2HDD, removing 2nd HDD is it ok?

[ko9000]

Hi guys

Just a few days ago my comp stuff up real bad, I managed to fix the problem with some help though now the whole system is just un-stable, even after a reformat. So I decided that I might as well do a fresh install of my OS and re-partition my HDD. Though before I do that I need to make sure of one thing:

I have 2HDD, both HDD have 3 partition made in them. What I want to do is take 2nd HDD out and reformat and repartition the 1st HDD. And then connect the 2nd HDD back on with I finish with the 1st HDD.

What I want to know is that after I reformat and repartition the 1st HDD and installed an Os on it, would WinXP detect my 2nd HDD with 3 partitions with all my previous files on it?


Thanks a lot people, I hope you guys know what I'm trying to ask ^^

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Simply, yes. You can take the second one out and do whatever you need, then reinstall it and Windows (any version) will recognize it again.

You will need to play around with the jumpers as you toggle back and forth between one or two HDD's. That is easy enough though.

What is on the second drive? Is there an active partition with an operating system on it?

What may get complicated is how the partitions are recognized, though XP is supposed to have a better disk management than other versions of Windows. Here's how I would do it:


1: Remove the drive you are concerned with not losing any data due to an inadvertant reformat.
2: Repartition and reformat the first drive in the pc as needed.
3: Reinstall the second drive just prior to installing XP onto the primary drive so it will recognize and properly 'remember' the disk's info and put the partition info in proper perspective. This step is not crucial though, the disk can be added afterwards but the partitions may not line up as you might want.
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I have an old 20 gig HDD with just 1 partition that went flaky (corruption, virii, etc). I removed the first and then put in a 40 gig and made several partitions. Installed 98SE on the primary then reinstalled the original one and 'fixed it' with updated softwares using the newer one.

Now I can boot from either one but the partition info in My Computer had to be tweaked to work once the second drive was put in. My Swap File for the 40 was relocated because when I installed the 20, it took over the D: partition. As a result, I kept running out of resources and error messages kept popping up. If I had installed the second drive prior to delegating where the Swap File belonged, this would not have happened.

All in all, for the best data safety, leave the other one out until you are done reconfiguring the primary one.

If I confused you in any way, I can try to baffle you err, repeat it another way so you can understand it better if you need.
______________________
Multiboots: You don't buy just one shoe when needed, why have only one OS?

[ko9000]

Thanks a lot for replying back so soon. The 2nd HDD is just full of setups and back up files from the 1st HDD, no OS on it. So it shouldnt be too much trouble getting this done :) . I'll post back if I run into any trouble during this 'experiment'.

Thanks again for your time

[Paul Komski]

What may get complicated is how the partitions are recognized
I presume this is just a reference to drive letter assignments - rather than recognition of the partitions as such. This is only significant if you want the same letter assignments as before and with the exception of the sytem (active) partition and boot partition (the one holding the Windows folder if a different partition) all the drive letters can be manually re-assigned how one wants them under WinXP.

The main difference with letter assignments under Win9X is that they are dynamic so that if you add/remove physical drives the letter assignments may change. They only change in these circumstances if they contain multiple visible primary partitions in which case the first such partition on the slave is always given the letter D (whether or not it is an active partition).

Fruss - I'm not sure what your Registry Tweak was but if you have a way of "reassigning" the D letter of a visible primary partition on a slave under Win9X please let me know since I have never been able to do this.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Paul,
Yes. Drive letter assignments. So, revision to,

3: Install it AFTER XP is installed.

Also, I never came close to saying I had a registry tweak, it just happened by putting the second drive (with a primary active partition) back in the pc as slave. (98SE)

[Paul Komski]

My bad - it was the word tweak in partition info in My Computer had to be tweaked that made me assume registry and I thought you must have come up with a goodie. He he - I'm still curious as to what was tweaked. ;)

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Maybe my choice of words was wrong. When I setup the 40 gig, the E: partition was set up for my Swap File. After I did that, I reinstalled the 20 gig and it altered the assignment letters of the partitions so I needed to change it to get back to the correct partition now named F: because it pushed the letters up a notch.

[Paul Komski]

Fruss - now I think I fully understand. Since you wished to be able to boot from both hdds there had to be a primary partition on both of them. If both of these are visible at the same time then either of them will show up as Drive D from the other Win9X installation. The only way to easily hide one of them at boot time is to use a boot manager. I am currently playing with BootIt NG, which seems to have a rather good boot manager and which is customisable as to which partitions are hidden/visible for each of a variety of multiboot OSes that one decides to boot into.

If this "bumping-up" of drive letters happened with WinXP one could just simply reassign the drive letter of the OS-partition on the Slave.