unistalling windows 7 but keeping the data

I am thinking of buying a small ssd for a boot drive because they are so fast. However I want to keep all my data on my old hardrive because it will not fit on my new ssd. I was thinking if there was then a way of unistalling old windows from the old hardrive but keeping all the programs and data on it.

Unfortunately your data will be kept in folders created by windows so it's probably not possible. Why not re attach the drive at a later date and get what data you need then?

Ye that what I wanted to do but its just a bit annoying that there is an unnecessary copy of windows on the old hard drive taking up room

It's a pain I know but once you have reclaimed your old data the drive could then be cleaned or formatted so it's squeaky clean again.

Well think I will just have to live with, its not the end of the world. Will I be able to delet my old windows version from the boot menu so that I cant book into the wrong windows 7

If you booted from the windows DVD and went through the motions of a new install you could format the old drive from the install options. Once done just cancel the new installation and reboot.

Yes I know but the point is I dont want to format the hard drive because I want all my data on that hard drive I just want to get rid of windows on it because it is taking up space and will appear in the boot menu