Moving Windows 7 Onto SSD, Want To Keep Existing XP Intact (also On SSD)
Oct 21, 2011
For stability / application continuity reasons, when I built my computer 1.5 years ago I went with XP Home on an SSD. It's great. Boot times in a blink, even 18 months later. I knew I would eventually want to learn and migrate to Windows 7. That has pretty much happened now. My WEI is pretty low, just because of the hard drive I installed it on--I have Windows 7 64 Ultimate installed on a partition of my 1TB data drive. The poor drive has like 4 partitions. That was probably ill-advised. Anyway, I want to:Partition the SSD, keeping the XP install intact Move my Windows 7 installation to the SSD on the new partition.
ASUS P7P55D-E EVO 2X80gb Western Digital SATA Drives 2x2TB Samsung Spintpoint SATA Drives
I have already been using the machine with another 80Gb Western Digital SATA Drive with Windows 7 Pro 64Bit installed and now want to convert to RAID 5 for redunancy in case of Drive failure (We all say we will back up but we are all lazy when it comes to it LOL).I have taken out the original OS drive and plugged it into the E-SATA connector on the MOBO, gone into the BIOS, turned on RAID for the SATA Ports on the MOBO, and connected the 2 X 80Gb Boot drives. Entered the Hardware RAID Controller POST, and created the RAID 5 Volume from the 2 X 80Gb Discs.Now boot with Acronis Wester Digital edition.Clone the Original 80Gb Disc to the new Raid Array.Shut machine off, remove original OS 80gb Disc from E-SATA port.Boot machine.It starts to boot, and gets as far as the Windwos 7 Microsoft 4 Colour logo and then I get an error and then have to boot into Windows 7 from DVD and go through the repair process.When the Repair has run it reports the following:
The following startup option will be repaired:
Name: Windows Boot Manager Identifier: {9DEA862C-5CDD-4E70-ACC1-F32B344D4795}
The following startup options will be added:
Name: Windows Recovery Environment (recovered) Path: Recoverye52d0bc2-1f15-11df-af10-d764fe3715b8Winre.wim Windows Device: Partition=D76190 MB)
A copy of the current boot configuration data will be saved as:C:BootBCD.Backup.0001 However it fails to do the update How do I get this RAID to boot successfully? I *don't* want to have to re-install the Operating System as that is just too painful a thought?
My problem is that my files and folders don't show up under windows explorer.The files and folders are intact, and they DO show up with Tree Size Free, for example, AND THEY ARE ACCESSIBLE! That is, I can view photos and watch video if I launch it from Tree Size Free.So the files are not deleted or anything. They are just not visible to windows explorer.The files and folders don't show up under windows explorer, but the space they occupy is registered so if I right click on the drive and go to properties, it shows all the used space it should, it just won't show the files USING the used space!Again, the files DO show up using other software such as Tree Size Free, and they are accessible and work properly.Any idea why windows explorer cannot see the files, folders or access them?
I have a Toshiba L645 which is on win7 but i'd like to downgrade to XP. The laptop has a hidden recovery partition which I would like to keep intact to restore at a future date.How can I downgrade to XP and not delete the recovery partition as it is on same HDD but hidden partition.
Windows 7 64 bit successfully installed on a new 1TB HDD and I am totally happy with it now. I kept my previous 500MB HDD with XP OS intact should I have had any problems with Windows 7. My question is this: I do not intend to use my previous XP HDD now as an alternative boot HDD but would like to access some files from it which I forgot to back up elsewhere. How should I connect it such that I can just access my files without it booting XP or maybe it wont try to boot XP anyway? Don't want to let XP boot and maybe upset things.
I have this WD My Passport external portable harddrive which I have used for a couple of years. I was writing something to the drive one day when the USB connection seems to be somewhat loose and the drive disconnected momentarily and reconnected itself but the file I was trying to write ended prematurely...Now when I try to use the Seagate Harddrive test tool for windows and do a Short Generic test and the result failed.. I am fear it might have been caused by the disconnection and might eventually corrupt the entire drive... I try to run chkdsk but there aren't any errors detected it seems and files seems to be accessible as normal... Is there a way to fix the harddrive without losing data in the drive or confirm the drive is indeed failing?
Have main computer win 7 and works fine with virgin hub. Have aquired second computer running xp pro and won't set up with hub. Keeps trying dial up and failing to recognise connection to hub.
i am re-installing WIN-7 on a previously installed WIN-7 (the same OS). But the prob is that, i had installed it with XP already loaded. Now that i want to re install WIN-7,
I recently bought a canon 7D which works perfectly with my laptop, however my existing G6 will not work with windows7 no matter what i download. I have downloaded updates to software and the latest codec but to no avail.
I have a friend who has spyware on their computer. It's a Vista machine that's so far gone that the only option would be to wipe it (unless someone else has a better solution).
But I have a copy of Win7 Pro from Newegg that's been used already for a computer build I did.
But, could I use this disk alongside a student license code for Win7 Pro?
i cant seem to find a thread that will tell me so, but i currently have win 7 64bit which is my main system, but also its partioned with xp, what i need to do is reinstal windows 7 again but dont want to loose my xp. do i have to delete windows 7 first before instaling, its time my pc had a good clear up.
