD and as I had guessed, it was the problem.

I appreciate the help you were giving me but you seemed to keep forgetting, (or perhaps not reading), the details of my posts. If you go back and look, you'll see where I clearly stated the procedures I used regarding booting from the Windows DVD and yet you told me how to boot from the DVD at least 3 different times.

It was as if you weren't reading those posts that I wrote which should have made it only to clear that I knew how to do that and did every possible variation of that method that one could come up with.

The problem was NEVER the DVD, DVD Reader or missing iso files. I had clearly said that the same DVD's, (remember, I had 2 store bought, legal versions), worked in my wife's computer without fail. That included the USB method as well.

I suspected it was a software problem, (in my 1TB HD), and I'm probably pretty close with my guess that I had corrupted the 'Boot from DVD' options when I deleted HP programs randomly several weeks ago. They were unused remnants of the HP package which HP installs on all their hard drives.

Anyway, I explained all this in the other posts so I'm not going to do it again here. But this is a Topic I opened so I could get a confirmation of my procedure which did work exactly as I had laid it out and that 'Oxy' confirmed.

I still appreciate you sticking with me as I said in the other posts, but we can't win 'em all. We're only human and I can accept that.
Thanks, folks

 

[gregrocker]

We needed to confirm the media first before proceeding. In tens of thousands of installation problems we've seen here the media is problem in about half. In your case I also moved on to give you other steps to try which continue to be ignored while you prattle on.

I've also given you multiple ways to wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command which you ignore and insist upon confusing with formatting. If you cannot get to the installer Command Line or slave the HD to another OS to run the command from an Elevated Command Prompt, then you can download and burn a DBAN or Partition Wizard bootable CD to boot it to wipe the HD, which will tell you if another disk can boot in the PC or not. If successful it will force the installer to boot itself on a wiped HD.

What was the result of resetting the CMOS, changing SATA controller setting to AHCI, checking for a newer BIOS update? All ignored.