hi,
i have a question regarding my pc .

(The first Chapter ):

i have a pc with 2 HDD ...the original one is 80GB where windows xp is installed....
i then bought a new HDD which is 200GB ... i had no problem connecting the new HDD ,but after installing xp i noticed that only 127GB are recognised . i moved some data from the old HDD to the new HDD...but i wanted to use the full 200GB..so i searched in the internet and came to the conclusion,that i have to install the xp sp1 so that the 200GB are on....ok,till now everything is ok,but after completing the installation of sp1,xp asked me to REFORMAT the new HDD so it will work ...damn ,i lost everything on it ...(abt 70GB) ...

THE LAST CHAPTER :

now i want to format my pc...i have too much DATA on the new HDD(the 200GB HDD) and i dont want to lose them ...iam afraid that after formating and installing XP on the 80GB HDD , that i have to format the 200GB HDD so that xp will recognise it again ...
hope my problem is clear..

so please please please,if anyone can help me,or advice me what to do so that i won`t lose my data,please go ahead,and help me ..

some more info u may want to know :
+ p4,1,9GHZ
+ original HDD 80GB ,C: & D: --->xp is installed on C:
+ Another HDD 200GB , K: & X: ---> K: is 50GB and X:is abt 135GB ...both are almost full ))
+ master is the 80GB HDD
+ C & D are FAT32
+ K & X are NTFS

for anyother information plz ask me...
any help will be appreciated ...
thx in advance ppl ..

Windows XP should recognise your drive without reformating it would unpractical to format drives everytime you reinstall windows I'm usualy when reinstalling windows put my data just on diferent partition, never mind different drive, so don't be afraid if everything working as it should you are going to be fine!!!

Folow this when installing:
1. At the 'Welcome to Setup' screen, press Enter.
2. Soon you'll be told that there's already a Windows installation on the computer.
3. For a complete restore, select your C: partition and press Enter. When you get the warning that says an operating system is on that partition, press c. When you are asked your partition preference, select Leave the current file system intact (no changes).

hi helpdisk. ..
thanks for ur reply ...

ok,just some more questions before i do the format ..
1)u mean with the restore,that i will be Restoring windows,and not formatting C: and istalling windows again !?
i would really like to format C: complete ...

2)ok,after formatting,wont i have the same problem that xp won`t recognise more than 137GB ?this mean i have to install xp-sp1 ...right !?

3) if anything went wrong,do u think i will still be able to save my data !?

thanks man for ur help & time,i really appreciate it ..

There should be no reason why you would need to format a drive after reinstalling Windows, with the exception of a software or hardware fault.

It’s very likely that if you install pre-SP1 Windows XP, your 200GB drive will be detected as unformatted or otherwise unusable. This is because your partition table and file systems were probably created in 48bit LBA supporting SP1. Simply leave the disk alone and install Service Pack 2, and the partitions should come back fine.

I personally do not recommend following the course of action suggested by helpdisc because:

• It does not result in the deletion of the user profiles (c:\Documents and Settings) which can get unbelievably messy.
• It does not delete all the programs that will no longer function properly and need to be reinstalled.
• It does not reorganise the file system which, when improperly dealt with, decreases performance and could eventually result in data loss.

hi syphus ...
thx for ur reply ...
well ,if i understood what u meant,then i should format C: as usuall,then install sp2 ...everything will be fine ..true !?

but just one thing plz ...when i format,and install xp without any sp1, when i turn my pc,xp will detect the HDD and maybe ask me to format it...is this possible !? i mean will be ever asked to format the 200GB HDD in the whole format operation ?!
iam sorry for asking too much,but iam afraid i will lose all my DATA i have ...


thanks in advance ..

Windows XP Setup will recognise all partitions on your computer but if you don't select them it will leave them be .
Setup only listens your command so always read what are you doing dont rush things !!!

This means if you doing something with C: partition it will NOT ask you or do anything by it self on D: or some other partition!!!

A harddrive reformat should not effect another drive's data, so i do not see any reason that anything will be lost. Also, i am assuming that you are using a windows install disk that dosen't have sp1 or sp2 on it already.