Thanks for the response! I had a SATA-to-USB adapter and connected the OG HDD using that once everything was up and running on the SSD. Formatted the OS partition using the Windows Partition Manager. (there were 4 partitions for some reason) Everything works great now. 😄

I am going to revert to Windows 7 because some games just don't do right and I intend to do is reinstall my original drive back to factory state. Then the first thing I will do is shrink the drive and add a data partition. When I am done, i will replace my SSD with Windows 8 back in and run as a dual boot. Both Windows 7 and 8 will use the data partition for librarys and data storage.

Is there a reason for having both Windows OS on the same system? It seems a little redundant.

Yeah i agree you really dnt need 2 of the same os on the same drive because you have the disk that comes with the laptop and that has everything you need so you could wipe everything and do a fresh install on the new drive use the disk and it will be like you just got your laptop that way you know brand new plus it will give you that much more space on your new drive so if you are getting a ssd it will be good anyways beause we all want as much space as possible on our ssds well depending how much money you got and want to spend but its all personal preference plus you wo t be able to wipe the factory partition on the original drive anyways unless you run a tbird party software or run a command prompt thats the only way to delete it