Member Avatar for ninjazx2r

Hey Everyone,

I am new to DaniWeb, but I figured I could get some help here. I have been searching around and have not been able to find an answer to my question. I like to think I have a decent knowledge of computers / hardware / Os's, but one thing has always stumped me.

Lets say my system has two SATA Hardrives. One is a Seagate Barracuda, 500GB that holds my Operating System (Win xp Home,SP3, NTFS C: ), and I have a second SATA hardrive, (WD 250GB, NTFS, drive letter O: ) that is simply used for backup my documents, pictures, music ect.

Lets say I want to reformat my OS HD, and install XP professional. I have backed up everything I would like to keep on my second WD hardive. After I install XP Pro, will it recognize my backup HD? Will I just be able to pull information from It like before? Or will Windows not recognize that second hardrive?

So essentially I would like to use that second hardrive to backup my data, reinstall XP on the OS HDD, then pull my documents backk off that other HDD to copy back to the OS hardrive.

Can I do that? Is it possible? Will it just show right up in the Disk Management page after re-installation?

Thanks for any and all help. I appreciate it.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

Useful checklist and a few gotchas to close the loop on ’s plan (and expand on and ’s tips).

  1. Verify the backup is readable before you touch anything: open a few documents, photos and play an MP3. A quick verify catches bad copies early.
  2. Best practice: physically disconnect the backup drive while you reformat/install. That prevents accidentally formatting it and avoids Windows Setup placing boot files on the wrong disk (a common source of post-install boot problems). This is the core of @caperjack’s safe tip — follow it if you want the simplest route.
  3. After reinstall and reconnecting the backup drive, check Disk Management (Right‑click My Computer → Manage → Disk Management) to confirm the partition and drive letter. If Windows shows the partition but no letter, assign one — do not format.
  4. If you encounter “Access denied” on old files, it’s usually a permissions/ownership issue because user SIDs changed with the new install. Log in as Administrator, disable simple file sharing (Folder Options → View), then use the Security → Advanced → Owner tab to take ownership and propagate it to subfolders; afterward set appropriate permissions.
  5. If the installer accidentally put boot files on the backup drive, repair the boot on the OS disk using the Recovery Console (fixboot, fixmbr, bootcfg /rebuild). If unsure, restoring the OS disk’s MBR/boot sector is safer than formatting the backup.
  6. Extra caution: encrypted files require the original encryption key/certificate. If any files were encrypted, export keys before reinstalling or you may lose access permanently.

If a clean reinstall is routine, disconnecting the backup drive and verifying file access afterwards is the least risky workflow.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

It sure will!

Member Avatar for EricKirore

just reformat the OS drive and install the OS you wud prefer on same drive.You definately not lose any data on the 2nd drive and it will be visible on the 'new' OS.

Member Avatar for ninjazx2r

Thanks for the quick replies! I appreciate it. Great Community.

:icon_mrgreen:

Member Avatar for caperjack

Thanks for the quick replies! I appreciate it. Great Community.

:icon_mrgreen:

as a beginner one thing i always did just to be safe ,unplug the data storage drive so as to not get confused when formatting and format the wrong one ,then just plug it back in when finished reloading windows

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