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Hi, it is time for a complete re-load on my PC, but have decided to add a new SSD with a fresh copy of Windows 7 and gradually transfer/load stuff.
I think I can load windows onto the new drive by just putting disc into drive and choosing custom installation - this should then give me a choice when switching on which installation to boot to??
An online guide suggest disconnecting the current Windows drive when installing, not sure why. The copy of windows i have is an upgrade version.
Any advice welcome. Thanks
AFAIK....
you won't be able to install onto a blank drive using an upgrade copy as it's only licensed and locked to upgrading an existing license.
Sounds like to do that you would need to install the previous OS then upgrade it, if your planning to use the new SSD as the main drive and copy stuff off the other one the removing it will make it easier to get the boot loader right to select the OS to boot from, if it finds multiple OS's it will construct a boot loader for both of them (fairly sure) and get confused maybe. Plugging another drive in after and making sure the bios is set to launch your SSD first will mean it boots from that and you will be able to browse the other drive, copy off what you need and then do what you want to do with it.
I'd also advise just disconnecting the other drive initially while installing to save the confusion and you formatting the wrong drive. Doesn't take long and gives extra piece of mind.
As above, you probably won't be able to install a fresh copy with an upgrade disk.
Thanks - I think I managed a fresh install with the disc when I first used it, but it was a while ago.