which hard drive has Windows 7 on it?

[tinca]

Hi all,

I have 5 hard drives in the computer, and physically they all look the same.

One of them has Windows 7 on it, and I wish to remove that drive and replace it with a SSD.

Unfortunately they are not marked or labeled in any way.

Is there any way to know which one of them contains Windows without unplugging everything connected to the computer, picking up the heavy case and putting it somewhere where I can remove both front and back panels, then connecting everything back up to it, and then change BIOS to boot from the Windows disk (sdb), and unplug the drives one by one until the computer does not boot. That drive has to be the Windows drive.

Hoping for an easy life

Best regards Keith

[Termy]

You could unplug just the data cable, reboot, see if Windows loads up, and if not, rinse and repeat. You needn't unplug and remove everything. I've run into this issue myself, as I have a lot of drives in the machine.

[tinca]

Hi Termy,

thank you for the reply.

can you refresh this old brain please. As far as I remember the data cable is the smaller of the two cables that attach to the Sata drive.

best regards Keith

[Neil Edmond]

Yes, the smaller connector is the data cable. Larger is power.

[tinca]

Neil Edmond,

thank you for the confirmation. I will have a go today.

best regards Keith