Yes, it's generally safe to unplug old drives during a fresh installation.
Yes, it's generally safe to unplug old drives during a fresh installation.
Hello everyone. I plan to switch my M.2 SSD in a few days. My goal is to transfer my operating system to the M.2 drive instead of the HDD. The issue is that I have two HDDs, and formatting can be stressful because of the data they contain. I’m worried that if I disconnect the HDDs during installation, it might cause problems later. Since the old OS remains, the disk letters (like C, D, E) won’t be properly synced. Does unplugging the HDDs while installing a new OS pose any risks?
I followed these steps: I turned off my PC and unplugged the HDD. Then I installed Windows on the SDD, restarted it, and plugged the HDD back in. You might need to adjust the BIOS settings so it boots from the SSD instead of the HDD. You'll have to manually set up shortcuts for programs, though everything should function. Some files may need reinstallation—like Star Wars Battlefront and other origin titles—which didn’t work. All Steam games and other applications worked fine. There could be a 300MB partition that can't be removed without formatting the HDD; it’s likely the D drive, with the main storage probably on the G drive.
I don't have any apps installed there, so it should work. However, changing drive letter formats affects the data inside. After installing new drives, there will be two operating systems installed. You can access the drive management and format the existing drive partition containing the OS, correct?
In Disk Management (computer management > disk management in Windows 7, possibly similar in Windows 10) you can right-click on partitions and set drive letters as needed. The data remains untouched. You may also assign multiple drive letters to a single partition. If files aren't open from those partitions, you can adjust the drive letters instantly, without restarting your computer.