Questions on restoring a windows computer

Hey Guys,
So i'm going to restore my windows desktop, but I have a question. I have a 1.5tb drive installed in my desktop along with the 500gb hd it came with. The 1.5tb disk is not set up as bootable, so will i lose all the data on the 1.5tb disk as well as the 500gb if i do a restore. Thanks in advance for your help.

In Windows, a system restore puts the operating system back to the condition it was in at an earlier time, the restore point. It does not delete data files, even those saved after the restore point time. The only possible problem I can foresee in your case is if you select a restore point time earlier than when you installed the 1.5tb drive. Obviously, the OS at the earlier time wouldn't know about the new drive. I never tried to restore a machine with an added drive, so I can't say for sure how restore would handle that.

im sorry. i should have been more precise. I want to do a full system restore, which will erase all data, then reload the OS. I'm only wondering if it will erase data on both hard drives, or only the data on the bootable HD. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

OK, so your going to do a full (or "clean") reinstall of Windows. Yes, that does wipe the disk. I've never done that on a machine that had a secondary HD. I can't imagine that Windows would be so "stupid" as to wipe any but the OS (bootable) HD. But, Windows has fooled me before. So just to be sure, I'd pull the data and power cables off the second HD and boot up for the clean install with just one HD active. Then I'd reconnect the second HD after I was finished.

true. Thanks for the help. I made a call to a friend of mine who works with geek squad, and he said that it should only wipe the bootable drive but like you said disconnect it just to be sure. Thanks a lot for all your help.

thehappyhitman said:

im sorry. i should have been more precise. I want to do a full system restore, which will erase all data, then reload the OS. I'm only wondering if it will erase data on both hard drives, or only the data on the bootable HD. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

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I'm contemplating doing this to my Dell Desktop because I may be getting rid of it.
Please post your results and maybe a few brief tips or how-to.
Thanks.

MYmacROX said:

I'm contemplating doing this to my Dell Desktop because I may be getting rid of it.
Please post your results and maybe a few brief tips or how-to.
Thanks.

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Piece of cake with Windows. It's designed to be reinstalled many times!

Seriously, just boot the Dell with your Windows install CD or the Dell restore CD and wipe the drive. Then reinstall Windows. You'll need to make sure that you set the Dell BIOS to boot from CD first. It's probably already setup to do that.

Regards.

ok. i had no problems doing the restore. If the dell has another hard drive installed that you dont want wiped than just undo the power and data cables on the hard drives end. other than the painstaking amount of time it takes to restore 1tb back, everything went well. I've done quite a few restores before but this one went the least smoothly. Just an FYI MYmacRox, data can still be recovered by software even after a full restore, but there is software that can make practically impossible to recover. Just in case you sell to someone a little unscrupulous. Just do a google search.

chscag said:

Piece of cake with Windows. It's designed to be reinstalled many times!

Seriously, just boot the Dell with your Windows install CD or the Dell restore CD and wipe the drive. Then reinstall Windows. You'll need to make sure that you set the Dell BIOS to boot from CD first. It's probably already setup to do that.

Regards.

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Ok, cool. Well, we decided today to keep it a little longer. But this is something I will eventually end up doing anyways. Thanks for the tip.
I assume afterwards I'd have to go to Microsoft.com and re-install all those updates I've done over the years?

thehappyhitman said:

Just an FYI MYmacRox, data can still be recovered by software even after a full restore, but there is software that can make practically impossible to recover. Just in case you sell to someone a little unscrupulous. Just do a google search.

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I wouldn't sell it. It's not worth much - pretty old and obsolete by today's standards. I'd just end up giving it away to someone I know who is less fortunate. Same thing we did with our desktop before this one 4 or 5 yrs ago.

yes you would have to reinstall all those updates. When i finished the restore i had to reinstall 124 updates. Took hours.