How To Install Windows 7 On Two Hard Drives
Apr 30, 2010
I have a HP Pavilion dv9800. It came with Vista and one 250 GB HDD. I added a second internal 250 GB SATA HDD. I got the second drive formatted and so it showed as a second drive where the HHDs are displayed. I didn't have any Vista OS software on it (to my knowledge, as far as I could see) but I could use the drive for extra storage, etc.I went to add Windows 7 with an install disk. I would like to simply replace Vista with Windows 7 and have the second HDD usable as extra space, so it would serve the same function as it has with Vista. However, when I used the install disk it asked me which drive I wished to install Windows 7 on. I installed it on on the second HDD only, so now I'm running Vista on the C: drive (and it's on D: Recovery too) and Windows 7 on the drive added second. can I replace Vista on C: (and D) and then use the other added HDD for storage, etc? In other words, I want only Windows 7 OS on this machine, but want to be able to use both drives, with a similar configuration as I had with Vista.
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Oct 8, 2011
make a dualboot comp by adding windows XP to a new partition. I created the new partition with 20gb. (From the 500 of my actual harddrive)But before I actually installed on that, I got distracted with a second harddrive that my dad got(for no reason). It had a full copy of Windows XP backed up on it from another computer, so I figured I would just use that for the dualboot. I plugged it in (wired the same way as my old harddrive, but different data slot), restarted, checked the harddrive in explorer - all the data was there / reading correctly / etc, and I used 'easyBCD' to add the new harddrive to the boot list.(Which, of course, crashes if I try to start it. I just wanted to see what it would do). For a reason I can't remember, I unplugged the second harddrive for a bit, started the computer on accident (I don't know if anything loaded before I shut it off), and then when I plugged it back in.Windows 7 would not launch. It goes to a DOS-like window, except it's just a flashing _ and it never does anything even after a few minutes. XP didn't work still.. so I decided to reinstall XP (as I couldn't tell which harddrive was which on the list, I unplugged the main harddrive while installing onto the new).. and when I did this.. it formatted and installed fully... then restarted.. then restarted.. and restarted.. and just kept restarting, never showing any thing past the manufacturer logo/BIOS load-button-message-thing. So, I then try to use my 3-disk Windows7Recovery disk(burned myself with a program apparently included by the manufacturer.) It installed fully, appearing to work.. but when I launched it, it said "Invalid Partition Table" and wouldn't boot past that. When I insert my driver installer disk, it gives me a basic DOS window thing. dir A: shows the files in the disk. dir B: for some reason shows the same. C: says "Error reading from drive C: DOS area: general failure". All other letter:'s just say "invalid drive". (I'm doing this with both harddrives in.) I attempted connecting the harddrives to an old computer, but it gave an error for both. (It detected the harddrives, but said it had an error reading from it. Windows Explorer asked me to format it... {i'm willing to format one of the drives if anybody thinks it will help, but the old harddrive has data I'd prefer not to lose.} ) Looking on google, I saw several problems that all have similar problems (less overdescripptive than I am though) but none of the fixes suggested worked for me. Also - as I have two different with different errors, I only need to make one of them work.)Also - my other available computer has a CD burner / floppy drive if either are required. I also have several USB's. The computer can boot from USB's and CD's (tested), and I could easily take the floppy thingy and connect it to the computer.also - this computer is probably still under warranty unless unscrewing the hard drive voids it. .. does that count as modification of the computer?
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Mar 8, 2011
install two hard drives using windows 7
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Apr 10, 2012
I have a new computer that runs Windows7 64 bit. I have an older computer hard drive that has XP.I needed something from the old hard drive and hooked it up with the cables from the Windows 7 hard drive and it booted up and ran. I've since gone back to using the Windows 7 hard drive.How do I proceed to add that second hard drive running XP to the new computer so I can have the option of running either OS? I've read through some posts, but they all presume you are installing the OS to new clean hard drives, not have them already installed.Is it as simple as hooking the XP drive into the computer as a second drive and booting it up? Do I need to change some external setting on the hard drive to have it recognized as a slave? Will Windows 7 automatically change the boot to recognize the second OS and allow a choice at startup?
