New drive for OS advice (how to be safe)


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Hi

At Christmas you guys/gals were ultra helpful in getting me a clean install of W11 up and running on a 1Tb corsair drive purely for OS and then I had a seperate 4Tb Samsung pro drive for data and disk images.

I'm not happy with the performance of my OS drive. Last night I moved my Steam library from data drive to os drive. It took 10 mins. I then moved it back and it took 2 mins. Basically the os drive has a slower read speed than my data drives write speed. And it's pants.

So I bought a 2TB Samsung pro last night which will be my new OS drive (itnactually has a slightly better performance profile than my 4tb drive which i love) and the 1Tb Corsair will be my disk image drive (and nothing else).

Q1: how best to get a clean install onto the 2tb drive?
Q2: how do I do this safely?

Thanks in advance
 

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Not sure what you're asking.

If you did a clean install on a 1TB drive a few months ago, you'd do the same thing on the new 2TB drive. Install the 2TB drive. Boot the PC from a USB Windows installation drive. Let the installer automatically create partitions on the 2TB drive, and format it. SImple.

If you're paranoid, you disconnect the 4TB drive during the install so that no system files would be placed on it. (As far as I know, that's unnecessary, as long as the 4TB drive was never used as a boot drive.)

You may be disappointed in the OS drive upgrade. The speed may have less to do with the 1TB drive than with the vagaries of Windows file copying.
 

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bobkn said:
If you're paranoid, you disconnect the 4TB drive during the install so that no system files would be placed on it. (As far as I know, that's unnecessary, as long as the 4TB drive was never used as a boot drive.)
Click to expand...
I think this is what I was asking (sort of).

Taking this further, I think you are saying I should disconnect both the 4Tb Data drive and the current 1Tb OS drive, so that the system files are forced on to the 2Tb OS drive.

The other bit I was asking (without really asking) is once the 2Tb drive is up and running as a boot drive, and I then reconnect the 1Tb boot drive I currently have - how will Windows know which drive to boot from? Presumably I do this via BIOS?
 

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disconnect all other drives when clean installing an OS so you won't have an issue with boot manager.
 

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Method said:
I think this is what I was asking (sort of).

Taking this further, I think you are saying I should disconnect both the 4Tb Data drive and the current 1Tb OS drive, so that the system files are forced on to the 2Tb OS drive.

The other bit I was asking (without really asking) is once the 2Tb drive is up and running as a boot drive, and I then reconnect the 1Tb boot drive I currently have - how will Windows know which drive to boot from? Presumably I do this via BIOS?
Click to expand...
I've never had two bootable drives connected simultaneously. I believe that some do that as a means to have two different OSes present.

The boot order would be set in the BIOS. The boot device can also be chosen using a hotkey at boot time.
 

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    Windows 11 26300.9278Amd Threadripper 7970X128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
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    Innocn 32" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    BeQuiet! Straight Power 12 1500W
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    SilverStone Technology XE360-TR5, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
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    Cherry KC 500 MX LP (mechanical)
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    2000/250 Mbps (down/up)
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    xFinity gateway

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    windows 11 26300.9278Intel I9-13900K64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Operating System
    windows 11 26300.9278
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 27" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Keyboard
    Cherry Streaming (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
There are several ways to do it. One way is to create the bcd entries for all windows os in each bcd store.

a simple example :

the bcd store on disk0 could contain entries for both the os on disk0 and the os on disk1.

And the bcd store on disk1 could contain entries for both the the os on disk1 and the os on disk0.

[ Note the bcd entry does not reference those disk numbers, it references the disk and partition guids. It displays those to the user as either a letter or a device path symbolic link. ]

If the current os displays as C and the other os on the other disk displays as E it can be added to the current bcd store

bcdboot e:\windows

bcdboot command will acept either letters or device path e.g. \Device\HarddiskVolume5
 
Last edited:

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    2x8gb 3200
    PSU
    xfx pro 450
SIW2 said:
There are several ways to do it. One way is to create the bcd entries for all windows os in each bcd store.

a simple example :

the bcd store on disk0 could contain entries for both the os on disk0 and the os on disk1.

And the bcd store on disk1 could contain entries for both the the os on disk1 and the os on disk0.

[ Note the bcd entry does not reference those disk numbers, it references the disk and partition guids. It displays those to the user as either a letter or a device path symbolic link. ]

If the current os displays as C and the other os on the other disk displays as E it can be added to the current bcd store

bcdboot e:\windows

bcdboot command will acept either letters or device path e.g. \Device\HarddiskVolume5
Click to expand...
Good heavens!

Is this necessary?
 

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  • At a glance

    Windows 11 26300.9278Amd Threadripper 7970X128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    OS
    Windows 11 26300.9278
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D Rev. 1.0
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Innocn 32" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    BeQuiet! Straight Power 12 1500W
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    SilverStone Technology XE360-TR5, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
    Keyboard
    Cherry KC 500 MX LP (mechanical)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Internet Speed
    2000/250 Mbps (down/up)
    Other Info
    xFinity gateway

  • At a glance

    windows 11 26300.9278Intel I9-13900K64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Operating System
    windows 11 26300.9278
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 27" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Keyboard
    Cherry Streaming (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
It is not necessary. If you prefer they can be selected in bios each time.

If you do it as outlined in my previous post then the os can be selected using windows boot menu instead of bios.

It is not difficult. Just one straightforward bcdboot command
 

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    Win7,Win11i7-97002x16gb 3600mhz
    OS
    Win7,Win11
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    PC/Desktop
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    i7-9700
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    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    2x16gb 3600mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    benq gw2480
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    bequiet pure power 11 400CM
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    cryorig m9i

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    win7,win11
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    CPU
    i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    2x8gb 3200
    PSU
    xfx pro 450
I take the easy way out and use EasyBCD to setup my boot menus. Add the drive with the other OS, give it a name then click save.
 

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SIW2 said:
It is not necessary. If you prefer they can be selected in bios each time.

If you do it as outlined in my previous post then the os can be selected using windows boot menu instead of bios.

It is not difficult. Just one straightforward bcdboot command
Click to expand...
Difficult, no.

Familiar to me, also no.

(I haven't dual booted since I did it with Win 98 and NT 4.)
 

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 26300.9278Amd Threadripper 7970X128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    OS
    Windows 11 26300.9278
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D Rev. 1.0
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Innocn 32" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    BeQuiet! Straight Power 12 1500W
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    SilverStone Technology XE360-TR5, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
    Keyboard
    Cherry KC 500 MX LP (mechanical)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Internet Speed
    2000/250 Mbps (down/up)
    Other Info
    xFinity gateway

  • At a glance

    windows 11 26300.9278Intel I9-13900K64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Operating System
    windows 11 26300.9278
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 27" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Keyboard
    Cherry Streaming (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Enterprise 25H2
OS
Windows 11 Enterprise 25H2
badrobot said:
disconnect all other drives when clean installing an OS so you won't have an issue with boot manager.
Click to expand...
Badrobot I have a question, do you still have that Deepcool Genome II case?
 

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OS
windows 11
Computer type
Laptop
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