New Windows install confusion...

[tinpanalley]

I'm confused here... I don't know why, but I'm lost on order of operations. Overthinking mixed with it being something you don't do every day, no doubt.

I have Win7 installed on C now obviously. Its license is registered to that install.
Confusions:
- If I install Win7 fresh on a new SSD, how will I get the license off the old HDD and onto the new install on the SSD?
- With Windows running on the HDD, current C, and then being installed on the new SSD, will there not be any conflicts with which one to run Windows from or will it continue to run from the HDD until I tell it not to in the BIOS?
- Are there any other crucial things to do to a SSD system drive? I read somewhere randomly about turning off defrag but are there other things like that?

Thanks, everyone!

 

[mikeymikec]

Why do you need to 'get the licence off'? You just install Windows 7 with a setup DVD and feed it the product key you used / the computer has, and off you go.

- edit - if you use a Windows 7 licence on one disk in your computer, then stop using that install and start a new one (on the same disk or another one), you shouldn't get any activation difficulties (assuming legitimate licence). Worst case scenario for a big-name OEM licence is to use MS's automated phone line activation system.

I wouldn't try to have both installs available at the same time if I were you, partly because MS might give you the one-finger salute and decide that your licence has been pirated.

Windows 7 automatically won't try to defrag a boot SSD. However, I suspect that Windows 7 isn't quite as clever as it ought to be, as I've caught it auto-defragging a flash drive before. I'm keeping an eye on Win7 on my setup (I'm using a boot SSD and an additional HDD for additional data storage), so far so good.

 

[tinpanalley]

Why do you need to 'get the licence off'? You just install Windows 7 with a setup DVD and feed it the product key you used / the computer has, and off you go.

Ok, so once the installation is running on the SSD, it asks for the key which I insert and then I'd just stop using the HDD with the old install, correct?

I wouldn't try to have both installs available at the same time if I were you, partly because MS might give you the one-finger salute and decide that your licence has been pirated.

Good point. I just need to decide if I want to do a fresh install on the SSD or just clone the one I have running on the HDD right now. Then I at least have the option of reinstalling Windows from scratch on the SSD if anything were to be off. ...sigh, don't know...

 

[mikeymikec]

Ok, so once the installation is running on the SSD, it asks for the key which I insert and then I'd just stop using the HDD with the old install, correct?

Yep. I would also suggest disconnecting the HDD during setup.

Good point. I just need to decide if I want to do a fresh install on the SSD or just clone the one I have running on the HDD right now. Then I at least have the option of reinstalling Windows from scratch on the SSD if anything were to be off. ...sigh, don't know...

Personally I'd do the clean install, then if anything weird / intermittent occurs, you're not thinking "did something to do with the cloning cause this?".

 

[tinpanalley]

Personally I'd do the clean install, then if anything weird / intermittent occurs, you're not thinking "did something to do with the cloning cause this?".

Ugh... you're right, of course.
I'm just groaning at the thought of all the programs, settings, system preferences, browser preferences, etc etc etc. Luckily I keep all personal docs, music, video, etc on the second storage drive. But all the stuff I mentioned and program/game saves... bloody hell... :\

 

[mikeymikec]

I'm sure the game saves can simply be copied to the new save game location on the new setup. That applies to pretty much every game I own anyway.

Apps are a different matter. Some work simply by being copied over to the new setup, but not many.

 

[tinpanalley]

I'm sure the game saves can simply be copied to the new save game location on the new setup. That applies to pretty much every game I own anyway.
Apps are a different matter. Some work simply by being copied over to the new setup, but not many.

Yes, but I never seem to understand how to navigate the User folders. People always refer to saves being in ONE folder for everything but although I only have one profile, I seem to find saves in Default, Home, and I think one other one. I need to read more about how the User folder works.

But, check this out from Lifehacker which shows a pretty cool workflow for doing a fresh reinstall of Windows: http://lifehacker.com/5983652/how-t...without-losing-your-files-settings-and-tweaks

 

[mikeymikec]

Really ancient games save in their program folder.

Steam (for me) puts save games generally in the same folder structure as the games.

Most newer games I've encountered create folders in my 'Documents' folder and put their saves in there.

If I had to go hunting elsewhere for save games, I would consider looking in:

C:\Users\my user\AppData\Roaming
C:\Users\my user\AppData\Local

Possibly C:\ProgramData.

Yep, that guide looks reasonable, though last time I did my own new Windows install, so many things changed that saving registry data would have probably caused more problems than it solved (I used to run a dual-partition structure, C drive for Windows only and D drive for apps and my data), whereas now I'm 99% on C drive (and mostly using default locations for things) with less essential data on D drive (now a separate disk).