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Oct 13, 2012
How to run through a quick clean install of windows 7 and my hard drive as I believe I have some nasty root-kits. All I need to know is where I can download windows 7 again - I have product key). And some basic steps doing the clean wipe. Also could you take me through partitions and how to do one? I want my hard drive completely clean restoring my system.
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Jan 29, 2012
Can we install same OS in different hard drives?
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Dec 9, 2012
I'm installing Windows 7 on an older PC. It was running on it before but my hard drive bit the dust. When I boot from the install disk and go to install it, there are no hard drives listed and the message says "No drives were found. Click Load Driver to provide a mass storage driver for installation."
It's an old Dell Dimension 8300 with a couple WD hard drives in it, a 250GB and a 500GB. I could get the model numbers if that's necessary.
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Apr 18, 2009
I just installed Windows 7 build 7068. 64bit.I have an Asus P5WD2E-Premium mobo, and 5 Western Digital Hard drives of various sizes, all SATA.Windows recognizes only 2 of the drives, the c drive of course, and only 1 of two WD 400gig hds, which are identical.I know this may be a mobo issue, but, wasn't sure about Windows 7.
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Jul 4, 2012
Recently, my ancient desktop died on me. I had some stuff stored on the main C drive (40 GB) and some on an external 1 TB drive. I put the 40 GB HD in the external module to upload it to a laptop with a 360 GB HD. I would then like to transfer that 40 GB to the 1 TB drive. When I plug in the external with the 40 GB, it appears that the Windows 7 machine does not read it or pick it up. It recognizes it as an external device, but not as a drive.
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Jan 6, 2012
I recently completed my first build within the last two weeks. After tinkering with everything for a while I decided to pull my HDD out of my old Dell and use that as a backup.
I then got to thinking about how it might be useful to install Windows on each hard drive and use whichever one I want for whatever I want to do with the computer. IE: One HDD will be only for games and the other HDD will be for everything else I want to do. I've done a few searches and found conflicting results. To add to this problem I returned my Gygabyte MOBO for a different model. I know I will have to reformat my current HDD that Windows is installed on. So here is the twist.
When I get the new MOBO hooked up I want to use my old Dell HDD as my primary HDD because it is bigger. Since Microsoft thinks Windows is installed on the other HDD and different MOBO what will happen with I install it on a new HDD and new MOBO? It would be essentially the same as installing it on a different computer which is obviously not something Microsoft wants happening. How is this done?
Now, given that I get that to work can I then disconnect my primary HDD and plug in my second HDD, boot from disc and install all over again. I have no problem going back and forth disconnecting and connecting which HDD I want to use when i boot up if I cannot have them both hooked up to the MOBO, but I assume I can and will just choose which to boot from in BIOS. I do not plan on moving data between the two drives as I will use an external HDD for any data backup that I might need.
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Mar 26, 2010
I built a new PC and I have my old hard drive. What I would like is to install windows 7 on each hard drive and at start up be given the choice of which one I want to start up. Is this possible and if so how is it done. I did a search and I don't think I know what this is called because while I get the impression from other threads that it can be done I can't find out how. So when the PC powers up I want it to give me the choice of using HD1 or HD2 and each HD having its own windows on it that is completely separate from the other HD.
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Dec 25, 2012
I can not select my boot up drive anymore from my two hard drives, two OS pc. Both drives are SATA drive, but one of them appears as IDE in Bios. What is going on here?
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Jan 24, 2013
im going to install an ssd (and run windows 7 from it) and would like to be able to keep my old hard drive with (exsisting windows 7 installation) for a few days till i sort out what i want to copy.if i select the ssd as the boot drive then i should be able to look around in the old hard drive?? or am i wrong
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Nov 19, 2011
I picked up a used computer that has vista. I have an extra hard drive with windows 7 on it. Is there something I need to do other than swapping out the hard drives? Replacing the vista hard drive with the windows 7 hard drive. When I did this, the pc will automatically run system repair. I get patch prevented the system from starting Windows 7 will not start on the pc, so is there something else I must do?