I have a 6 month old Samsung ultraportable that has developed Windows problems and I am trying to re-install Windows 7 Pro. The history is that Windows 7 Home Premium came pre-installed, and I upgraded to 7 Pro right after I bought it, with no problems. Everything has been great until the last 2 weeks when the laptop would not start. After trying multiple times to recover, including the Windows recovery disc and Samsung's internal recovery options, I have given up and am now attempting a clean, fresh re-install. I have already done this once (yesterday) and I am having the same non-start problems.
In an attempt to do this in a truly clean way, I want to wipe out everything that might be leftover. My question is how to do this, particularly regarding the partitions that are already setup on the laptop. Here are the partitions that setup is finding:
Disk 0 Partition 1, 10.6 GB/0.0 MB free; "Primary" Disk 0 Partition 1, 4.3 GB/4.3 GB free; "OEM (Reserved)" Disk 1 Partition 1, 100 MB/70 MB free; "System" Disk 1 Partition 2, 446 GB/393 GB free; "Primary" Disk 1 Partition 3, 19.7 GB/959 MB free; "OEM (Reserved)" - this one is also named "SAMSUNG_REC"
Questions: 1. Should I leave all these partitions intact, or delete them and start over?
2. If I should leave them intact, into which partition should I install the fresh version of Windows 7 Pro?
3. What is your advice on whether other partitions should be set up for A) programs, and B) data (documents, photos, music, etc)?
Just this week I noticed I had a Windows Update icon in my system tray. When I opened it up I got an error stating that it could not check for windows updates. It also had the error code of 80070490. I've tried running the Readiness Tool that was suggested in the Windows knowledge base article but that didn't fix it. The only other option that I have been able to find is to re-install (or re-upgrade) my operating system. I am running Windows Vista Ultimate on this laptop and I'm not sure if I have the CD/DVD of the operating system as the OS came installed on my laptop when I got it (from Lenovo). So, I've decided that since I was going to upgrade to Windows 7 at some point, I might as well do it now.My question is I'm wondering if this Windows Update problem will somehow hamper the upgrade to Windows 7. Does anyone know? I don't want to buy the upgrade package and try to preserve my files and program installations only to have this Windows Upgrade piece be a key component of the upgrade to Windows 7 and it all fail.
I have a setup running with 1 physical SATA disk divided in two partitions (C,D). Tomorrow i am receiving an 120GB SSD. I am planning on disconnecting the HDD and plugging the SSD with AHCI enabled in the bios and performing a clean install.I need help for the steps after that, what is going to happen when i plug in the HDD in the 2nd SATA port? Will windows boot from the SSD and see the two partitions as D & E? If this is the case can i merge the 2 partitions after that and not lose any data? The purpose as you can see is to install fresh Win 7 on the SSD and plug in the HDD after that for storage purposes only but want 1 partition to it.
I have a 1TB drive I want to install windows on. There is no existing windows installation on the drive, only music, movies, and other files and documents. Is it OK to install windows without formatting this drive? I don't have anything to back up all they data.
i have a windows7 laptop and i have to install windowsxp. but the problem is that there is an error screen after showing the ''SET UP IS STARTING WINDOWS'
My HP mini laptop has been distructed its program and the Swedish keyboard and word program turn up side down...I want to reboot or reformat so it will be in its normal program.
i just bought a dell latitude D40 which has win 7 starter installed for the OS. i have 3 other pc's all networked (home network) together and all have win xp prof. i would like to network the the dell (win 7 starter) to the other 3 computers but after doing some research i find that one of the pc's on the network must have win 7 for an OS.just to be sure i'm understanding correctly, is this true ? I'm probably going to have to reformat and reinstall windows on one of the pc's on the network pretty soon. when i reinstall windows, could i install win 7 starter or would i need to install the full blown version(so that i can network the laptop to the other 3 already on the home network
I am currently running WinXP Pro SP3. If I was to install Win7 on a separate partition, would I be able to use Win Virtual PC to control the existing XP partition or would I need to re-install all the XP software onto the virtual machine?
i have just installed a new motherboard/cpu/ram and i am just trying to start windows 7 from an existing hard drive, with it already installed. i have heard that if windows 7 was pre installed on your computer then it will not work. is this true?if needs be, i have a brand new copy of windows 7 that i can make a new start from. question 1. how do i make a new install of windows 7 if it wont boot in the first place. question 2. will i be able to keep my programs/files on this hard drive?
specs
mobo: biostar n68s3+ cpu: amd athlon ii x4 3.0ghz os. windows 7
As part of the chipset driver installation, it also installed the RAID and SATA drivers that Nvidia provides.I have a 300GB HDD on the primary IDE channel although I currently boot from one of my SATA hdd's.How would I go about transferring my OS to a RAID 0?Would it be possible to just system image my current OS onto the IDE drive and then format my two SATA hdd's, enable RAID in BIOS and then use Seagate Disc Wizard to install the system image onto the RAID 0?Is seagate disc wizard capable of transferring to a RAID drive??Have the RAID drivers definitely been installed with the Chipset drivers and will Windows recognise the RAID array?Have heard that you have to set up a boot partition the same size as the image on the RAID 0, would it then be possible to expand that to use the entire RAID partition
I have an HP quad core machine with OEM Vista Home Premium 32-bit installed. It has never been connected to the internet (only my home network) since I have only used it for video editing and a few other particular tasks that do not require internet access. My thinking was that by keeping it "virgin" I would maintain fast boot times and that out-of-the-box snappiness. Set it up with several specific types of software, remove everything that isn't important (like AV software), and only install things via USB when necessary. For three years I've succeeded and the box is as fast as the day I set it up. It sits sequestered in its tower still wearing its chastity belt, oblivious to the evils of the outside world.