 

[tinpanalley]

Really ancient games save in their program folder.
Steam (for me) puts save games generally in the same folder structure as the games.
Most newer games I've encountered create folders in my 'Documents' folder and put their saves in there.
If I had to go hunting elsewhere for save games, I would consider looking in:
C:\Users\my user\AppData\Roaming
C:\Users\my user\AppData\Local
Possibly C:\ProgramData.
Yep, that guide looks reasonable, though last time I did my own new Windows install, so many things changed that saving registry data would have probably caused more problems than it solved (I used to run a dual-partition structure, C drive for Windows only and D drive for apps and my data), whereas now I'm 99% on C drive (and mostly using default locations for things) with less essential data on D drive (now a separate disk).

Thanks so much for all this input. Is it reasonable to think that after doing a fresh install of Windows on the SSD, I'll still be able to plug the old C drive HDD in and copy from it the saves that I need?

 

[mikeymikec]

Yes. The reason why I said to disconnect it during setup is to make absolutely sure that Windows doesn't do something stupid like thinking that the SSD is the second disk in the system. This could possibly result in writing boot-specific files to the old drive.

Once Windows is installed, Windows's notion of which disk is disk 0 is set in stone AFAIK, so no amount of disk adding or removal will mess with that.

 

[tinpanalley]

Once Windows is installed, Windows's notion of which disk is disk 0 is set in stone AFAIK, so no amount of disk adding or removal will mess with that.

Ok, so if I install Windows onto the new SSD, I should have no problems activating it as long as I never run the older install again. Because then it would flag me to the MS servers as trying to run two PCs on the same motherboard. Is that about how it works?

 

[mikeymikec]

TBH, I'm not sure what would happen but I don't see the point in risking it.
I think the Windows activation keys on the motherboard ID as well as other factors, so in theory it shouldn't make any difference.

If you absolutely had to boot the computer with the old HDD, I would disconnect it from the Internet during that Windows session.

 

[tinpanalley]

TBH, I'm not sure what would happen but I don't see the point in risking it.
I think the Windows activation keys on the motherboard ID as well as other factors, so in theory it shouldn't make any difference.

If you absolutely had to boot the computer with the old HDD, I would disconnect it from the Internet during that Windows session.

Thank you. You've been an enormous help. I hope I haven't been too annoying, it's just that HOW to do something isn't enough for me, I don't just like following instructions. I like to know WHY something is happening because that's how, through this and other forums, I've learned computers and so on. So, much appreciated.
My concern was installing Windows and then finding I couldn't activate it without an error because it was already activated once before. I don't know how to tell whether I have an OEM version or not because I bought it online.

 

[mikeymikec]

Thank you. You've been an enormous help. I hope I haven't been too annoying, it's just that HOW to do something isn't enough for me, I don't just like following instructions. I like to know WHY something is happening because that's how, through this and other forums, I've learned computers and so on. So, much appreciated.
My concern was installing Windows and then finding I couldn't activate it without an error because it was already activated once before. I don't know how to tell whether I have an OEM version or not because I bought it online.

No problem. I've never had a problem activating a (legitimate) OEM licence using the automated phone system (if the standard method over the Internet doesn't work). The licences I've bought have always worked by activating over the Internet, reinstalls or installs onto new disks haven't made any difference to that.

 

[tinpanalley]

Just used a program called MDADiag to confirm that my Windows install IS retail. So, there's nothing BIOS related installed on the old C HDD is there?

 

[mikeymikec]

The BIOS and OS are entirely separate from each other.

 

[tinpanalley]

The BIOS and OS are entirely separate from each other.

I just thought maybe BIOS updates, mobo updates, I don't know.
...Well, here it goes...thanks again.

 

[tinpanalley]

Hmmm... during installation, it wouldn't accept my product key.

 

[mikeymikec]

Mistype? With the product key stickers I see, the B looks like an 8.

 

[tinpanalley]

Mistype? With the product key stickers I see, the B looks like an 8.

Well, I can try, but I have bigger problems now because the network driver is missing so I can't get online to activate anyway.

 

[mikeymikec]

You've got 30 days to activate so network drivers aren't really a concern from that perspective.

Presumably you bought this copy of Windows from a legitimate source?

 

[tinpanalley]

It simply wouldnt activate. Had to contact MS via chat and they had to remote access me to do it themselves. Apparently switching harddrives made that mandatory. I'll always have to do this with new hardware even with a retail version, he said.

Now to reinstall all my drivers.