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Nov 13, 2012
I have some questions about window 7. I want to switch two hard drives from a different computers; one mechanical and one ssd. The problem is they both have window 7 os 64 bit oem editions. Is there any legal way for me to accomplish this? And if a an alternate universe me does it regardless, what is the potential consequences it might face?
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Apr 21, 2009
I was running Windows 7 and I decided to test out Linux Ubuntu so that I would know what I was talking about with the OS. The disc run was pretty bare bones so I decided to install it onto my system. Bad news is that it completely messed up Win7 somehow and I was pretty much forced to do a re-install of my Win7 installation. When I went to re-install to fix the lag errors, it says I can't install on any of my hard drives because they have been all changed to ext3 format by Linux. I have no idea how to change them back to NTFS format for Windows. is it possible to format my hard drives back to NTFS using the command prompt that is in the Win7 install disc?
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Dec 6, 2011
I have a M2010 running Windows 7 ultimate using raid. I was wondering if I put in a hd in the secondary spot if I could add XP Pro and dual boot. I have some things that work better under XP. I put my old laptop drive in and set the bios raid to auto detect/ata. It booted to 7 and installed drive E:. I didn't change any Matrix software settings so it's a raid/non raid setup.
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Sep 28, 2012
I have (2) internal hardrives in my current pc, what i want to do is install a separate Win 7 OS on each. I have read that you unplug the main hardrive which already has the Win 7 OS on it. And I proceed to plug in the other hard drive, but my pc never allows my to install the Win 7 CD Rom Install disk. I keep getting the "No Boot Device Available error" It sees the hard drive and the CD Rom when I try to click on either i get the No Boot Device Available Error. When both Hard drives are plugged in there is no problems windows boots fine. How can I get the second hard drive to install the CD Rom so I can have (2) separate OS systems on the two hard drives. I am using a Dell Precision T3500 if that has anything to do with it.
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Sep 12, 2010
I have 3 harddrives the primary i dont care if its formatted, thats the one the OS goes on. the other 2 have all my movies on it (3tb total, 1tb and 2tb drive) will these 2 extra drives be formatted as well or untouched? If they are going to be formated can i just upplug them and plug back in once 7 is installed note if it matters ill be installing Windows 7 unltimate NOT the upgrade?
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Jun 7, 2011
I know at this point it's tricky and i should have done it before installing Windows 7 however...My new physical primary drive now has Windows 7 pro running exclusively the whole partition (cI'd like to add the drive that had XP pro running on the same PC.i'd like to get this running as a duel boot without corrupting the XP drive.
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Dec 1, 2009
I have been trying to install a copy of an x86 version of Windows 7 Ultimate for weeks. For some reason when I first installed it It did not recognize my hard drives. I was ok with the upgrade at first (from Windows Vista Ultimate) but along with the disk space it is taking up from windows.old, I want a clean copy. When I go in the setup, click install, and go to the Custom Install tab, no hard drives or partitions show up. I have tried installing drivers from the Western Digital site, to no avail.The ultimate question I am trying to get answered is how do I get a my hard drives to show up on the setup and finally get to my destination of having one partition, with my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on it? This is the information of the hard drives and where I tried to download the drivers to allow the installation to work: WD Support > Installation > SATA & SAS > WD Caviar SE / SE16 (SATA I)
I tried to load the drivers at the installation and apparently they were not the correct ones, although the most recent ones I could find were for WinXP.I am getting frustrated with Windows 7! I also have a problem where I am not sure If my video card is working properly or not, but that is another issue that I have posted on that the advice I received did not work..
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Jun 19, 2011
I recently upgraded my computer with a new solid state drive and a fresh copy of windows 7, was previously running XP. The install was eventually successful and the computer turns on and runs fine. The old C drives (they were two disks linked together) is now listed as the F drive, but windows 7 won't let me access the drive, saying "you need to format this drive).I was worried that I had somehow broken them, I moved my system back to the original configuration (with the two drives in slots 0 and 1) and xp booted and ran just like it used to.
