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Question

Windows 7 with old HDD

by Jan 16, 2013 10:49AM PST

So I made my first build. I have windows 7 on my new drive which boots fine. I took my old HDD from a HP and decided rather than move all my files over I would just plug throw it in. Both drives are SATA drives. The issue I have now is that I want to clean up the old drive some and I am unsure what I can delete while still being able to access the all the program files I want to access. For example drive c: is boot. can I delete all windows files on drive F: and still run say steam and all my games which are on drive F:? I don't care to move/copy all my files over to my new drive if I dont have to just want it to be like an external drive thats essentially always connected due to it being internal.

A second option would be to clone the drive to a partition on the new drive. By most indications ive seen is that you cant clone to a partition. Is this correct? Any situation where I can clean this up would be appreciated. thank you.

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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Answer
Sorry no.
by Forum moderator Jan 16, 2013 11:38AM PST

Programs don't move. This occurred in 1995 with a change back then. I know folk are new to this so FILES can move. Programs? Rarely.
Bob

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Answer
You can't copy programs between systems
by Jan 16, 2013 11:39AM PST

Those programs that're on the old hard drive will not run on the new install on the C: drive. You will have to reinstall them in order to run them. This is because of things like the registry and the fact that programs aren't just installed into one place, they're spread out over multiple and varied folders.

Good luck.

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possible solution
by rafboricua22 Jan 16, 2013 10:15PM PST

okay thanks for the reply. I actually think I may have found a solution if someone else wants to do this in the future. I partitioned my primary drive using EaseUS (which is a great program and the home edition was free from download.com) then I copied my old HDD (nonboot internal) to my new partition. finally I merged the two partitions on the primary drive and deleted the stuff I didnt want. I still do have to install some things but for the most part I condensed the two drives the way I wanted to. If you see this and think you may want to do this leave a post here and I will update. I dont know that it was necessary to do it the way I did. I just wanted a quick and easy way to sort the content. Next build I'm thinking I will copy my primary drive on my current PC and then put the image on my new HDD before going through and installing stuff I dont want to loose. Of course, thats a ways away. Thanks again to wpgwpg and R. Proffitt.

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You can't copy programs between systems
by tinamishra Jan 21, 2013 3:17PM PST

I am totally agree by rafboricua22 and i have the same to say..

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