Can I leave Windows installed as is on my old HDD?

I'm going to pop a 120GB SSD in my work desktop, with Windows and programs loaded on it with the old 500GB HDD kept for all my files. In reading about some failures of SSDs, can I just leave my Windows installation as is on the old drive in case the SSD suddenly craps out, or does it need to be uninstalled for everything to work right? Also, I read that SSDs usually die suddenly with no warning like HDDs sometimes give. Is there a way to check on a SSD's "health" so it could be replaced before failure? I.E. if the drive has been running fine for say 3 years, is there a way to tell it's getting close to "the end"?

 

No - if it dies 'suddenly' then it is either a controller issue (which would report it's status erroneously anyways) or the firmware has pushed the nand into a corner it can't recover from (and if the controller could see/report that they would have issued a fixed firmware asap).

As for leaving the Windows installation on the old drive - sure.

Just make sure you can select the boot drive (permanently) so that the SSD is booted by default.

And: make sure you do a clean install on the SSD WITHOUT the HDD installed in the system. Otherwise, without the HDD installed (in the future, for whatever reason) the SSD won't boot.

Good luck.

 

I had a feeling about the warning. In reading how long they last, it's too bad one doesn't have an idea if it's going to be 3 years or 5 years....hate to yank something out if there is still life left in it just because it's been in x years. I know HDDs can do that too though, so it just goes with the territory ;-).

Good info on unplugging the HDD from the system before installing the SSD. Wasn't aware of that...thanks tilleroftheearth.;-).