How to reinstall Win 7 without losing data

Joseph K wrote "I ALWAYS put the OS in it's own partition separate from data". Does this mean install Windows on one partition and everything else (programs, documents) on another one? Thanks, Eliot

Unless you are short on disk space there is little reason to put applications on other than the OS partition. Having data on a separate partition allows a reinstall without touching your data. But if you reinstall the OS most of your applications will have to be reinstalled anyway. Having applications on a separate drive will impair performance somewhat if you are using a conventional drive.

A problem with multiple partitions is that no matter how careful you are in selecting sizes it often happens that one partition becomes full while the other(s) have space to spare. Even experts get this wrong. Do not use partitions for organizational purposes. That is what folders are for.

Create as many partitions as you need, but no more.

buy a portable hdd & u can save the drive data in external drive and format your hdd to make it new. assignthe disks you needed.