Windows reinstall, any advice?

Hello, sorry to ask about windows but my girlfriends computer requires such blasphemy.

I'm planning on reinstalling windows on my girlfriends computer (long story but it's a big mess), i've done it on other computers without any probs. But it has two hard drives and i'm not sure how to go about formating both and reinstalling.

Do i get to pick which has the OS, or does windows just guess?
If i format them both will they need to reinstalled from scratch (i.e. assigning slave etc..)

I'm abit of a novice when it comes to multiple hard drives so any advice would be greatly apreciated.

Mike

mig.gentry said:

Hello, sorry to ask about windows but my girlfriends computer requires such blasphemy.

I'm planning on reinstalling windows on my girlfriends computer (long story but it's a big mess), i've done it on other computers without any probs. But it has two hard drives and i'm not sure how to go about formating both and reinstalling.

Do i get to pick which has the OS, or does windows just guess?
If i format them both will they need to reinstalled from scratch (i.e. assigning slave etc..)

I'm abit of a novice when it comes to multiple hard drives so any advice would be greatly apreciated.

Mike

Click to expand...

I would format and disconnect one of the drives prior to re-installing windows. Windows will [should] make the still-connected drive default C when installed. Normally you'd install the O/S on the faster/larger drive, leaving room for movies, pictures, backups, etc on the smaller one. If the drives are on a RAID array, this may be a little more complicated. In case you don't know what a RAID array is, go here to learn more:

http://www.pctechguide.com/tutorials/RAID.htm

Once you've re-installed Windows go out to the web and get the latest updates for the O/S and anything else. After that, shut down the PC, reconnect the other drive and reboot. Windows should find it and format it if necessary. You can find some software that will back up specified folders to the new drive.

i believe you get to pick which one the OS is installed on.

Ifthey have the same characteristics and you want to know wich one will have the OS is a good idea to take one out, but Windows will let you choose at the very first steps of the installation process wich one you want to use.
Something very important: Windows MUST go on the drive C: (wich will be the Master), if at the moment of installation the drive you want to use is not C: DO NOT INSTALL ON IT, either change the master/slave configuration on the motherboard BIOS or take one out. Many programs also don't work well/at all if they are in a different letter.

mraya said:

Ifthey have the same characteristics and you want to know wich one will have the OS is a good idea to take one out, but Windows will let you choose at the very first steps of the installation process wich one you want to use.
Something very important: Windows MUST go on the drive C: (wich will be the Master), if at the moment of installation the drive you want to use is not C: DO NOT INSTALL ON IT, either change the master/slave configuration on the motherboard BIOS or take one out. Many programs also don't work well/at all if they are in a different letter.

Click to expand...

Ooh...good point. I use SATA drives so there's no master/slave configuration. This needs to be done to both drives prior to installing the O/S. The drive with Windows will be the master.

after it prepares the installation, it will reboot and you will ge tthe blue screen setup mode. it should then give u a list of partitions and what drives they are on. just choose the one you want

Quick responses, thanks

So the drives are 10gig and 30gig, from the above i guess i should make the 30gig the C: and put wndows on there, leaving the 10 for extra data. Does this seem adequate

Is it possible to install programs on the secondary drive or must they be on the C: as well?

is there any way of finding out which one contains the OS at the moment?

Also there is a hidden partition somehwere on one of the drives which has a compaq system restore feature(waste of space), will the hidden partitions show up in the reinstall options so i can just format and get rid of it?

mig.gentry said:

Quick responses, thanks

So the drives are 10gig and 30gig, from the above i guess i should make the 30gig the C: and put wndows on there, leaving the 10 for extra data. Does this seem adequate

Is it possible to install programs on the secondary drive or must they be on the C: as well?

is there any way of finding out which one contains the OS at the moment?

Also there is a hidden partition somehwere on one of the drives which has a compaq system restore feature(waste of space), will the hidden partitions show up in the reinstall options so i can just format and get rid of it?

Click to expand...

1) Yes it is possible to install programs elsewhere although some of the files may still install to CProgram files. Google "install programs on another drive" and a bunch of relevant listings will come up.

2) I would use the 30 gig for windows and the 10 gigger for storage, etc. Drives are so cheap these days you may also want to consider purchasing another drive, to replace the two you have. I'd do this in a heartbeat if your other drives are 5400 RPM models. The newer basic drives run at 7200 RPM and have 8 mb of cache. Faster speeds, faster writing, faster data transfer. Furthermore, if these two existing drives are on the same IDE channel (both hooked up to the same cable) then definately consider purchasing a newer drive.

3) To find out which drive has the O/S go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information. This will tell you where Windows is loaded.

4) The Compaq partition may or may not come up. I'd just reformat the wole drive and get rid of it. HP/Compaq drive me crazy with stunts like this. My old HP did the same thing because they didn't want to include restore CD's with the PC. What happens if the H/D fails? Bunch of bozos.

Thanks for the advice, i'll give it a try and see what happens

badmojo said:

Bunch of bozos.

Click to expand...

I can only agree

I will suggest you to use the 10gb for Windows and the other for your extra files, music or video files won't complain about been in a slave drive, also i'm sure your library of other kind of files will be bigger than your program's library. Also you will be able to take out the drive and get more files with you w/o leaving your PC dead.