Trying to make SSD boot drive with Windows 7 and old drive is not accessible

Question

I wanted to upgrade my old computer. So, I made a new computer, and bought an SSD (Intel 40GB). I did a clean install of Windows 7 on the SSD. I also put my old hard drive (400GB spinner) with all my programs in the computer.

When I boot from the old hard drive (spinner) which still has Windows 7 everything works fine. But, this was a 32-bit version accessing only 3.25GB of RAM, while I have 8GB installed.

When I boot from the SSD it is a 64-bit version of Windows 7 and boots fine. However, my old hard drive (spinner) doesn't allow me to access the programs or data on it.

I basically want to use the SSD just for having Windows and use my old hard drive (spinner) for the programs and data.

Any advice?

Answer 1

You're going to have a hard time running programs from a drive different from where you have your OS installed. Really you should only use this for data access and keep programs + OS on the same drive.

When you say you can't access your programs, I believe you. But I don't understand what you mean by not being able to access your data.

Answer 2

Most programs will only run from a drive they were installed on. Thus, if you take a drive from one computer and put it into another, it is very unlikely that any of the programs will run on the new computer without a lot of hassle. Even for seasoned veterans it is far easier just to install the programs on the new computer.

Moving to a new PC

If you want a relatively painless transition from one computer to another, I would recommend you do the following:

• On your old PC, make a note of all of the programs that are installed.
• Back up your old PC.
• Run the Windows Easy Transfer on the old PC to the large external drive you use for backing up your PC.
• Install Windows on your new PC.
• Install all drivers and Windows updates.
• Install all programs that were on your old PC on your new one.
• Run the Windows Easy Transfer on the new PC to restore files and settings from the external drive.
• Back up your new PC.

Note that if you are using programs like iTunes, you may need to do additional steps to transfer your music, DRM or other 'secure' data correctly.

Also note that I would highly recommend keeping your old computer as-is until you are sure everything has transferred across correctly. You don't want to find that you've lost access you all your DRM protected music because you can't 'release' the security on the old PC before you can 'enable' it on the new.

Ideal set-up for a system with a small SSD

There are two real options here, automatic caching or manual management.

You could install your operating system on your hard drive and then use the SSD to cache the hard drive. This solution should allow you to get the benefit of large amounts of storage, but with faster access to the most frequently used files and a minimum of management, but this isn't an option I would recommend.

The alternative is to manually manage your SSD usage.

The simplest option is to install the OS and only the most important applications on your SSD, installing less important programs on your hard drive along with your data.

You can keep large programs off your SSD by simply installing them on another drive. Most programs default to installing to the system boot drive, but you can almost always instruct the installer to install to another drive, though this usually requires you to select a Custom install rather than a Typical install.

Note that if you install a program to a removable drive and then remove it, your computer will will certainly not be able to run that program, and that could result in your computer stopping working.

You can keep large data files (such as video or music) off your SSD by not storing them in your home directory, but by storing them directly on the other drive. All of my music is stored in D:\Music for instance rather than the default location of C:\Users\Me\My Music. Most media software will allow you to access music/video files that are located anywhere on your computer, not just in My Music.

If you are feeling a little more adventurous, you can move all of your user directory off of your SSD by using these instructions over at LifeHacker.

The LifeHacker article uses junction points to make this

When you get to be a real expert at using junctions, then you can start doing things like moving any directory you want to be accelerated from HD to SSD.

An easier way than using command line tools should be a utility like SSD Boost or Folder2Junction but I have no personal experience with either, yet.

Answer 3

You cannot do what you are trying to do. You can install your programs on your 400 GB drive if you want, but you need to do it while you are running Windows from your SSD. You are not going to get the max out of your SSD if you do that though, since your programs will be loading from the slower 400 GB drive.

I suggest you use your SSD for your main drive. You should install Windows and all your programs on your SSD and use your 400 GB drive as storage for music, documents, pictures, etc. 40 GB is very constrictive though. Unless you don't have many programs to install I would suggest exchanging it (if it isn't too late) for something a little bigger that will give you room to grow.