Instead of installing programs on the main OS Drive and installing on a secondary drive or partition, I should still be able to run the programs if I decide to format the OS drive and reinstall Windows. If so, the problem I'm seeing is that Windows won't know those programs are installed (like using the search bar to find programs or the program list) since whatever registry entries the program installer made will be wiped. Is there an easy way to back it up?Or is it advisable to just reinstall everything when I reformat?
I have a bit of a strange question about installing the Windows 7 upgrade. I'll try to keep it as simple as I can. Firstly
1: I currently have Windows XP SP3 Home Edition installed (and activated) on my 160GB WD Caviar Blue hard drive, which has 8MB cache. It's getting a bit full now.
2. This hard drive is one of the few remnants of a Dell machine I bought a few years ago.
Surprisingly, the restore disk still works and activates, even though I've changed the motherboard and a number of other things over the years. My last reinstall was about a year ago, and I had no problems reactivating whatsoever - I didn't even need to phone Microsoft.
However I doubt it'll install and activate on a new hard drive - particularly as I've also changed the DVD drive since my last activation (as the old one broke), literally the only things remaining from the old system would be the RAM and the processor.
2: I have purchased a 500GB WD Caviar Blue with 16MB Cache
3: I intend to buy Windows 7 Pro Upgrade from TheUltimateSteal for £30. I'm a student, but will be graduating soon, so it seems sensible to take advantage of this offer while I can.
4. Clearly I can install Windows 7 in the normal way onto my current drive and use the 500GB drive for backing up my files, which I'll do if that's the only option.
5. However, if I did that I would not be taking full advantage of the extra cache of the new drive. It would be nice if I could use that for my primary installation to speed things up a bit.
So here's my question:
If I start the upgrade process having booted from the 160GB drive, but during installation select my 500GB drive as the target for the installation, will Windows 7 install and activate correctly? Will it recognise the pre-existing installation, even though it was on a different drive?
If not, then:
If I install my Dell restore disk on the new drive, and don't activate Windows (which presumably I won't be able to), and then run the Windows 7 upgrade on THAT drive, will Windows 7 install and activate correctly?
Basically, is there a legitimate way of installing a Windows 7 Upgrade onto the 500GB drive, on the basis of there currently being a valid XP installation on the 160GB drive?
I have no intention of continuing to use XP after the upgrade, if I am able to install and activate Windows 7 to the new drive, then this will serve only as a backup for my files.
Has anybody tried something similar and succeeded/failed?
I've already read the tutorials on here about doing a clean install of Windows 7. I'd like to avoid dodgy workarounds, as I'd rather not run into problems further down the line when it comes to updates and that sort of thing.
I just did a clean install and created 2 partitions.... C and D. I meant D to be the Windows partition and C be my main. Well I messed up I guess lol. I made 2 partitions C being 30gb(supposed to be 450gb) and D being the 450gb(supposed to be 30gb). How do I switch partitions? Make C become D and vice versa?
Also, how do I make everything I download and install in the future use
Im currently using a 32 bit OS and thinking of changing to a 64 bit OS. I currently have 2 1TB HDD. Will it be ok if i install a fresh 64 bit os in my secondary HDD and change it to my boot drive?
Current setup: C: Boot, Corsair SSD D: Files, samsung HDD
D:/boot files/user/(all user account directories moved here, when possible) I'm wondering if it's possible to install games such as Assasins' Creed or Skrym, but install all game data to this folder?D:/boot files/programs/* Many installers allow you to define a custom installation path, But I am unsure if these games would ask for one or force me to install to the default directory?
I just instaled a ssd and im usen that to boot from and have another drive as slave what do i need to do to play games from that drive? Also can i install games to the secondary the slave and play from that to save space on my ssd?
I just placed an old hard drive into my computer to use as a slave. After I booted up on my current hard drive I went into disk manager and tried to format all the partitions. I formated one easily but the other won't seem to format. The option to format or delete volume are both greyed out.I then tried to boot from my Windows 7 disk to format the drive that way but it said it could not format dymanic drives. I can't change the drive to basic without deleting the last simple volume.
When I turn ON (cool boot) I get a message that says "SATA secondary drive 0 not found" press F1 to continue or F2 to set the BIOS. Either way I choose the drive always show up in the Device Manager and works fine, except that I always get the same message when turn ON the computer. It never does it during re-start.
I am having issues with my computer and am planning on reformatting. I have a terabite hard drive which I moved everything to and a half terrabite hard drive which has Windows 7 and all that on it. If I reformat will it remove everything from all the hard drives or just the one I choose to install Windows 7 on?
i recently updated my OS from Windows XP to Windows 7. I have two HDD one for my OS install and one for my documents etc. I wiped clean for a fresh install the OS drive which removed XP and now contains Win7. The documents drive however wont open. I keep receiving the same message which is...F: is not accessible.Access is denied.I have tried numerous tutorials and browsed many forums where people have had the problem. The techniques ive tried include changing permissions from the properties, trying to change permission through cmd and all the rest. Another piece of information is that when i look at the properties of the drive it shows that its empty.