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Sep 21, 2012
My motherboard is ASUS P6X58D Premium, Intel i7 920 2.67Htz, Windows 7 Pro 64bit, Hard drives: C: WD Caviar RE2WD500YS, WD1002FAEX 64mb cache, 3rd drive is 1TBWD1002FAEX 32mb cache, and 4th drive is: 1TB WD1001FALS-00J7B0 32mb cache.When I click on My Comuter in Windows 7, it does not see hard drives #3, and #4 but it does see the C: drive that is a 500GB WD drive and the first 1TB WD hard drive.Drives #3 and #4 are not seen by Windows. Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics(DLGDIAG) sees all four drives but the SMART status of drives #3 & #4 say: Not Available. I can run a Quick Test on drives #3 & #4 and they pass the Quick Test but it won't run the other WD tests for drives #3 & #4
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Dec 25, 2012
I replace one of the two drives and now the PC only boots from the new drive. It doesn't give me the choice to chose witch drive I want to boot from anymore. I went to BIOS, I only see the new drive as SATA, the other one is mentioned as IDE. ( both of them are SATA drives)
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Dec 25, 2012
I replace one of the two drives and now the PC only boots from the new drive. It doesn't give me the choice to chose witch drive I want to boot from anymore. I went to BIOS, I only see the new drive as SATA, the other one is mentioned as IDE. ( both of them are SATA drives)
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Aug 11, 2011
i've got 2 extra 1TB Seagate drive:[URL]I use these to make backups of my 3 hard drives (1 x SSD, 1 hybrid, and 1 SATA). I brought this new machine back in April, and it was working fine up until then. However, after trying to install some software (which didn't wanna install in the end anyway, due to it being rubbish!), I can now no longer see these drives on my PC The weird part too - is that my Win7 laptop has exactly the same issue ... but my brothers Vista laptop, and Win7 PC see them just fine!To start with I was thinking the drive had gone faulty (as it wasn't working on both my machines), but after testing it on my brothers stuff it prooved they are both working fine The USB's I'm using to connect it to are fine (They work for USB sticks and other USB kit) ... so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what it could be? The even weirder thing - is that my brothers 500gb external drive (can't remember what make that was, but its not Seagate) works just fine!Its driving me up the wall as I can't do my daily backups (I'm a software developer, so having a current backup of my PC incase of a fatal mess up with my system is vital for me)
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Jun 24, 2012
i have two hard drives:A 250gb and a 1TBWhen I installed windows I chose the 1TB, but just left my other in there as it had some files I wanted on it. Now when I try to remove the 250gb drive, windows will not boot up.I tried marking the 250gb drive as inactive, but then during boot up it would say bootmgr is missing, so i had to use the installation disk then mark as active again.
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Mar 5, 2010
I've a dual boot configuration, XP Professional and Windows 7, where the 2 partitions/OS's are independent by use of a third-party (non-Windows) boot manager. My problem is that any external hard drive I use while booted into my Win 7 OS becomes write protected within a few minutes of installation; however, the same drive is fully usable--i.e., not write protected--if used while booted into my XP Pro OS.
I'm slowly losing my mind. I've checked the registry entry involving "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies" and it's as it should be. I've used the command prompt to check volume/disk attributes for the external drives and all of them are readonly clear. Literally, running Windows 7, within minutes of plugging in an otherwise not write protected USB external hard drive it becomes write protected. Every time.
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Dec 12, 2010
when i try installing windows 7 on my netbook over a network it wont detect my hard drives
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Apr 30, 2012
I'm about to install windows 7 64bit, onto a new system, with 3 hard drives. One for OS and Data. Second one (SSD) will only be used for caching - fast boot. Third one for -printer-pagefile etc. System is ASUS P8Z77-V deluxe, which has UEFI. Do I need MBR partitions or GPT Partitions.
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Jul 29, 2011
My external hard drives partitions are hidden in windows 7
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