When installing Windows 10 on the second hard disk, you need to pay attention to partitioning, booting and drivers. 1. Preparation: Make sure the second hard disk is connected, make Windows 10 installation USB disk and ensure that the BIOS supports USB disk booting; 2. Partition settings: Select the correct hard disk during installation, no space is allocated, and new standard partitions can be created. The existing data can be manually adjusted but complex operations can be avoided; 3. Boot processing: Keep the first hard disk connected to automatically configure the dual system, or adjust the startup item through msconfig/bcdedit. The default boot disk is set in the BIOS. If there is a problem, you can install the USB disk to repair the boot; 4. Drive and Optimization: Prepare the necessary driver, turn on the SSD, confirm the 4K alignment and maintain it regularly, and turn off the fast boot to reduce interference. The whole process is about an hour, and the key is that there is no error in the partitioning and boot steps.

If you have a computer that has already installed the system, you now want to install Windows 10 on the second hard drive, so that you can get an independent system environment without interfering with the original system. In fact, the whole process is not complicated. Just pay attention to the key points of partitioning, booting and driving.

Preparation: Make sure the hardware and installation media are ready

First, you need to confirm that your computer has a second hard drive and has been correctly connected. It can be a SATA mechanical disk or solid state disk, or an M.2 interface SSD. Next you need to prepare a USB drive with at least 8GB capacity to create a Windows 10 installation image.

• Download Microsoft's official Media Creation Tool
• Insert the USB drive, run the tool and select Create installation media for another computer
• After waiting for the tool to be written, the USB flash drive can be used to start the installation.

Also, be aware of whether the motherboard BIOS supports booting from USB drives and whether the interfaces of both hard drives are recognized.

Partition settings to be paid attention to during installation

After inserting and installing the USB drive, restart the computer, enter the BIOS settings to boot from the USB drive. After starting the installation, in the interface where you select the installation location, be sure to see which one is the second hard disk you want to install.

At this time, you may see that the target hard disk is displayed as "unallocated space" or there are other partitions (such as you have used it to store data before). Here are a few suggestions:

• If this hard disk has not been used before, just click "New" and let the installer help you establish a standard partition structure
• If you already have data but you want to keep it, you can manually adjust the partition size to make room, but be careful
• It is not recommended to use features other than "fast partitioning" unless you are familiar with disk management.

Select the newly created system partition (not the EFI partition), and continue to the next step of installation.

Boot problem handling: Don't let the new system find itself

Many people find that they still start the computer and enter the original system after installation, or report errors directly on the black screen, mostly because the boot record is not correctly written to the new hard disk.

The Windows installer will usually automatically write the boot information to the currently booted hard disk, which is the first disk. But if you want to boot from the second disk, there are two ways to solve it:

• Do not disconnect the first hard disk during installation, so the installer will automatically configure the dual system menu
• After the installation is completed, enter the system and adjust the default startup item through the "msconfig" or "bcdedit" commands.
• Or simply set the default boot disk to the second hard disk in the BIOS

If you cannot enter the new system after installing and restarting, you can use the installation USB flash drive to enter "Repair Computer" > "Troubleshooting" > "Advanced Options" > "Command Prompt", and execute bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot to repair the boot.

Driver and Performance Optimization: Don't ignore these small details

Although most hardware is automatically recognized by Windows, sometimes new systems may lack certain drivers, especially network cards and graphics cards. You can prepare the driver in advance and place it on the USB drive or on the mobile hard drive for later use.

In addition, if your second hard drive is an SSD, remember to check the following points after the installation is completed:

• Turn on AHCI mode (in BIOS)
• Confirm 4K alignment (the installer will usually complete automatically)
• Regular maintenance using the Optimized Drive feature

If you are worried about interference between multiple systems, you can also set "Switch off Quick Start" in the power management to avoid system conflicts in the shutdown state.

Basically these are the steps. The whole process seems a bit too many, but in fact it takes it step by step, not more than an hour. The key is to not mess with the hard disk in the partition and boot steps, and the rest will be smooth.

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