Win7 on SSD installation help

**Totalpower** · June 30th, 2012, 05:12 PM

Ok Ill try getting this to work when I get home.

**MTAtech** · June 30th, 2012, 05:19 PM

Basically, they are saying do this:

1) turn your computer off
2) disconnect the power cable from the non-SSD
3) turn your computer on
4) set the bios to boot from the DVD as first boot device and boot from the install DVD.
5) install Win 7 on the SSD

**Totalpower** · June 30th, 2012, 05:37 PM

So your saying set the optical drive as my first Boot device and my SSD as my 2nd? I thought it was the other way around or does it not matter? I didn't think it mattered because when I installed win7 on my HDD I had my HDD as my 1st boot device and my SSD as my 2nd. Then when I tried to install windows onto my SSD I had my SSD as my 1st device and my optical drive as my 2nd.

Sorry for all the questions. I pretty much understand what to do now but I wanna make sure I get it right this time. This computer has been very frustrating every step of the way.

**electric** · June 30th, 2012, 06:58 PM

your really making this harder did it has too be

make your DVD drive the first boot device when the computer is booting
click yes to CD drive as the first option while booting

[ make sure your win7 disk is in tray while booting ]

i prefer while not necessary to have only one [HD drive hook up]
prevents windows from being stupid during the install. lol

**Totalpower** · July 1st, 2012, 01:38 AM

Ok I did what you guys said to do but I still can't see the HDD anywhere. Also after plugging in my HDD and restarting my computer a Disk 1 showed up in disk management. I don't know where it came from but its too small to be my HDD. Also I somehow have 2 unallocated portions of my SSD.

**MTAtech** · July 1st, 2012, 08:14 AM

Totalpower,
You are making this way too hard.

Your objective is to perform a Win 7 install from the DVD. Therefore, the only two drives that matter are the DVD and the SSD.

If you have the SSD set as your first boot drive and it doesn't yet have Windows on it, you will get the dreaded ...INSERT BOOT DISK AND RESTART message. That's why you must set the DVD as your first boot device so you can boot from the DVD.

From there you can install Windows onto the SSD.

Don't worry about seeing the other drive now.

**Totalpower** · July 1st, 2012, 03:02 PM

That's exactly what I did MTAtech.

**MTAtech** · July 2nd, 2012, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Totalpower

That's exactly what I did MTAtech.

That's not what you said in post# 23.

Anyway, according to your graphic, you are booting off of C: which is now the SSD.

Right?

The only issue I see is that you have three partitions on that drive. I am not sure if you can expand those partitions.

The other drive you should format in Disk Management and assign it a different letter, such as E:

**RicheemxX** · July 2nd, 2012, 03:37 PM

I don't think I've ever seen anyone have so many issues installing Windows to an SSD.

You have three partitions on the drive because a) you didn't format and partition the drive correctly and b) you are going to have that first one no matter what. That is standard for SSD's. You should only have two though. The small 100mb and then partition the rest of the drive for the entire size. You should have done that when installing W7.

I'm stumped as to why the other drive isn't working right however. Have you tried it in another SATA port?

Do you plan on keeping any of the data that is currently on the 1tb drive? If not you might just want to format it before trying to let windows re-detect it.

**MTAtech** · July 2nd, 2012, 08:36 PM

On a similar but different issue, I have an old Soltek mb that when I try booting with an SSD just connected the bios just hangs.

**RicheemxX** · July 2nd, 2012, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by MTAtech

On a similar but different issue, I have an old Soltek mb that when I try booting with an SSD just connected the bios just hangs.

totally unrelated and no need to hijack the op's thread but if it booted and installed windows fine then its hard to say. If you are just trying to transfer an exsisting Windows install to a new/old build then that is likely the issue as I've seen SSD drives running on some fairly old hardware.

But again, if you want to troubleshoot that you need to create your own thread

It doesn't sound like the OP has issues booting it sounds to me like there is a compatibility issue or possibly a self inflicted conflict somewhere between the two drives.

**MTAtech** · July 3rd, 2012, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by RicheemxX

totally unrelated and no need to hijack the op's thread but if it booted and installed windows fine then its hard to say. If you are just trying to transfer an exsisting Windows install to a new/old build then that is likely the issue as I've seen SSD drives running on some fairly old hardware.

But again, if you want to troubleshoot that you need to create your own thread

It doesn't sound like the OP has issues booting it sounds to me like there is a compatibility issue or possibly a self inflicted conflict somewhere between the two drives.

Sorry for the hijack... I plead temporary insanity.