Unfortunately my main online machine (Vista 64-bit) just suffered the indignity of a failed motherboard. It's not worth repairing. Luckily the hard drive is intact. Here is my plan of action. I'd like to know if it makes sense, if it's doable, and, if so, the best way to go about it.
I'd like to set up a dual boot system. A year ago I purchased a full Windows 7 installation using the student discount available at the time. My virgin machine is capable of handling Windows 7 64-bit, so I'd like to install that (have already downloaded the ISO and burned it to a dvd). What I want to do is throw in an entirely new hard drive and install Windows 7 64-bit on it. I would then leave the Vista 32-bit existing installation intact and untouched. I would end up with three SATA drives in the HP tower -- 1) main drive with the existing, virgin OEM Vista 32 installation, 2) brand-new drive on which I would install Windows 7 64-bit, 3) drive I pulled from my dead Vista 64-bit machine, including lots of data and settings.
I would gradually set up the Windows 7 to mirror what I was doing on the machine that just died (I still have access to all of the important settings I need on the hard drive). When I want to do my regular stuff on the net I'll use the new Windows 7 64-bit installation. When I want to do the video and photo stuff I've been doing the last three years I'll boot to the virgin Vista installation (maybe even unplugging from the net while doing so).
So, can I do this? Will I maintain the snappiness of my current setup by making sure that when I boot to the existing Vista 32 install that I stay offline? If all answers are yes, how do I do it? For example, do I just install a new hard drive and then tell the machine to boot to the dvd drive and then install Windows 7 to that new drive from there? If so, how does the dual boot part of it go (or is it automatic and I'll be asked each time I turn on the machine?)
I have a problem as follows: After I restared my comp yesterday, win 7 loads up the blue-green screen with leafs, and right after that, hangs on the black screen with visible cursor.i'm only able to move it then. ctr+alt+del is not working.
What strange, in the safe mode all works well. I tried 'last known config' - didn't work. I tried system restore - same thing. I tried to repair system with the 'repair tool' from the cd - didn't recognize any problems.
My question - is it possible to re-place system files, or do un upgrade win 7 to win 7 but keeping all my programs installed? I really do not want to reinstall them, it would last 3 days.
In old xp, there was an option to hit 'r' on the second question while installing from cd, and we could have everything still installed, but system files replaced.
I have a system with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed on the C: drive and the Users folders moved to the D: drive (per the directions in this tutorial User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation. I have a new motherboard (Asus ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3), CPU (Intel I5-2500k), memory (Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ), SSD (Corsair Force Series GT 120GB) and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit on order that I want to swap into this system. Well, actually, I guess that it is mostly a new system with my old D: data drive, power supply and case.I have a few questions about the best way to go about getting up and running with the least amount of headaches: The new MB has a UEFI BIOS, so does that mean that it will automatically create a GPT style disk on the SSD for the new Windows 7 installation, or is there the option to create a MBR style disk? The reason that I ask, is that I use Macrium Reflect Free to make drive image backups of the C: drive periodically and it doesnot work with GPT disks apparently. My thoughts are to leave all of the data on the D: drive as it is, and do a clean install of Windows 7 on the new SSD after all of the components are swapped out. Would it be better to rename the Users folder on my D: drive, install Windows 7 and use the same tutorial as above to move the Users at this time, thus creating a second version of the Users folder and then delete the new and rename the old, or would it be better to install everything to the new SSD, and then after installation, then move the individual folders and point them to the existing folders on the D: drive? Is there a difference in moving Users folders during installation and moving after installation? It looks to me like the move during installation moves the ProgramData folder as well. For those that do clean re-installs, is there a good generic way to preserve application preferences/configurations/settings for installed applications and then be able to use them after everything is installed back? If I can use the existing Users folder that is on my D: drive after the install of Windows 7, will this do what I am looking for? In the past, I have used various techniques like screen prints, some apps have a preferences file that can be saved and moved back,
I'm trying to move my Windows 7 to a bigger and better hard drive.
My original idea was to create a system image and restore it to a different hard drive with windows repair (after all, this is what you would do after a hard disk failure). However, it only allowed me to restore the image to the original hard drive.
I bought a laptop running windows 7 SP1 with some other software already installed on it. I recently upgraded to a desktop that is much faster also running windows 7. I made a mirror of the laptop HDD. Is there a way to install this mirror onto the desktop HDD so that I can use my new desktop as if it were my laptop?
