***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!
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!
