Windows 7 Re-Install

[Guest]

Just had a couple quick questions. I'm planning on re-installing windows 7 just because it's time to start a-new. I have three hard drives, 1 250GB serving as C drive for Windows, and 2 1TB drives set in raid 1 as the D drive for storage of media. Raid was set up in Windows 7 disk management with motherboard. I've done several windows installs in the past, just not with the raid set up as D drive.

My questions regarding the reinstall is this, will I be able to just reconnect the D drives to the motherboard after reinstall and then windows will just recognize the new drives with the data still in tact? I'm thinking I will just unplug the drives while reinstall just to be on the safe side and not wipe all the data off them. Is there any particular way that I should go about doing this?

Thanks! It's been a while since I've been on the forums.

 

[almartin]

If the boot file for Win 7 is on the same drive as Win 7 then i would think you can unhook your D drives and reload Win 7. But I would not re-install Win 7 unless you are having a problem with it because sometimes re-installing can be a big headache but it is up to you...good luck

 

[Guest]

I am assuming just unplugging them and then after install plugging them back would make them look like nothing more than a big "flash drive." I would just have to go into disk management and make them mirror again in windows. Sounds simple because they are NTFS.

 

[minimalist]

Start with a "slip stream" Win7 install image, to save yourself a lot of work and update activity. You should have Win7/sp1 integrated ... saves a lot of time and space.

 

[Guest]

I have Professional now, I'm just trying to upgrade it to Ultimate with a clean install. I know there aren't a lot more features, like five?, but I still want to do a clean install. I know how to do it, im just concerned about my data.

 

[aford10]

Doing the Custom install, instead of the upgrade, will move your date to a C:\windows.old folder. You won't lose your personal files. However, it's a good idea to back all data up first, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Guest]

Alright, so my thought was correct. I just re-installed windows without breaking the mirror on the D Drive and it showed up just fine with ultimate in my computer. No other steps needed to get the custom install in.

 

[aford10]

Yep, thanks for the update.