Adding an SSD to my Desktop (with existing HDD)

[Spartan Erik]

Currently I have a machine with a 3.0 GHz C2D (6 MB L2), 3 GB RAM, a GTX 260, and a 500 GB HDD with Windows 7 Ultimate installed (used 7 Ultimate upgrade media, performed clean install from existing Vista installation).

I intend on purchasing an OCZ Vertex SSD and would like to have it as my primary OS boot drive, and my existing 500 GB HDD as my secondary data etc. drive. My data is already backed up onto an external and I'm ready for reformatting.

Could anyone explain step wise how to add an SSD to my existing machine as a primary drive, and use my existing HDD as a secondary data drive?

If it helps to be a little more specific, I'm asking about the process of physically installing an SSD as a primary drive and having an existing HDD as a secondary.
(i.e. when to connect the SSD to the mobo, which SATA port to plug the SSD into, when to install the drivers for the SSD, when to do firmware updates, when to reformat, etc, <--it is these procedures that I'm not sure about)

 

[mrmartin]

SSDs are really just plug and play so you don't have to do anything special. They have firmware that you can update for performance increases but it's no nessacery. You can use any SATA port you wish.

What i'ld do is just plug it in then boot to that drive with the OS disk in the DVD drive (select which drive to boot to via the boot menu which can be accessed by pressing F12 whilst it's booting (before it boots windows). Then you can install your OS on to the SSD. When you've fully installed your OS your old drive will be there just how you left it.

You can format your current drive if you wish but there's no real reason to and if you choose to then you've got to mess about with backing up everything and reloading all your programs.