Free Space: 0bytes Used Space: 0bytes Capacity: 0bytes
The drive contains all the files i backed up from my previous OS and all the files that was originally on it.
I've recently uninstalled itunes. When i restarted my PC i noticed that my internal secondary drive was missing. Reboot and still nothing. Powerdown wait 30 sec and swjtch back on: still missing. I finally opened it up unplugged it and replugged it and it found it again.
I then rebooted again and again it was missing repeated steps above same result.
Dont know what to do ant its a hassle to open it up every time. Windows 7 ultimate. Sata Seagate barracuda 2tb
So earlier this year I constructed my first computer, which I sunk about 2k into and made fantastic . But, having no experience, I installed a 32 bit Windows 7 OS, thereby limiting my available RAM. Since I am a gamer, this is a bit of an issue. Now I have a new SSD, and I was wondering if I could simply load a 64 bit OS onto that drive and boot from there, thereby avoiding the reformatting of my current drive.
The primary drive is a 1TB regular hard drive, the secondary is a 64Gig Samsung 830 SSD.
I have a Core 2 Duo PC with 2 SATA internal drives:
Seagate 320 gig, with C and D partitions. C contains a legit retail upgrade version of Vista Home. D is for data.
Western Digital 640 gig, with a single E partition, currently used as backup.
I ordered a Windows 7 Home Premium retail upgrade at the discounted price a few months ago and expect it in a month.
My Seagate drive is running low on space and I want to retire it. I would like to boot to the Win 7 DVD, have my Vista install on the Seagate recognized, and then do a clean install of Windows 7 on the Western Digital drive, currently E.
I hope to buy another considerably larger backup drive shortly to replace the Western Digital as a backup drive.
Will the WD drive be available as a location for the installation in these circumstances?
Any previous time I have installed MS operating systems, I always chose to install to the same drive as the existing OS. This time things are different due to little space on the Seagate drive. Windows 7 would certainly fit on my current C, but I want to retire that drive.
Or will this remain a complete unknown until some time after October 22?
Or will I be forced to install to the Seagate and then somehow migrate the install to the WD?
I have not played with the RC, so I don't know what options are normally presented during the install.
I'm using Windows 7 and I have four hard drives in my computer labeled C, E, F and G. A few days ago I got a BSOD and my computer wouldn't start up after that. I've been having a few problems with the C drive lately so I bought a replacement and restored from my Acronis TrueImage 2010 backup. That went fine and my computer now works as it did before with my F and G drives connected, but not my E drive. If I try to start up with my E drive connected my computer just gets stuck on the "Starting Windows" screen. If I look at my BIOS settings with it connected it is not listed. It's a pretty new drive and I've never had any problems with it before. Please can someone tell me how I can start using it again?
I'm using Windows 7 and I have four hard drives in my computer labeled C, E, F and G. A few days ago I got a BSOD and my computer wouldn't start up after that. I've been having a few problems with the C drive lately so I bought a replacement and restored from my Acronis TrueImage 2010 backup. That went fine and my computer now works as it did before with my F and G drives connected, but not my E drive. If I try to start up with my E drive connected my computer just gets stuck on the "Starting Windows" screen. If I look at my BIOS settings with it connected it is not listed.
Using Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. W/ASUS P7P55D Deluxe board. Very stable and non buggy. Computer was running great with multiple drives. I substituted one of my 1TB drives with a brand new Seagate 3 TB drive. With the new drive hooked up, the computer will not boot and gives a message that there is no hard drive detected, put media in and hit the key. (something to that effect).
If I enter the bios in the condition, it shows all the drives in their correct order and the boot sequence is the first hard drive, CD, etc. It has detected the new drive as drive #3. But it will not boot. But, if I disconnect the new drive (power and SATA connector), the compute will boot up fine. I have checked all the connectors ad they seem fine. Is there something about the sequence in which the SATA connectors have to be connected?
I have an SSD drive mounted as a secondary master on my motherboard that has lost performance. I did have some things on the drive that I ended up deleting because load times were painfully long. I did not format the drive using the format options in Windows as I know this further degrades performance for SSDs, but there is nothing on the drive at all right now.
My question is, is there a way to secure erase the drive while still inside Windows? All the info I've found regarding secure erasing a drive has to to with having to boot the computer with some disc (insert title), unplugging the sata cable to the drive and plugging it back in, running said program, and erasing the drive. I understand this if the drive is the Primary Master and Windows is to be installed on the drive, but this is not the case for me.
Is there a way to do this inside Windows since its a secondary drive, meaning Windows is on a completely different drive, or is there a program or something for SSDs where you can restore performance inside Windows.
I recently reformatted my Windows 7 32bit system on my primary HDD (C). When I open My Computer, my secondary HDD (D) appears, but when I try to open it, it shows as empty. However, if I look at the properties of D, it says that only 200gb out of 500gb of free space is available. I booted into a live version of Ubuntu and the secondary HDD appears with all data in it and accessible, so I know there is nothing physically wrong with the drive. I know that I could brute force this problem by making a copy of the drive in Ubuntu, then reformatting it in Win7, but I'm hoping there's an easier solution that I'm just not aware of.
