Solved! SSD RAM Upgrade Acer Aspire, how to treat initial HDD

[druglair]

I've seen some of these questions addressed on this forum, such as here: http/www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-3480870/ssd-ram-upgrade-brand-laptop.html. But I have further questions. I have successfully cloned my HDD (using Crucial's Acronis tool) and I'm now booting off the SSD. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it's important to re-format the initial (1TB) HDD because it can cause system problems for these things to exist in two places at once. Is this correct? I did this on the first day I got it and there was nothing personal on the HDD that needed backing up.

I assume that since the HDD probably had a backup partition (to do a system restore) that there's also that same (cloned) partition on the SSD, and thus I don't need it on the HDD anymore, right? Do I need to get into partitioning to start using the HDD as a storage drive, or can I just format it? What tool should I use and what is the proper format?

And, on that note, am I now only able to install software on the SSD? Is it conceivable that, were I to run out of space on the SSD, I could actually install software on the initial drive? I know it would run slower.

Thanks in advance for your help

CC

 

[hang-the-9]

If you did a full disk clone, then yes the recovery partition would also be on the disk. You don't really need to format the original drive, as long as you set the SSD one as first in the boot order, or remove the other disk totally from the boot order.

When you install programs they should have an option to change the setup directory, so if you need to install something on the second drive you can.

 

[USAFRet]

The recommendation to wipe out the old drive is mulifold:

1. That OS and all of its stuff is just wasted drive space.
2. I've seen issues where the the system ends up booting from the old drive, and you don't notice or realize the problem. One case like that, it took myself and the OP 3 days to figure out it was a bad SATA cable on the SSD.
He was imaging virus or Windows update had screwed something up.
He powered on, and the system booted up, looking exactly how it was 6 months previous.
The SATA cable to the SSD was broken or disconnected, and the BIOS booted from the next option in the chain, the old HDD.

You can install new applications on whichever drive you wish, no problem.
Win 7 & 8: http/www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http/www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

And for Steam games, this:
Steam games location
In the steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder

 

[druglair]

Thank you very much. I am coming from Mac machines and it's been a while since I formatted a disk in Windows. Like in the old days you'd just type "format e:" at a command prompt, right? Do I have to worry about Master Boot Records or anything else when formatting the 1TB drive? How do you recommend I go about it?

Thanks

CC

The recommendation to wipe out the old drive is mulifold:

1. That OS and all of its stuff is just wasted drive space.
2. I've seen issues where the the system ends up booting from the old drive, and you don't notice or realize the problem. One case like that, it took myself and the OP 3 days to figure out it was a bad SATA cable on the SSD.
He was imaging virus or Windows update had screwed something up.
He powered on, and the system booted up, looking exactly how it was 6 months previous.
The SATA cable to the SSD was broken or disconnected, and the BIOS booted from the next option in the chain, the old HDD.

You can install new applications on whichever drive you wish, no problem.
Win 7 & 8: http/www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http/www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

And for Steam games, this:
Steam games location
In the steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you very much. I am coming from Mac machines and it's been a while since I formatted a disk in Windows. Like in the old days you'd just type "format e:" at a command prompt, right? Do I have to worry about Master Boot Records or anything else when formatting the 1TB drive? How do you recommend I go about it?

Thanks

CC

Disk Management, and DELETE each partition.
"format e" simply formats the E partition, and leaves the old boot partition behind.

 

[druglair]

Thanks, I figured out how to do this on Youtube

[/quotemsg]

Disk Management, and DELETE each partition.
"format e" simply formats the E partition, and leaves the old boot partition behind.[/quotemsg]