Hi I have a pc which has 2 normal hard drives , the first hard drive holds the OS and data . The 2nd drive is used for backup of data purposes . Its all connected on the motherboard by SATA Now I have bought my self a Solid state drive and will add this to the pc. What I am hoping for is, 3 drives all together the 1st drive which is the SSD will hold the OS only , the 2nd drive will hold data and the 3rd drive holds the backup of the data. I have put the SSD in and installed the OS and works a treat. I then switched of the PC and added the existing old drives. Win 7 has sensed it on disk mangement but when I try and mount it , it says it will format it. The whole purpose of the backup drive is when i break my pc and need to get new kit I just plug in the backup drive on my motherboard and i get my data back. But now I failed horribly as even though i have data sccesfully backed up I can't attcach to a new OS and keep the data intact. What is the best way of setting up in disk management with additional internal drives and able to swap easily (like a USB drive but internally attached). I have reverted back to the orginal state until a solution is found. I can make changes and do the excercise again.

It's really hard to give yiou and exact reason for what happened and how to correct the problem. I have done exactly what you describe on more than one computer and have never encountered any such situation. The only quirk I encountered after booting the new system SSD was Win 7 would tell me I did have access to the old drives and I had to take controll of them. There was no problem with Disk Management recognizing the drives or wanting to format them. What do you mean by "What is the best way of setting up in disk management with additional internal drives and able to swap easily (like a USB drive but internally attached)."? Are you wanting to dual boot? Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Basically want to create a re-moveable drive which is plugged in the sata of the motherboard. When say my pc has exploded i take out the hard drive and attached to a pc already having an OS. (like a USB drive but internal and plugged to the SATA of the motherboard).

and also these drives already have data which is critical.

According to my understanding, there are three hard drives you want to deal with as below: A: a new SSD, which you only want to install the OS B: the old drive, which was installed the OS and some data C: another old drive, which used for backup Am I correct? When you complete the installation on the new SSD(A), and then you add B. However, B already has the OS. You don’t need to install the same OS in one computer. The easiest way I recommend is: A: a new SSD, used for some important data B: the old drive, install the OS C: another old drive, used for back and recovery, it contains the Windows image and could be easily recovery in another computer. If you real want to install the OS on the new SSD, and remove the OS from the old drive, I’m afraid you need to format the old drive. Hope it helps! Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.