Installing a New HD and Setting it up as Primary

[illram]

***UPDATE 2/19/11*** Did it, worked flawlessly.

I could not find an easy answer to this when I looked up how to do this so for anyone that is curious, this was super easy and painless.

1) Physically install HD
2) Change boot order in BIOS so new HD boots first. (In American Megatrends 0402 BIOS, you need to go to "BOOT" then select "Hard Disks" then change the order there. BOOT ORDER only lists the first HD in the "HARD DISK" menu. The extra boot to figure that out was my only hiccup...)
3) Put in Windows 7 OEM or full install (not upgrade) disk and save and exit BIOS (reboot)
4) Select Custom or New install... it is the second option, not the first "recommended" one.
5) Wipe hands on pants and enjoy your new $150 computer. (Cost of cheap decent HD and OEM win 7 on Newegg.)

So yeah. Many of you probably already knew this and it is fairly intuitive to do but I was surprised at the dearth of info for doing this on The Google. You can boot back and forth to each OS as you please using your BIOS or any bootloader software, which is very handy as Hakim noted downthread.

On a side note I am amazed at how easy installing computer hardware has become in the past decade. Every time I build something new or add new hardware (every 3 or 4 years it seems) it just gets easier and easier! YAY PROGRESS!

**********

Hello all

So I was surprised that Google did not quickly and easily return a simple article on this, hence this thread.

My question is this: is installing a new drive to boot as the primary drive, with windows 7, as easy as the following:
1) install drive
2) tell BIOS to boot to it
3) install windows 7

I don't care about putting anything from the old drive to the new one, but want the option to boot to that HD (running XP) if I want, or to take data from it that I want.

Am I missing something? Any articles anyone is aware of showing how to do this step by step? I am not as concerned with the physical installation part as I am with which order to do things.

THANKS!

 

[Maniacal]

Dunno but I assume so. I am just about to do this myself so I can tell you in a few hours.

That is, provided I can actually get my image file of Windows 7 (Microsoft never actually sent me the bloody disc which I also paid for in addition to the digital download) to install onto it... somehow. DVD RWs don't seem to be working but thats not for this thread.

EDIT: And by a few hours I mean probably friday. I'm procrastinating just a wee bit more. So I am quite interested an an answer to this too.

 

[Cutlass]

As I recall, while it is technically possible, Windows really, really, does not like to boot off a hard drive that is not the C drive on physical disk 0. So to install a new drive and use it for boot means that it should be installed as the primary drive and labeled drive C.

 

[illram]

As I recall, while it is technically possible, Windows really, really, does not like to boot off a hard drive that is not the C drive on physical disk 0. So to install a new drive and use it for boot means that it should be installed as the primary drive and labeled drive C.

So telling the bios to boot to the other new drive, shutting down, and putting the windows 7 disc in the CD drive before re-booting (as if it were a freshly built PC) would not work?

 

[Cutlass]

It might. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if you had trouble down the road with it. As I said, Windows really wants to be on the C drive. I'm sure one of the other guys knows with more certainty, but I wouldn't even try to put Windows on a different drive.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Windows doesn't really care which partition it is on (My sister's computer has windows on Drive 1, partition 1, where drive 1 has partitions 0, 1, 2). The thing is, you cannot change the drive letters during install, so that is sort of what forces the C-drive install for windows.

 

[illram]

Can I change the drive letters pre install? I.e. put the HD in as a secondary drive, switch the letters around, reboot to BIOS to tell it to boot from the new "c" and then install windows on that?

 

[Gangor]

Did you set the jumpers correctly on the hard drives?

 

[illram]

I haven't installed (or even bought) anything yet. If I remember correctly, with my mobo I don't need to mess with jumpers other than to make sure I tell the drive to let the mobo decide. (And are there jumpers for SATA? I thought that was IDE.)

Still trying to nail down exactly how I can do this with zero problems. On a Windows 7 forum they said that you just need to boot from the Windows 7 DVD and install it, and Win 7 install process will ask you which drive to put it on. Once installed it will refer to your new drive as the C drive, and XP on the old drive (if you boot into it) will also think the old drive is C. The original boot files will always be on the first HD, but the Win 7 installer will edit them. That's what the posters said, at least. I am trying to corroborate that.

I am surprised more people don't do this, to the point that there isn't some handy dandy article on it on a reputable website or something.

 

[Maniacal]

People still use jumpers?

And illram, why don't you just disconnect your main hard drive for the installation?

 

[illram]

When I reconnect, will that screw up dual boot possibilities? I am not sure I can trick the boot process like that, i.e. when I stick the old drive on there, the computer will be looking at two HDs that think they are the first boot drives.

 

[Hakim]

How did it go?

On my current comp I have 2 disks, both with the XP installed.

I bought a new drive and intended to demote the other to a storage disk. However it was quite handy to have a backup "computer" by just going into bios and change boot order so I kept the installation on the old disk.

Can't recall taking any extra steps when installing XP on the new disk, I just let it boot and let the installation disk take care of the rest (probably just like your 1-2-3 above). Which ever disk is booted refers to itself as C and the other as E and I access both without problems (except the personal areas).

Might be different with Windows 7 though.

 

[illram]

Interesting, thanks Hakim.

I have not done it yet, still fiddling around with what I want to buy. Basically toying with the idea of spending a few hundred on a new HD, win 7, and a new video card, or building a new rig entirely, maybe a little HTPC. I am a sucker for new computer hardware. I am kind of falling down the rabbit hole on this one. (Putting together a new PC build in my newegg shopping cart on a daily basis )

When I do it I will report back to say how it went.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Could you de-plug the old drive, plug in the new one, install Windows 7, then plug in the old one?

 

[illram]

Prince Scamp brought that up already; elsewhere I read Win 7 installation alters the original boot file that was created on first boot on the original drive, and automatically creates a dual boot bootloader. Apparently this automates everything and doesn't even require me going into the BIOS to change the boot order. So I don't want to try and fool with it, I want it to figure it out and alter that original boot file.

 

[illram]

updated first post. did it finally, worked perfectly.