I installed windows 7 on my computer that has two hard drives and I tried to remove the secondary drive ( it was used as storage) when I removed the second drive I was then unable to restart my computer. I tried to repair start up from the install disk (3 times) it did not work. when I plug the second drive I am able to start up again. I would like to remove the storage drive and replace with a larger. I bought a wireless seagate 2tb free agent goflex hard drive and wanted to put the 2 tb hard drive into the computer and take my 1 tb drive from the computer and use it in the wireless system.
Ran into issues on build day 2 days ago with crashing driver issues etc. installing drivers was actinglike fliles were corrupt even off the disks.I replaced cables on drives, swapped the Bios for the SATA ports to mimic IDE, installed new version of windows with the Seagate not plugged in. Installed drivers for Mother Board rebooted to Bios swapped back from IDE on the SATA.Puts around a bit no real issues, installed the data drive rebooted and started to install software from steam and origin as well as Windows updates.BSOD a few times,Logged off ran memtest over night passed all 7 tests, ran again on each stick all passed.Windows is freezing trying to install all the updates that is the latest bsod in the log file.the 2tb drive is still uninstalled but seems stable.Not sure what is causing this, I did run CCleaner a few mins ago and it puked a ton of registery errors cleaned them up ran again found more, cleaned now it says it is clean.Here is the zip I am at wits end and do not want to RMA the Seagate if i dont have to but willing to if you all think that is my problem.
I have a 120GB SSD for system etc. I have a 1TB HDD for everything else. How do I change the default program files folders (x86 and regular) so that when I am installing a program the first choice is on this second drive instead of C?
It says they need too be installed on 32 bit. Anyway to run 32 bit programs on 64 bit? I think it's my system though because I know other people have used them on 64 bit systems.error message:"The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher."
I have installed 7 sp1 on Dell inspiron 1520. and updated my drivers also with driver genius.I have a problem that such programs won t install. some others have trouble , f.e firefox 4 craches some times.I have never had such problems in xp.for example this is the error that on office 2010 occures while installing :or net framework 4 gives the eror :
I started to experience bsods lately when I am trying to install (and sometimes uninstall) programs. PC would not boot past 'starting windows' logo and I got a blank screen with Windows failed to start.
I have installed Windows 7 RTM and everything is working just great for more then a month. But now I am experiencing some problems when I am installing larger programs or games. When installation starts, the system starts to freeze and I cant even normally switch windows or browse on internet. This lasts until the installation is complete, then everything comes back to normal. The same thing is happening on my laptop.
Does anyone know why and how can I resolve this problem?
So I just installed Win 7 RC 7100. Before that I had the Win 7 Beta Build 7022. I did a full computer backup...the one that creates a .vhd file and such...well I can't figure out a way to get all my old programs and such back b/c it seems 7 RC needs the backup to be saved on the old OS using "Easy Transfer" in order to access the files through the new OS.
I have a full backup on my external, but the restore function in 7 RC doesn't recognize it. Is there an easy way to restore it? Can i use the windows.old files? If so, how do I install the programs from progfiles? Some are missing the setup applications it seems.
Any time I try to install a program from [URL] I get an error that says
"Lua Error! []Error Evaluating if(FIRST_BUNDLE ~=nil and not offer_events.loaded==true ) then startIntegratedOffer(1180402,1591,true) end -- C:/BM/2.5/_WEBINSTALL/BINARIES/downloadcom/production/setup.exe.nsi:Line 1372.2 Error:[[C]:-1](field addConnection)
[code].....
This happens for every program that I have tried from download.cnet.com, but I haven't had the problem with installing programs from other sites. I have a second computer and I have no problems installing programs from download.cnet.com onto that computer. I've searched the internet for a solution but I haven't found anything like it. I can still install programs from everywhere except download.cnet.com (at least I haven't run into problems yet), so it's not a huge deal but it would be really nice to be able to download programs from download.cnet.com because it is a very useful resource.
When installing programs onto your new system, do you guys install them on the same partition that you have Windows 7 on, or do you put them on another partition?
My current setup is 1 HDD with 2 partitions. I have windows 7 installed on a 40gb partition, and the 2nd partition is all the remaining space on my HDD.
Right now, as I've started installing my programs, I'm putting my programs onto the 2nd partition. I figure the system may run a little smoother if the OS is located in one place with nothing else, and all my programs, docs, pics, music, etc... are in a different place.
I have 2 64 bit Win 7 computers, an HP desktop and an HP laptop. I run Quicken 2011 on both computers and save my data file in Dropbox so that I can access the file from either computer.In the case of the laptop, I can open and manipulate the QHI (Quicken Home Inventory) file, but I get error messages when I try to open the same file on my desktop computer.
I have a windows vista pc running REALLY slow and am wanting to install either windows XP or windows 7 on a different HDD, set it as primary, and run from it. But will I be able to use programs installed on the other HDD directly? or will i need to copy/ reinstall them?
