help with OS install to Patrition

Scorpios

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I need to reinstall windows for a new motherboard I installed.
My hard drive is partitioned Sata in 2 sections, F: and G:
F: is where windows is currently, and what I wish to reformat and reinstall windows
G: is where I have data that is important and I don't want to lose.

I booted from the XP cd, and all it shows is a C: drive, and nothing for the F and G partitions... will I delete my entire hard drive installing windows to C: ??
 
Before i tell you what to do, I must ask. Do you have an internal card-reader?

If so, Unplug it. That's what's messing up the drive letters. Also, the motherboard's SATA ports could be set for RAID in BIOS. just switch it to either "Normal" or "IDE" mode in BIOS.
 
Maybe before you format you can look in the control panel under administrator tools. Use the computer management tool and look under disk management and see if your partitions are listed as active and also that they do have a format (NTFS or FAT32). let me know if you need more information on these steps
 
Yeah, as celegorm said, check to see if you have any external devices attached, unplug them, then try again.
If the setup is showing something like C: and D:, then you might be on the right track.

And, if it helps, you SHOULD be able to install Windows onto that one partition, and keep all your old files on the other partition.
Just know -- if you re-install, and all your games and such are on drive G:, you won't be able to access them without re-installing. Most game saves are stored in your My Documents folder (F:\Documents and Settings\User\Documents)
 
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