Migrating to Windows 7 from Vista, but what best way to migrate data?

[GundamF91]

I am currently running Vista and I finally got Windows 7 Ultimate and I'm ready take the leap. I will definitely do a clean install on Win7, so an upgrade is out of the question. Here's my situation. On my current Vista system, I have everything on a single 1TB WD Caviar Black drive. There are 3 partitions, 1) c: \ WinOS and apps for 100GB, 2) d: \ Games for 400GB, 3) e: \ Everything else (media file, work stuff, etc) for 500GB. Each partition is about 3/4 filled. I know that apps and games need to be reinstalled so I've given up on them. My main concern is how to get the "everything else" on e: \ intact while moving from Vista to Win7.

Now along with Win7, I also bought another 1TB WD drive. I wanted to expand my storage, but also this may come in handy for this migration. My plan was to use that new 1TB drive to do a clean install of Win7, and then partition it like I had before (that's the best volume organization scheme I've found for my needs). When this is all done, then I should have a largely empty c: \ with Win7 OS and minimal applications, an empty d: \, and an empty e: \.

So the objective is to move my data on e: \ of the original 1TB drive, over to the new e: \ on Windows 7 drive.
I have never tried this, but I suspect that if I connect the drive with Vista on it, while Win7 drive is also connected, the system may not boot since both drives will have active partitions and not sure which OS to load. So would it work if I start up on Win7, and then "hot connect" drive with Vista on it? How would Win7 recognize the old drive's C, D, E volumes? I'm hoping there is an easy way where I can hookup the original drive, and then simply transfer the content from "Vista" e: \ to the Win7 e: \. I'd definitely appreciate any pointers. I'm hopeful this would not involve some special applications. But if there are some free apps that can do this, that would be great. Or if it requires some paid apps that do this, I'd consider it too. Thanks in advance.

 

[lxskllr]

Disconnect the existing drive, and install Win7 on your new drive. Once that's up and running, hook up your old drive(with the computer off), and copy the data over you want. Bootup won't be an issue if Win7 is the default drive in BIOS.

 

[rudder]

Just do an upgrade. The vista-win7 upgrade is the smoothest I have seen. It is not like going from 98 to XP. No need to worry about having to reinstall everything.

 

[GundamF91]

Ok, finished the Win7 installation, problem solved. Ixskllr is right, as long as BIOS has the boot sequence correct, then it'll work. When I connected the 2nd drive and restarted, Win7 came up like normal, and added 2nd drive's partitions as new drives with drive letters. I can transfer files like normal.

ONE caveat. Make sure you have the drive permission set to "everyone" before you do this. I had one partition where I restricted read/write access to my admin only in Vista. I had forgotten about it, and then realized I couldnt' access the data (even though the partition name and drive letter show up in Win7). I had to shut down, cut power to Win7 drive, and load Vista by running only with Vista drive. It failed the first time (not sure why), gave me BSOD after it said "resuming windows", I think Win7 may have done something to the drive without asking. Then I restarted again, it asked me if I wanted to resume or start anew. I didnt' want resume again, and this time it worked like normal Vista load. I was able to change the permission back, and then get right back to Win7, and then access all 3 partitions on my Vista drive. But at least everything worked out in the end.