Hi i just bought a second hard drive and i copied all of the files and what not i want to save onto it. Now i want to reformat my first harddrive and i was wondering if i can leave the second one plugged in while i reformat the first one and not lose all the information on it. Or if i unplugg it while i reformat and then plug it back in once i set up windows again will it still have all the information still on it?Thank you
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concerned about storage loss
- Thread starter scurti130
- Start date
As long as you do not choose the wrong drive to format, your other drive will not be affected by the formatting.
To be totally safe unplug the second drive , format the first, Reinstall the OS on the first drive, then plug the second drive back in. (disable it in the bios before unplugging to avoid the bios error warning).
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Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial
To be totally safe unplug the second drive , format the first, Reinstall the OS on the first drive, then plug the second drive back in. (disable it in the bios before unplugging to avoid the bios error warning).
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Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial
Well, yes. That is if you want to trust all of your data to something with known potential failures, especially when new.
Prudent computer users wouldn't count on just one drive, they would copy the data to at least 2 drives. Counting on one is a sure way to lose everything, maybe not this time, but sometime. And if they were counting on two, they still would be a little nervous.
It sounds like you don't have a viable backup and restore procedure in place. You might want to do some research on that before you risk the transfer.
Although this sounds pessimistic it is based on reality. I've heard too much crying and my shoulder is permanently mildewed from tears.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
Prudent computer users wouldn't count on just one drive, they would copy the data to at least 2 drives. Counting on one is a sure way to lose everything, maybe not this time, but sometime. And if they were counting on two, they still would be a little nervous.
It sounds like you don't have a viable backup and restore procedure in place. You might want to do some research on that before you risk the transfer.
Although this sounds pessimistic it is based on reality. I've heard too much crying and my shoulder is permanently mildewed from tears.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
True, true, true. And on a second-hand drive with possibly unknown history and operability to boot. Prudent retentive types also spool off DVDs of precious files from time to time, even in a multiple drive scenario.
There is an online backup company that offers 2GB of free storage, definitely worth a look, but they could go belly-up (gotta look at all angles, don't want to add to Ed's mildewed shoulder)
But, to answer the question, yes, you could leave the drive connected, but why? When it is so easy to remove and add back, it makes sense to play it safe and remove any extraneous drives while formatting, especially precious ones. If it's connected via USB remember to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature in your systray to stop the drive before removal. Now you have ZERO chance of making a mistake or having Windows write something to the drive during OS install. If your OS is the same, the drive will be recognized after you reconnect it. ALL of us have formatted the wrong drive at one time or other...
I would highly recommend buying a stack of DVDs, though, and spooling off all of drive 2's data first and foremost. Buy quality media (Fuji, Memorex, Maxell, Sony) too, it's only a few cents more per disc than house brand. If you don't have a DVD burner they run about $40 or less these days. Best of luck!
Tony
"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me
NekoRuri
MIS
- Oct 29, 2007
- 5
Having just gone through the recent wildfires here in San Diego disaster preparedness went very smooth for me. I saw lots of people shoving their entire computers into their cars; all I had to do was turn off my file server and remove all the disks from the backplane, and take 2 external hard drives as I had at least 2 copies of everything (I've had an instance where my 2nd backup of something failed, since I got several terabytes of storage I can shove backups into a lot of different places).
Optical disks are good for storing data; though usually too small to create an entire image of your OS. Getting something like Symantec Ghost or Acronis Image you can boot off a floppy and make an entire copy of your OS into a single file. You then copy or place (depending on how much room you have) the image file on the second drive. Unless you get a major power spike that fries both drives at once you'll never loose anything. If the first disc dies, you can restore it from the image on your 2nd drive, or if the 2nd drive dies you just make another image and put it back on there.
Optical disks are good for storing data; though usually too small to create an entire image of your OS. Getting something like Symantec Ghost or Acronis Image you can boot off a floppy and make an entire copy of your OS into a single file. You then copy or place (depending on how much room you have) the image file on the second drive. Unless you get a major power spike that fries both drives at once you'll never loose anything. If the first disc dies, you can restore it from the image on your 2nd drive, or if the 2nd drive dies you just make another image and put it back on there.
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