Question about multiple Hard drives

[FuzzButt]

I'm gonna be moving from a 32-bit XP OS to the Windows 7 64-bit version. Before installing the OS, I'm gonna unplug my 2nd Hard drive where there's no OS installed, just storage.

Will I have to do anything special on the 2nd HD when I replug it in Windows 7? No reformatting is needed right? Because I backed up my files on that HD.

 

[kegobeer]

Just plug it back in when you're done installing.

 

[ba5ik]

You don't even need to "unplug" it... If yo are installing 7 on another drive nothing is going to happen to your storage drive... save yourself the wasted time.

 

[kegobeer]

You don't even need to "unplug" it... If yo are installing 7 on another drive nothing is going to happen to your storage drive... save yourself the wasted time.

I disagree. In the event of a problem installing the OS, one of the first things to try is removing/disconnecting any non-essential hardware. IMHO, when installing any operating system, it's best to have only essential hardware installed.

 

[zigzag3143]

I'm gonna be moving from a 32-bit XP OS to the Windows 7 64-bit version. Before installing the OS, I'm gonna unplug my 2nd Hard drive where there's no OS installed, just storage.

Will I have to do anything special on the 2nd HD when I replug it in Windows 7? No reformatting is needed right? Because I backed up my files on that HD.

FB

No problems as long as it is NTFS formated and has a drive letter. It should be plug and play. Be advised going from 32bit to 64 requires a clean install and re-inbstall of your apps

Good Luck

Ken J

 

[ba5ik]

A hard drive is hardly non-essential hardware, even if it is a secondary drive. If in the event there is a problem with the drive.... then the system most likely wont even post so having a problem during an install is not possible cause we can't get to that step(doesn't sound like he is having this problem), if the drive is dead or in any other way just not recognized in the bios again this will not impede installing...

It does not matter how many HDDs are in a system, the only drive that can cause a problem during an install is the drive being installed to

 

[oldspook]

I just installed Win 7 64-bit on a system with 4 hard drives. I just selected the partition I wanted to install to and the rest was automatic.

With Windows 7 there is no reason to unplug other hard drives, the Win 7 system drive will always be the "C" drive.

With Windows XP, it is better to unplug other drives to ensure your XP system drive will be the "C" drive. On my last install of XP, my system drive ended up as the "G" drive because I didn't unplug the other drives.

 

[kegobeer]

A hard drive is hardly non-essential hardware, even if it is a secondary drive. If in the event there is a problem with the drive.... then the system most likely wont even post so having a problem during an install is not possible cause we can't get to that step(doesn't sound like he is having this problem), if the drive is dead or in any other way just not recognized in the bios again this will not impede installing...

It does not matter how many HDDs are in a system, the only drive that can cause a problem during an install is the drive being installed to

A secondary hard drive is non-essential, as it is not required for the system to operate. Additional drives can cause difficulty during OS installation. For example, you have a primary IDE and a secondary SATA - the motherboard is not fully supported with default Microsoft drivers, which may cause the install to fail. Another example: multiple hard drives configured under various RAID setups - one single drive may work, where multiple drives may cause problems.

For an initial install, with a new operating system that you've never used, it's a good idea to remove all non-essential devices to minimize the probability of installation issues.

 

[ba5ik]

If you are installing to the Primary in your first example then driver support from OS or not the second drive is in no way directly involved in the install other then to be recognized and assigned a drive letter...

In your second example, if you are installing on a raid setup then you need to have all the drives installed, in which case the point is moot.

 

[kegobeer]

Not to get nitpicky, but if SATA/RAID isn't fully functional, due to lacking drivers, the mere presence of a drive can cause the install to grind to a halt, or complete 2/3 of it and then fail, or quite a few other scenarios. And regarding RAID - you can add drives to an existing RAID. It is not necessary to have all drives present during OS installation.

It appears to me that you've missed my point completely - to minimize the probability for installation errors, it's a good idea to remove anything that is not absolutely necessary to install the OS. If something happens, it can be very difficult for an experienced computer user to figure out what caused it, let alone an inexperienced computer user.

 

[patio]

Disconnect the drive...
Install Win7...
Power down and re-connect the drive.