m6500-2 ssd, only win 7, dual boot,how?

Hi all,

My Dell m6500 is arriving soon. It will have a single 128gb ssd with win7 64bit installed. My question revolves around putting in a second ssd. I would like this to be a boot drive and kept clean of work installed SW. My company will configure the original drive with all sorts of security and what not and may downgrade it to XP or 32bit win 7. I've been scowering the forum for the best way to add a second ssd and I'm seeking advice now since I haven't found what would be the best way.

Current System
Dell m6500 precision
single 125gb SSD (I'm going to buy another ssd drive for the home version)
8gb ram

Question:
1. Best way to do a clean install of a new SSD when the computer shows up before IT gets ahold of it and keep it fast for home use, including gaming, staying with win7 64 bit since it can use the 8gb of ram.

2. Best way to have 2 SSD's in the system and completely seperate.

3. Best way for smooth transition between the 2 drives, ie dual boot?

4. Will I be able to use the space on the other drive if I don't boot from it?

Thanks in advance, you guys have been awesome in answering my other questions!

 

I would start with GKDesign's reimage guide. Although that is for the E6410, the procedure will apply to the M6500. I would remove all except the drive you want to installwindows on before starting the installation in order to reduce the risk of confusion.

The system will hold at least two drives. Windows will assign each drive (or each partition on each drive) a drive letter.

Pressing F12 at the prompt on the BIOS screen will allow you to choose which device to boot from (one drive will be the default).

Yes. You can assign / change / remove the drive letters in Disk Management so that you different Windows installations can see more or less of the other drives.

John