I am going to be getting an ssd so I can use it for my os and various programs. However, I am going to be using an existing hdd for all my data storage. My question is: If I already have a different os installed on the hdd, can I just set the boot priority to the ssd and leave an os on both drives without causing some sort of boot problem? Thanks.
To answer your question, yes you can set the SSD to be your main boot device regardless of what is on any secondary drive. To do what Hunter is referring to, you would need a boot loader configured to load either OS. If you have more questions regarding dual booting let me know but it looks like you're not looking to do that. If you're not interested in booting to that drive anymore I would suggest these steps.
1. Install the SSD and begin the windows installation. BE SURE TO CHOOSE THE CORRECT HDD YOU'RE INSTALLING THIS NEW INSTALL ON! If you rather pull the old hard drive to remove all chances of installing windows on the wrong drive, then go for it. Reason for this is you'd hate to lose all of your data if it isn't already backed up!
2. Once windows is installed on the SSD just plug the old drive in to your PC while turned off and power cord unplugged from the tower. After you get the old hard drive back in and you boot up to your new windows installation, navigate to computer or my computer and you'll see the old drive listed there with a new drive letter. If you double click on the drive you're planning to use as data storage, you can see it's contents there along with the necessary folders to boot from if it were the main hard drive installed. Again if you're not planning to use this hard drive anymore in terms of booting from it, you can delete the windows folder. You don't technically have to do that but if you're not going to boot to it, there is no need to have any OS conflicts with old files such as drivers, etc. causing issues. Also there is no need to have files taking up space you could be using for your awesome music files or movies. To properly utilize the secondary drive for data storage you should consider changing the path to your documents, music, or any other folders under your user profile to the new drive. This means you'll have to create an exact duplicate of the folder names on the old hard drive and then go to your ssc drive and right click on the necessary folder (Documents for example) and choose properties. In the properties box that appears you'll see a tab labeled location and you can edit this path to the new folder under the new drive letter. This example is given for windows 7 just an FYI.
The path by default in Windows 7 is: C:\Users\username\foldername
The new path would look something like: D:\Users\username\foldername
You will need to do this for every user subfolder if you want it all stored on the secondary hard drive. By doing this you're also giving yourself more space on the SSD to hold programs instead of downloads, pictures, etc. To simplify the understanding of how this works, you need to have an OS on the SSD and any other hard drive that is connected via SATA, IDE or USB will be displayed under "Computer" like you plugged in a flash drive or an external hard drive. It's really that simple. Let me know if you have anymore questions!
