Need Expert Advice on SSD buying and OS installation

[ANGEL447]

I really need some help on the following matter:

1. I have windows 7 Ult sp1 installed on SAMSUNG 128GB 840 PRO SSD. Have been using this installation for 4~years with many softwares installed and i dont want to reinstall win7. I want the win7 installation to be intact in this SSD.

2. Now I want to install Windows 10 on a different SSD. For that purpose I am looking at Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (is it a good chioce for ~8K range?) to buy. I want to install win10 on this SSD to play only win10 exclusive games (e.g Quantum Break).

3. As I have only one SATA 6G port on my mobo, I want to swap them time to time rather than dual boot for maximum performance out of each. That means when I want win7, will connect 840PRO and when i want win10 will connect 850EVO into the one and only SATA 6G port.

Will I be able to do this, guys? Or am i wrong on some point/concept?

Is there any chance this process will destroy my win7 installation? After having win10 installed in my pc, is there any chance my pc will fail to recognise my win7 installation?

Any help will be appreciated. TIA

Tagging some BOSS people here on BG: @VANGUARD @furiousTaher @Sami 1999

[Swapnil]

3. As I have only one SATA 6G port on my mobo, I want to swap them time to time rather than dual boot for maximum performance out of each. That means when I want win7, will connect 840PRO and when i want win10 will connect 850EVO into the one and only SATA 6G port.

And how often would that be? You are concerned about destroying win7 installation, have you thought anything about destroying the SATA port?

Everything else, yes that can be done in various ways, ranging from easy and inconvenient to relatively difficult but elegant.

[VANGUARD]

I really need some help on the following matter:

1. I have windows 7 Ult sp1 installed on SAMSUNG 128GB 840 PRO SSD. Have been using this installation for 4~years with many softwares installed and i dont want to reinstall win7. I want the win7 installation to be intact in this SSD.

2. Now I want to install Windows 10 on a different SSD. For that purpose I am looking at Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (is it a good chioce for ~8K range?) to buy. I want to install win10 on this SSD to play only win10 exclusive games (e.g Quantum Break).

3. As I have only one SATA 6G port on my mobo, I want to swap them time to time rather than dual boot for maximum performance out of each. That means when I want win7, will connect 840PRO and when i want win10 will connect 850EVO into the one and only SATA 6G port.

Will I be able to do this, guys? Or am i wrong on some point/concept?

Is there any chance this process will destroy my win7 installation? After having win10 installed in my pc, is there any chance my pc will fail to recognise my win7 installation?

Any help will be appreciated. TIA

Tagging some BOSS people here on BG: @VANGUARD @furiousTaher @Sami 1999

Forget the bling. Just avoid TLC. Bye.

[ANGEL447]

And how often would that be? You are concerned about destroying win7 installation, have you thought anything about destroying the SATA port?

Everything else, yes that can be done in various ways, ranging from easy and inconvenient to relatively difficult but elegant.

I wont do it regularly. Just after playing a win10 exclusive game (which are rare) for a few days, I want to switch back to my win7, that's it. But you are right about the SATA port destruction fact that I didnt think about. I will keep it in mind.

And can u guide me through some links how it can be done in a easier way?

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Forget the bling. Just avoid TLC. Bye.

Bujhlam na bro. Care for explaining?

[Sami 1999]

And how often would that be? You are concerned about destroying win7 installation, have you thought anything about destroying the SATA port?

Everything else, yes that can be done in various ways, ranging from easy and inconvenient to relatively difficult but elegant.

This.

Swapping ssd too often can destroy it.

I destroyed my Ram slot once cause I used to change it every 30~50 days without any good reason. Very dumb thing to do.

So changing SSD regularly might damge the SATA port or the SSD itself.

[Swapnil]

And can u guide me through some links how it can be done in a easier way?

The super easy way would be: While installing Win10 on new SSD, disconnect all SSDs and HDDs. After finishing the installation, connect them back. Then set the default boot drive to the SSD with the OS you'd use the most (for example Win7) on BIOS. Now, if you want to boot into Win7 just let the PC boot normally. And when you want Win10, during boot press F8 (for Asus mobo) and select the Win10 SSD.

The moderate and my preferred way would be: Install Win10 on the new SSD while keeping the old SSD connected, but remove all other HDDs. After installation completely finishes, check which OS boots up by default (re-check by restarting from both OSes if they both are available at startup) a few times. After being sure, install EasyBCD in that OS and tinker around. I'm sure you'd need to poke around a bit to get everything going, and I think even I wouldn't be able to make it work in first try.

The super hard way: Edit boot records, install grub, set up nested bootloaders etc. etc. etc. You might run out of hair to tear from your head out of frustration while figuring out everything. But you would be in complete control of every step of the booting process of your machine and can do limitless things with it.

Ultra super hard way: Wipe both SSDs, install VMWare ESXi or some other hypervisor that allow gpu pass through. Install both OS on virtual machines inside that. You'd be able to run bot OS simultaneously if you want.


Now honestly, why would you need an entire new SSD for Win10 if you are not going to use it often? Just partition the existing one if you have enough free space. You can make a 20GB partition to install the windows, and then install the game to some other partition, probably the one you'd install games while on Win7. If you want to install windows store games then use this guide.

