[heartgrave]

2 hard drives in 1 computer. Upgrading the mother board, RAM, CPU. Has OEM Windows on it. I know I need a new Windows for this reason, but, what do I need to do to the 2 hard drives? I know there is a bunch of info on both of them and I should be able to move everything to one, but the Windows is certainly downloaded to one of them. Will I need to move everything from the hard drive that has Windows to the other hard drive that doesn't, then wipe the OS from the 1st hard drive to install Windows to it? Or, can I just install Windows to the 2nd hard drive and still use both hard drives in the upgraded build? If yes, will I need to wipe that hard drive before installing?

 

Thanks in advance again!

Edited by heartgrave, 29 July 2014 - 03:13 PM.

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Welcome Back.

So we can get more info about the discs, In the Run box, please copy and paste the bolded test,  diskmgmt.msc then click OK.

Take a screenshot of the window that opens and include in your next reply. 

[iammykyl]

Welcome Back.

So we can get more info about the discs, In the Run box, please copy and paste the bolded test,  diskmgmt.msc then click OK.

Take a screenshot of the window that opens and include in your next reply. 

[heartgrave]

I think the 2nd drive, the smaller one, may be disconnected for the optic drive. Not enough SATA ports for everything, which is one of the reasons behind this upgrade. I am having trouble uploading the screen shot, can't do CTRL + V, photo bucket can't find the file on my system, the editor on here won't let me paste it from word or as plain text. When I click the "image" button on the editor, it makes me enter a URL, and My Media only shows pictures I have uploaded in the past. That being said, everything got typed out below! The smaller HDD was in an old computer that was just swapped over to this one and never wiped, as the data on it was desired to be saved. It has the old computer's OEM Windows 7 on it. It is a 500GB HDD though and should pretty much be the same on the one listed below, yeah? The new OEM Windows 7 I bought for this build when I started it last year, was uploaded to the currently connected HDD. So here goes...

 

Volume: (C:)

Layout: Simple

Type: Basic

File System: NTFS

Status: Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump. Primary Partition)

Capacity: 931.41GB

Free Space: 458.40GB

%Free 49%

Fault Tolerance: No

Overhead: 0%

 

System Reserved Line:

Layout: Simple

Type: Basic

File System: NTFS

Status: Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)

Capacity: 100MB

Free Space: 38 MB

% Free: 38%

Fault Tolerance: No

Overhead: 0%

 

 

Next Area, on the far left:

Disk 0 Basic   System Reserved 100 MB NTFS         (C:) 931.41gb NTFS

931.51 GB     Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)  Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

Online

 

CD-ROM 0

DVD (D:)

 

No Media

 

CD-ROM 1

DVD (F:)

 

No Media

[iammykyl]

Thanks for the update.

You have 2 optical drives , have you tried disconnecting (F) and connecting up the HDD from the old computer? 

Sounds like the present OS has issues, or a hardware, i.e. the keyboard as ctr + v will not copy to the clipboard.   Try the ctr on the right side of the keyboard.   Try a different keyboard.

[heartgrave]

Kinda hard to do what you ask as it is my dad's computer and this upgrade is his birthday gift from me and my brother and it would require him to not be home but he works from home. I got lucky earlier today but I can not guarantee that later. The 2nd hdd is in the computer he has now, just not connected. I was able to post the screen shot to word, with ctrl+V but I could not upload word or the image to this post or anything else.

 

2 optical drives!?!?! There is only 1 DVD-Drive, I installed/built the pc myself! I am not sure what that other drive could be.......

[iammykyl]

That's going to be hard for  you to strip down and upgrade parts, install the OS and keep the gift as a surprise.

You could use a USB stick to backup the Data, then confirm on another rig that the backup was successful. 

[heartgrave]

Well, when the time comes, hes getting the parts each individually wrapped and putting it together himself... kind of. Can we just assume that the hard drives are functioning normally? All I want to do is install Windows 7. I can backup everything to one hard drive and then wipe the one Windows is going on, right?

[HelpMeHelpYou]

Sorry wrong post! I do apologize!

Edited by HelpMeHelpYou, 31 July 2014 - 05:58 PM.

[heartgrave]

Can you please explain why this information is needed?

[HelpMeHelpYou]

Sorry wrong post! I do apologize!

Edited by HelpMeHelpYou, 31 July 2014 - 05:58 PM.

[heartgrave]

No problem, my question was directed at iammykl anyways

[iammykyl]

Can you please explain why this information is needed?

Please tell me what information you are referring to?

 

You can copy files from one HDD to another, in your case.   Please remember to switch off the PSU when working inside the computer. 

Check the SATA connections to make sure the older HDD is disconnected, and determine why you are showing 2 optical drives.

For safety, Backup Data from the existing connected HDD to USB stick, then confirm the Data is present.

Connect the older HDD, copy Data only from the OS drive.  Confirm it is present.

 

 

Perform the hardware upgrade.   Ensure you connect only the OS and optical drives in the new build. 

Perform a clean install to the OS drive, wiping all partitions.

Install the MB drivers/utilities, video drivers/utilities.

Update the OS.

Create recovery media.

Connect the old HDD, copy across any Data you want, do not copy program files. 

Wipe the old drive and use it for storage and backups. 

[heartgrave]

I was curious as to why you needed the information from diskmgmt.msc. I am trying to learn as much as I can, so just curious as to why it is needed for the question at hand?

Edited by heartgrave, 02 August 2014 - 11:19 AM.

[iammykyl]

To see if the second drive was connected, or not.   It is much easer to see all information rather than you having to explain, see image.

[heartgrave]

How did you attach the thumbnail? I ask because when my dad leaves Monday for a few hours, I am taking his PC apart and connecting the 2nd HDD and trying the posting of the screenshot again!

Edited by heartgrave, 02 August 2014 - 04:20 PM.