I installed Win 7 originally on Dec 9th. By Jan 4th I couldn't get one printer to work, so I had read that Win 7 Pro would allow me to run the device on a virtual XP platform. I upgraded and quickly realized I was in over my head. I have installed my old HD along with the new one and now I need to reinstall Win 7 Home Premium. I backed up ALL my files on my old HDD (recommended by microsoft) If I reinstall the Win 7 Home will it wipe all my files on both C & D (the old disk) drives, excluding the backup?
Windows 7 reinstall w multiple HDD
- Thread starter MarkMo
- Start date
cybercore
New Member
Welcome to the forums, Mark. 
It does depend on where you install 7, it'll delete everything if you do a clean install on that same partition.
What I personally would do is to install my hdds, one time and forever, connect them in a RAID if possible, allocate several equal partitions, and finally clean install 7.
In your case you may want to backup your personal data first (as you say you have).
According to Microsoft:
There are two options to choose from during the Windows 7 installation process:
Upgrade. This option replaces your current version of Windows with Windows 7, and keeps your files, settings, and programs in place on your computer.
Custom. This option replaces your current version of Windows with Windows 7, but doesn't preserve your files, settings, and programs. It's sometimes referred to as a clean installation for that reason.
It does depend on where you install 7, it'll delete everything if you do a clean install on that same partition.
What I personally would do is to install my hdds, one time and forever, connect them in a RAID if possible, allocate several equal partitions, and finally clean install 7.
In your case you may want to backup your personal data first (as you say you have).
According to Microsoft:
There are two options to choose from during the Windows 7 installation process:
Upgrade. This option replaces your current version of Windows with Windows 7, and keeps your files, settings, and programs in place on your computer.
Custom. This option replaces your current version of Windows with Windows 7, but doesn't preserve your files, settings, and programs. It's sometimes referred to as a clean installation for that reason.
TY, I am required to do a clean install, because I upgraded from Windows 7 home premium to windows 7 Pro and now I want to go back. I am hoping a simple solution might be to disconnect the old drive and reinstall only on the new one. Then I would reconnect the old one and get all the data I need. My new drive is 1.5 TB and the old one is 500 GB. I'm going to put the old one in a machine with only 250GB once all my data is on my larger disk.
Does this plan sound viable, or is there a better way?
Does this plan sound viable, or is there a better way?
cybercore
New Member
Can't you install both HDD drives, leave your 7 pro as it is, and then install 7 HP on another partition ? Later you can get rid of the Pro version.
I am afraid I don't see why you want to go back to Premium ?
Such downgrade is probably possible but I haven't heard many people do it.
I am afraid I don't see why you want to go back to Premium ?
Such downgrade is probably possible but I haven't heard many people do it.
Once again, ty.
I couldn't get win 7 pro to do what I wanted, which was print pdf docs on my hp 2100. I bought win 7 hp because microsoft and HP said it was compatible w my printer. It is not. I upgraded to win 7 pro to use the xp mode in the virtual machine. Once again I couldn't get it to work. In the interim, my system has suffers from random freezes. It's very aggravating to spend money on something and not be able to use it. It's insulting to spend more money and have no support and have a computer freeze like it's a windows 98 system. This experience pisses me off. To convey my dissatisfaction I'm sending the upgrade back. I would install XP again, but this is a 64bit system and my old one was a 32 bit. Windows now demands that I clean install Win 7 hp.
I can partition disks, but I bot a big disk because it seemed like having everything on one disk would run better.
I couldn't get win 7 pro to do what I wanted, which was print pdf docs on my hp 2100. I bought win 7 hp because microsoft and HP said it was compatible w my printer. It is not. I upgraded to win 7 pro to use the xp mode in the virtual machine. Once again I couldn't get it to work. In the interim, my system has suffers from random freezes. It's very aggravating to spend money on something and not be able to use it. It's insulting to spend more money and have no support and have a computer freeze like it's a windows 98 system. This experience pisses me off. To convey my dissatisfaction I'm sending the upgrade back. I would install XP again, but this is a 64bit system and my old one was a 32 bit. Windows now demands that I clean install Win 7 hp.
I can partition disks, but I bot a big disk because it seemed like having everything on one disk would run better.
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