win2000 reload on C: what about stuff on D:?

[kevin s]

Two physical hard drives. C: has the OS and apps. D: has only production files (cad drawings).I want to rebuild the OS for a variety of reasons, none of which are germain to the question. I have all of the drivers, software, SP3, backed-up, etc.My question is: if I FDISK and rebuild C:, will it pick up the D: drive "as-is" the same as it would find a new piece of hardware, or will I have to reinstall, FDISK and redo D: as well?

[muckshifter]

Any “Data†would be read by the program that produced it. So I would leave the D drive intact.In fact, you’ll find a lot of us here have our systems set-up that way … programs are installed on the C drive and data is kept on D (or another drive) … its an easy way to backup your data. I also download all my patches and drivers to D.However don’t forget to “back it up†to a CDRW if you can FIRST.

[kevin s]

So I should be O.K. to leave the D: drive alone? After I redo C: drive, I'll be able to "see" D: drive?

[GolfProRM]

without a doubt... Your D: Drive will be fine... (so long as you don't mess with it when you reformat your C: drive... I do this on my system... makes reinstalling easier... after you're reinstalled, windows will automatically recognize your D: drive and everything that's on it... it's not going anywhere

[kevin s]

Thanks. Just what I needed.

[Guest ThunderRiver]

Well, if you have any encrypted data on D drive, killing C == killing encrypted data on D. If you don't encrypt data, you are fine

[kevin s]

Backup?? What's that?Yes I do. Full backup to another machine daily, plus incrementals to a dvd-ram daily, although I'm having trouble getting the dvd to work since the rebuild. The device says it is working, but Back-up My PC is not cooperating. The dvd-ram is a 1st generation Panasonic (matsu****a). I think it may have to do with the "new" driver from Panasonic. I think I need to go look for the old one.

[greengeek]

I am always reading about how you should get the latest drivers for your hardware but I have found from experience that the latest drivers don't always work on the older hardware.Another one is "you can never have too much RAM" which simply isn't true with older machines with motherboard limitations of 128MB or 256MB, even less on really old machines.Joy

[kevin s]

Amen, Greengeek.The "old" driver worked.I used a program called WinDriversBackup by Jermar Software to back up all of the drivers. www.jermar.comHeard about it from either Scott's or Fred Langa's sites.

[councillor]

No mention yet BUT in ur first post, u did say "fdisk"...?? U don't need or want to do that, "format c:" is your option...not fdisk OR another option.boot the OS cd and accept the second "R" repair to refresh sys files..