My dad wants a faster computer, but NEEDS his old HDD because he has so much important info on it. So i put that HDD in the computer. Now im going to do a complete reinstall of windows....is thier even the smallest chance that this will erase that data on teh HDD. And also i was wondering if i should just do the recovery console (update windows) option. Which i tried on another machine but i didnt know what to do after i put the administrater password.
Will Windows install Erase HDD?
- Thread starter Mike89
- Start date
Kage
Golden Master
- Messages
- 13,873
Installing Windows will have to have the hard drive formatted, so yes, he will lose all his data. Do a backup before re-installing Windows!
You may be better off creating a partition seperate to the data this time round, so if he wants a faster PC, he can just wipe the Windows partiton and won't lose his data in the process.
You may be better off creating a partition seperate to the data this time round, so if he wants a faster PC, he can just wipe the Windows partiton and won't lose his data in the process.
mammikoura
Golden Master
- Messages
- 7,459
reinstalling windows DOES NOT remove the files from the hdd. You can install windows on the same partition, so it basically just overwrites the windows files. This will cause the old registry etc to be deleted, so you will have to install all software again.
Now if you delete the partition, then it will wipe all data from the hdd.
But in my opinion it's best to back up all data, then delete the old partition and make a new one. I always do it this way, except when I didn't have a way of backing up my files. Giver you a fresh install of windows on a clean hdd, definitely going to be faster than the old one was and you don't have any crap from the previous installation left on the hdd.
Kage: the partition is already ntfs, which windows installs on. So there isn't a need to format it.
Now if you delete the partition, then it will wipe all data from the hdd.
But in my opinion it's best to back up all data, then delete the old partition and make a new one. I always do it this way, except when I didn't have a way of backing up my files. Giver you a fresh install of windows on a clean hdd, definitely going to be faster than the old one was and you don't have any crap from the previous installation left on the hdd.
Kage: the partition is already ntfs, which windows installs on. So there isn't a need to format it.
mammikoura
Golden Master
- Messages
- 7,459
The Sheep said:
maybe there isn't a new hdd?
But if there is, yes it would be best to install windows on the new one, then put the old one in and transfer the files, then wipe the old one clean and you would have the new drive as primary with the OS and the old one as storage. And why put the OS on the new one? Because the new one is most likely faster, don't know if you would really notice the difference but still.
I agree, thats what I'd do, get a new hard drive and install windows on that. Then connect the old drive as a slave in the new pc and copy the files over. Then wipe the old drive and use it for storage.The Sheep said:
Or.....If you actually have an old drive laying around, you could install it in your pc right now and copy all the important files over and then take and install the hard drive from the old pc to the new pc and proceed with the windows install. Then just connect the storage drive again as a slave and copy the files over.
Or.....you could buy an inexpensive external usb drive to use as a storage drive to copy the files over. Just connect it to the new pc when you are all done and copy the files over.
There are a few ways you could do it, just depends on your situation.