[Mohiuddin]

U can opt for crucial mx300 750GB. If any access to abroad. Only 190$

[Trave160]

You know if you want to protect your Win 7 installation, just do a backup image of the drive and save it somewhere in your PC or Cloud storage

[ANGEL447]

The super easy way would be: While installing Win10 on new SSD, disconnect all SSDs and HDDs. After finishing the installation, connect them back. Then set the default boot drive to the SSD with the OS you'd use the most (for example Win7) on BIOS. Now, if you want to boot into Win7 just let the PC boot normally. And when you want Win10, during boot press F8 (for Asus mobo) and select the Win10 SSD.

The moderate and my preferred way would be: Install Win10 on the new SSD while keeping the old SSD connected, but remove all other HDDs. After installation completely finishes, check which OS boots up by default (re-check by restarting from both OSes if they both are available at startup) a few times. After being sure, install EasyBCD in that OS and tinker around. I'm sure you'd need to poke around a bit to get everything going, and I think even I wouldn't be able to make it work in first try.

The super hard way: Edit boot records, install grub, set up nested bootloaders etc. etc. etc. You might run out of hair to tear from your head out of frustration while figuring out everything. But you would be in complete control of every step of the booting process of your machine and can do limitless things with it.

Ultra super hard way: Wipe both SSDs, install VMWare ESXi or some other hypervisor that allow gpu pass through. Install both OS on virtual machines inside that. You'd be able to run bot OS simultaneously if you want.


Now honestly, why would you need an entire new SSD for Win10 if you are not going to use it often? Just partition the existing one if you have enough free space. You can make a 20GB partition to install the windows, and then install the game to some other partition, probably the one you'd install games while on Win7. If you want to install windows store games then use this guide.

Thanks a lot man, for the detailed description of each procedure, but i guess the super easy way is for me. I wonder what the other ways are for and what are the benefits of them over the easy one.

Actually I m running out of space on my 128gb 840 pro, I wanted to buy a larger SSD but price of 250GB+ drive was huge at that time for my budget. Now I have the chance as it came below 8K. I want to compare win10 with 7 for a long time, If i think i can get everything from it that i get from 7, then win10 will be my default os and will sell the smaller SSD.

Again I dont want the win10 installation to be messed up with my win7 setup, i dont want to let it know that i have win7 in my pc, that's why i wanted a completely new SSD, and 850 EVO is fast enough (i think) to get me all the benefits of win10. At the same time the win7 drive will remain disconnected, i will put it back when i finish gaming on win10 by swapping the drive to resume my normal computing.

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This.

Swapping ssd too often can destroy it.

I destroyed my Ram slot once cause I used to change it every 30~50 days without any good reason. Very dumb thing to do.

So changing SSD regularly might damge the SATA port or the SSD itself.

Hmm, i think i have figured out an idea for this. On the SATA port of my mobo i will connect a SATA female to male cable, SSD SATA ports of the drives will be connected with regular female to female cables, I will just swap the SSD cables to connect the male port and thus i dont have to touch the original ports of both mobo and SSD to swap the drives. But yes, finding one female to male cable might become problematic and again speed might become an issue in this process.

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U can opt for crucial mx300 750GB. If any access to abroad. Only 190$

Definitely out of my budget (8K) and dont need an SSD of that much space right now, but thanks for suggestion.

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You know if you want to protect your Win 7 installation, just do a backup image of the drive and save it somewhere in your PC or Cloud storage

Can u suggest me a good way to do that? Once i created an image with Macrium Reflect, but never had to restore windows from it. I dont know whether it is any good or not. Do u have any good experience with a software in this matter?

[Trave160]

Can u suggest me a good way to do that? Once i created an image with Macrium Reflect, but never had to restore windows from it. I dont know whether it is any good or not. Do u have any good experience with a software in this matter?

I do, Paragon backup and recovery drive. It works, will create an image with size based on the used space from the OS drive. It's simple and effective

[Sybaris Caesar]

uhhh... why not put the 840 in SATA II 3gb port?

[ANGEL447]

I do, Paragon backup and recovery drive. It works, will create an image with size based on the used space from the OS drive. It's simple and effective

I can see that Paragon Backup & Recovery 14 has a FREE Edition, can i use it for this purpose? Is the free edition as effective as a paid one? Thanks for the shared info.

[Trave160]

I can see that Paragon Backup & Recovery 14 has a FREE Edition, can i use it for this purpose? Is the free edition as effective as a paid one? Thanks for the shared info.

Sure, I even used the free stuff. The paid version is more premium somehow offering extra for more convenience

[ANGEL447]

Sure, I even used the free stuff. The paid version is more premium somehow offering extra for more convenience

Hmm ok. I will give it a shot then.

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U can opt for crucial mx300 750GB. If any access to abroad. Only 190$

BD te kono shop e crusial mx300 ssd paoa jabe ki? I can see the 275GB drive only $69, a really good deal right now.

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uhhh... why not put the 840 in SATA II 3gb port?

Actually I dont want the win10 installation to interfere in my win7 setup, i dont want to let it know that i have win7 in the same pc, I m afraid of the fact that if I connect the 840 ssd (win7 drive) in a 3g port while installing and using win10 ssd on the 6G port, something might corrupt the boot sector of win7 drive or the OS itself, so the win7 setup might become unrecognizable to the pc when i switch back to it as a default os.

[ANGEL447]

Just bought an 850EVO 250 GB from Startech IDB