Windows 10: Installing Windows on Separate Internal SSD with another Hard Drive containing Windows 10...

I have 2 hard drives connected to my motherboard. One hard drive (SSD) is brand new and doesn't contain anything on it (completely wiped). I have a second hard drive that contains an installed copy of Windows 10 with a bunch of files. I want to install Windows 10 on my new 1TB SSD and make that primary boot device. I don't wipe the other hard drive before installing because I want to copy my files over later. After Windows 10 installs on my SSD and I copy my files from my existing hard drive to my new SSD, I'm then ready to wipe the existing hard drive clean so I can clear all of the windows files off it. So I format my existing hard drive clean (using the disk utilities on the Windows 10 install setup process). I close out of the install process and try to boot to my new SSD alone and I get a "Cannot find bootable device" message. Which is strange because I would have thought that when I installed Windows 10 to my SSD originally, it would have created its own boot sector on the disk.

Some observations of my own:

I noticed originally after I installed Windows 10 on the SSD that I was seeing multiple Windows 10 installs on 2 volumes on the Windows Boot Manager menu. Which I know is usually the case for installing multiple windows on the same device (hard drive) but not on 2 separate devices. It seems to me that Windows appended the new boot option to boot manager on my existing HDD to contain both Windows installs instead of creating its own boot option on the SSD device. I looked through a bunch of resources to see if I could try reinstalling Windows on that existing HDD and then append the boot option again but that didn't work. I also tried doing the BootRec.exe from the Windows 10 install disk and the B


I ended up backing up some of my files to an external drive and ended up wiping both disks and installing on the SSD. It works as expected now but I find it odd that I had to do this in the first place. If anyone has any thoughts of why I lost the option to boot from my SSD after wiping my existing hard drive then go for it.

:)

 

how to optimally install windows and applications on a SSD drive and save all files to an internal hard drive

Currently I am performing an installation of windows 10 on a SSD drive. A windows 10 bootable iso was used. Currently it is updating windows. When it is complete I want to be able to install only applications onto the SSD drive. Then I would like all
files saved to the internal hard drive. Where is the settings or how do you configure windows so that by default all files are not saved to the drive in which the operating system is on and all of the files are saved by default to the internal hard drive?

The idea here is for any future windows 10 problems the operating system can be installed on the SSD drive without risking any files.

Please indicate how to optimally set this up.

The SSD is 250 GB. The internal hard drive is 1 TB.

Any comments on how to optimally set up the computer for the following are also appreciatied:

1) best performance

2) most privacy

3) setting all browsers including edge and IE for google search

4) any other suggestions for a fresh installation

There is a windows application that I have not yet used called File history.

If files were saved by default to the SSD drive and file history was used on the internal hard drive what would be the difference between:

the above set up and this set up?

For example the above set up allows the SSD drive to be formatted, sanitized and there is no loss of files.

The file history method appears to similar in that the files are saved to both the SSD drive and the internal hard drive. Then what happens if the os becomes corrupt? Can the SSD be formatted, sanitized and then files are moved from the internal hard drive
to the SSD drive? Do you end up with the same result or different result?

 

How to backup Windows 10 to separate internal hard drive?

I totally agree with the OP.

It is stupid not to be able to back up to another internal hard disk.

I have for years maintained a separate internal drive to back up daily any changes to my documents and personal files. Some items I do not want sitting on the cloud.

I also don't want the mess of keeping an external hard drive connected to my pc - which to be honest is way more risky than my internal which is SSD.

I always back up to an internal drive daily and the cloud (for non sensitive data) monthly and every few months an external hard drive. And for this reason I have never lost my files!

Running a separate internal backup drive (it is a separate piece of hardware and partition) is an elegant solution - convenient and hassle free - only Win 10 wont allow me to do it - that is hopeless

 

How to backup Windows 10 to separate internal hard drive?

I purchased a separate internal hard drive several months ago while still using Windows 7. I had Win7 Backup and Restore set up to automatically backup key files every week using the program's scheduler. When
I upgraded to Windows 10 today and tried to us the File History program in the Control Panel, it says that no drive was detected. My Windows instance is on one hard drive only for Windows 10 (partitioned to C and D drives). The other hard drive is completely
separate (labeled as E drive) and currently contains my old Win7 backup files and some other music and video backups.

How do I use this second, separate drive to do my backup? I do not want to purchase yet another external hard drive just to do the backups...that's what this "E" drive is for! Please help.